CVE-2024-1536 in Essential Addons for Elementor Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 03/13/2024
The Essential Addons for Elementor – Best Elementor Templates, Widgets, Kits & WooCommerce Builders plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the plugin's event calendar widget in all versions up to, and including, 5.9.9 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user supplied attributes. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with contributor-level and above permissions to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/15/2025
The Essential Addons for Elementor plugin represents one of the most widely used WordPress extensions for creating dynamic website content through various widgets and templates. This particular vulnerability affects versions up to and including 5.9.9 of the plugin, which has been installed on countless WordPress websites worldwide. The event calendar widget within this plugin serves as a critical component for displaying scheduled events and calendar information, making it a prime target for malicious exploitation. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms that fail to properly sanitize user-supplied data before processing and rendering within the plugin's interface.
The technical flaw manifests through insufficient input sanitization and output escaping practices within the plugin's event calendar widget implementation. When authenticated users with contributor-level permissions or higher submit data through the calendar widget interface, the plugin fails to adequately validate or escape the input parameters before storing and subsequently rendering them in web pages. This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-79 which defines Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) as a common web application security flaw occurring when untrusted data is incorporated into web pages without proper validation or escaping. The stored nature of this vulnerability means that malicious scripts are permanently saved within the plugin's data storage and executed every time affected pages are accessed, creating a persistent threat vector.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it provides attackers with significant privileges within the WordPress environment. Contributors and above typically have the ability to create and modify content, making this a particularly dangerous vector for privilege escalation attacks. When malicious scripts execute in the context of authenticated users, attackers can potentially access sensitive data, modify content, or even escalate their privileges further within the WordPress installation. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1548.001 which describes privilege escalation through the exploitation of software vulnerabilities. The persistent nature of stored XSS means that the attack remains active until the malicious content is removed from the database, potentially affecting all users who access the compromised pages.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should begin with immediate patching to version 5.9.10 or later, which contains the necessary input sanitization fixes. Administrators should also implement comprehensive monitoring of user activities within the WordPress environment, particularly focusing on content creation and modification by users with contributor permissions or higher. Network-based intrusion detection systems should be configured to monitor for suspicious script patterns in web traffic, as the injected scripts will likely contain identifiable characteristics that can be detected by security tools. Additionally, implementing proper access controls and role management within WordPress can limit the potential damage by reducing the number of users with elevated permissions who can interact with the vulnerable plugin components. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation and output escaping practices in web application development, as highlighted in OWASP Top 10 2021 category A03:2021 - Injection vulnerabilities, which includes XSS as a primary concern requiring robust sanitization mechanisms.