CVE-2026-118205: Essential Addons for Elementor privilege escalation vulnerability
high 7.4 published 2026-10-30
- Affected versions
- 6.8.7 and older
- Fixed in
- 6.8.8 *
- Latest version
- 6.8.8
- Severity
- High · CVSS 7.4
- Active installs
- 1+ million
- Type
- Privilege escalation
* The source does not name a fixed version; this is the first wordpress.org release after the last affected version.
What an attacker needs
- Access: None. No account or login is needed.
CVSS vector (score by Wordfence): CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
What to do now
- Update Essential Addons for Elementor to 6.8.8 or newer: Dashboard → Updates, or Plugins → “update now”.
- If you cannot update right away, deactivate it until you can.
- Turn on auto-updates for it: Plugins → “Enable auto-updates” on its row.
- Not sure which version you run? Check your version against every known Essential Addons for Elementor issue.
With WP-CLI:
wp plugin get essential-addons-for-elementor-lite --field=version. - If you ran an affected version and something looks off (new admin users, spam pages, redirects), run the free scan below.
The advisory
The Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 6.8.7 via the `page_id` parameter of the `register_user()` function. The vulnerability exists because the handler's post status deny-list rejects `future`, `draft`, and `pending` but admits `inherit` — the status carried by every WordPress revision — allowing an attacker to substitute a revision ID for a live page ID, while a flawed "last saved by administrator" check reads `post_author` on revisions (which reflects the editing administrator) rather than the `_edit_last` meta that is never copied to revisions, and the nonce gate is rendered ineffective because any unauthenticated visitor can freely obtain a valid nonce via the `wp_ajax_nopriv_eael_get_token` endpoint. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register an account with a role as high as Editor — gaining capabilities including `edit_others_posts`, `publish_pages`, `upload_files`, and `unfiltered_html` — by naming a revision whose `_elementor_data` contains an elevated role an administrator previously saved and later reverted on a page bearing the Login/Register widget. Successful exploitation requires that the site has "Anyone can register" enabled and that an administrator has at some point saved and then reverted a non-default "New User Role" on an affected page.
References
- NVD CVE-2026-118205 nvd.nist.gov
- Wordfence advisory www.wordfence.com
- Code change (fix) plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- Plugin source plugins.trac.wordpress.org
Related
Ran an affected version? Check your site for signs of a hack
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Where this data comes from
- CVE record, score and references: NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD), checked 2026-11-04. This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Versions and install counts: wordpress.org/plugins/essential-addons-for-elementor-lite (Plugins API), fetched 2026-11-01.
- The summary, “what an attacker needs” and “what to do” sections are our plain-English reading of the record and the plugin's release history; the quoted description is the record's own text. Spot an error? Email Daniel.