CVE-2025-8489 in King Addons for Elementor Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/31/2025
The King Addons for Elementor – Free Elements, Widgets, Templates, and Features for Elementor plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions 24.12.92 to 51.1.14 . This is due to the plugin not properly restricting the roles that users can register with. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register with administrator-level user accounts.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/31/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-8489 affects the King Addons for Elementor plugin, a popular WordPress plugin that provides additional elements, widgets, templates, and features for the Elementor page builder. This plugin is widely used across WordPress installations, making the identified security flaw particularly concerning from a threat perspective. The vulnerability exists within version ranges from 24.12.92 through 51.1.14, indicating a significant timeframe of affected releases that could potentially expose numerous websites to risk. The issue stems from inadequate role restriction mechanisms within the plugin's user registration process, creating a fundamental flaw in the authentication and authorization framework that the plugin implements.
The technical flaw manifests as a privilege escalation vulnerability that occurs during user registration within the plugin's functionality. Specifically, the plugin fails to properly validate or restrict which user roles can be assigned during the registration process. This improper access control allows unauthenticated attackers to manipulate the registration parameters and create accounts with administrator-level privileges. The vulnerability essentially bypasses the normal WordPress user role assignment restrictions that should prevent arbitrary users from gaining elevated access to the administrative interface. This type of flaw aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software systems, and represents a critical weakness in the plugin's access control implementation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching for affected WordPress installations. An unauthenticated attacker who exploits this vulnerability can gain full administrative control over a website without requiring any prior credentials or authorization. This level of access enables the attacker to perform any action within the WordPress environment, including modifying content, installing malicious plugins, changing user accounts, accessing sensitive data, and potentially using the compromised site as a launchpad for further attacks against other systems. The vulnerability essentially transforms any visitor to the website into a potential administrator, making it a critical concern for website owners who rely on the King Addons plugin for their site functionality.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2025-8489 should prioritize immediate action to address the vulnerability through plugin updates to versions that contain the necessary security patches. Website administrators should also implement additional security measures such as monitoring user registration activities, implementing strong access controls, and regularly auditing user accounts for unauthorized administrative privileges. Organizations should consider implementing web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious registration attempts, as well as establishing robust monitoring procedures to identify potential exploitation attempts. From a defensive perspective, this vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and access control mechanisms, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and privilege escalation. The incident underscores the critical need for regular security assessments of third-party plugins and maintaining updated security practices to prevent unauthorized access to web applications.