CVE-2023-32243

Essential Addons for Elementor <= 5.7.1 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Password Reset to Privilege Escalation

2023-05-11 00:00
Rafie Muhammad

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 5.7.2
Affected Plugin
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets
Affected Version
<= 5.7.1
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-620 · Unverified Password Change
CVE
CVE-2023-32243
View all Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-32243 is a critical-severity Unverified Password Change vulnerability in the Essential Addons for Elementor WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 5.7.1. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 5.7.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2023, reported by Rafie Muhammad.

Vulnerability Overview

The Essential Addons for Elementor plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Unauthenticated Arbitrary Password Resets to Privilege Escalation in versions up to, and including, 5.7.1. This is due to a lack of validation of a password reset key in the reset_password function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to reset the password of any user on a vulnerable site, including an administrator, if they have the email or username of the targeted account.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-620: Unverified Password Change

Reaching this weakness in Essential Addons for Elementor <= 5.7.1 takes no account at all. Unverified password change means the password-update path does not require proof that the requester is the account owner.

An attacker who can reach the endpoint takes over the account outright, and the legitimate owner is locked out of it. For Essential Addons for Elementor the fix is 5.7.2: builds <= 5.7.1 are affected, anything from 5.7.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 5.7.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

This one needs no account at all, which puts it outside what login hardening can reach; WordSec's login security narrows the account-level paths around it, and the firewall is what inspects the request itself. None of that substitutes for the fix: Essential Addons for Elementor 5.7.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-32243https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e988d042-147c-4782-b728-71f5a50cecd8https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-32243

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C