CVE-2024-3733 in Essential Addons for Elementor Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 04/25/2024
The Essential Addons for Elementor – Best Elementor Templates, Widgets, Kits & WooCommerce Builders plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in all versions up to, and including, 5.9.15 via the ajax_load_more() , eael_woo_pagination_product_ajax(), and ajax_eael_product_gallery() functions. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to extract posts that may be in private or draft status.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/11/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-3733 affects the Essential Addons for Elementor WordPress plugin, specifically targeting versions up to and including 5.9.15. This security flaw resides within three distinct AJAX handler functions: ajax_load_more(), eael_woo_pagination_product_ajax(), and ajax_eael_product_gallery(). The core issue stems from insufficient access control mechanisms that fail to properly authenticate or authorize requests before exposing sensitive content. These functions are designed to handle dynamic content loading for various Elementor elements including templates, widgets, and WooCommerce components, but they lack proper validation to ensure that only authorized users can access private or draft content.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to exploit the exposed AJAX endpoints by directly calling these functions without proper authentication checks. When these functions process requests, they retrieve and return WordPress posts without verifying whether the requesting user has appropriate permissions to view the content. This represents a classic authorization bypass vulnerability that falls under CWE-284, which specifically addresses improper access control. The flaw demonstrates a failure in the principle of least privilege, where the functions should only return content that the requesting user is authorized to access, but instead indiscriminately expose all posts regardless of their status or access restrictions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it enables attackers to extract sensitive information from WordPress installations that rely on the Essential Addons plugin. Private posts, draft content, and potentially confidential WooCommerce product information can be accessed without authentication, creating a substantial risk for businesses and organizations that depend on WordPress for their digital presence. This exposure could lead to data leakage, competitive intelligence theft, and potential compliance violations depending on the nature of the sensitive content. The vulnerability affects not only individual users but also organizations that may have multiple users with varying access levels, as the flaw allows for unrestricted access to all content regardless of user privileges.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-3733 should focus on immediate patching of the Essential Addons plugin to version 5.9.16 or later, which contains the necessary security fixes. Organizations should also implement network-level restrictions to limit access to the affected AJAX endpoints until the patch is applied. Additionally, security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual patterns of access to these endpoints, which could indicate exploitation attempts. From a broader security perspective, this vulnerability highlights the importance of implementing proper input validation and access control mechanisms for all AJAX endpoints in WordPress plugins. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under T1213 - Data from Information Repositories, as it involves unauthorized access to stored data through application interfaces. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls to provide additional protection against such attacks while awaiting official patches.