CVE-2024-9668 in Royal Elementor Addons and Templates Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 11/13/2024
The Royal Elementor Addons and Templates plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the plugin's Countdown widget in all versions up to, and including, 1.7.1001 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user supplied attributes. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor-level access and above, 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 • 02/27/2025
The Royal Elementor Addons and Templates plugin for WordPress represents a widely used extension that enhances website functionality through various widgets and templates. This particular vulnerability affects versions up to and including 171001 where the Countdown widget implementation contains a critical security flaw that enables stored cross-site scripting attacks. The vulnerability specifically targets the plugin's handling of user-supplied attributes within the Countdown widget functionality, creating a persistent security risk that can be exploited by authenticated attackers.
The technical flaw stems from inadequate input sanitization and insufficient output escaping mechanisms within the plugin's codebase. When administrators or users with contributor-level privileges and above create or modify Countdown widget configurations, the plugin fails to properly validate and sanitize the input data before storing it in the database. This allows malicious script code to be stored as part of the widget configuration, which then gets executed whenever any user accesses pages containing the compromised widget. The vulnerability operates at the application level and leverages the principle that user-supplied data should never be trusted without proper sanitization before being processed or stored.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it enables authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary web scripts in the context of the victim's browser. This creates a persistent threat where compromised pages can serve as attack vectors for further exploitation, including session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious sites. The vulnerability affects all users who have access to modify pages containing the Countdown widget, making it particularly dangerous in environments where multiple contributors or editors have administrative privileges. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that once exploited, the malicious scripts will continue to execute for any user who accesses affected pages without requiring repeated exploitation attempts.
Security practitioners should implement immediate mitigations including updating to the latest version of the plugin where the vulnerability has been patched, reviewing all existing Countdown widget configurations for potential malicious code injection, and implementing proper access controls to limit contributor-level privileges to only trusted users. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which describes Cross-Site Scripting flaws, and represents a specific instance of how insufficient input validation can lead to persistent security threats. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls and content security policies as additional defensive measures to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities. This issue demonstrates the importance of proper input sanitization and output escaping as fundamental security practices that must be implemented throughout all application components to prevent stored XSS attacks.
The vulnerability classification places this issue within the ATT&CK framework under T1566 which covers Phishing techniques, specifically targeting the exploitation of web application vulnerabilities. The attack vector requires authentication privileges, making it a privilege escalation threat that can be used to establish persistent access to compromised systems. Security teams should conduct thorough audits of all installed WordPress plugins to identify similar vulnerabilities and ensure proper patch management procedures are in place to address such threats promptly.