Critical bug found in WordPress plugin for Elementor with over one million installations

A WordPress plugin with over one million installations was found to contain a critical vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution on compromised websites.

The plugin in question is Essential Addons for Elementor, which gives WordPress site owners a library of over 80 elements and extensions to help design and customize pages and posts.

"This vulnerability allows any user, regardless of their authentication or authorization status, to perform a local file include attack," Patchstack said in a report. "This attack can be used to include local files in the website's file system, such as /etc/passwd. This can also be used to perform RCE by including a file containing malicious PHP code that is not normally executable."

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That said, the vulnerability only exists if widgets such as the dynamic gallery and product gallery are used, which utilize the vulnerable function, resulting in the inclusion of local files, an attack technique in which a web application is tricked into exposing or executing arbitrary files on the web server.

The flaw affects all versions of the plugin from 5.0.4 and earlier, and the vulnerability is attributed to researcher Wai Yan Myo Thet. Following responsible disclosure, the security hole was finally patched in version 5.0.5, released on January 28, "after several insufficient patches."

The development comes weeks after it was revealed that unidentified actors manipulated dozens of WordPress themes and plugins hosted on a developer's website to inject a backdoor with the aim of infecting more sites.

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