Envato Elements <= 2.0.10 & Template Kit <= 1.0.13 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Arbitrary File Upload
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.0.14
- Affected Plugin
- Template Kit – Import
- Affected Version
<= 1.0.13- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-434 · Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
- CVE
CVE-2021-4330
At a glance
CVE-2021-4330 is a high-severity Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type vulnerability in the Template Kit WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.0.13. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. The issue is fixed in version 1.0.14; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2021, reported by Chloe Chamberland.
Vulnerability Overview
The Envato Elements & Download and Template Kit – Import plugins for WordPress are vulnerable to arbitrary file uploads due to insufficient validation of file type upon extracting uploaded Zip files in the installFreeTemplateKit and uploadTemplateKitZipFile functions. This makes it possible for attackers with contributor-lever permissions and above to upload arbitrary files and potentially gain remote code execution in versions up to and including 1.0.13 of Template Kit – Import and versions up to and including 2.0.10 of Envato Elements & Download.
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 interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-434: Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
Reaching this weakness in Template Kit <= 1.0.13 takes an account at Contributor level or above. An unrestricted file upload lets a caller store a file whose type or destination the application does not properly constrain.
If an uploaded file lands anywhere the server will execute, the flaw becomes remote code execution and the site should be treated as fully compromised. For Template Kit the fix is 1.0.14: builds <= 1.0.13 are affected, anything from 1.0.14 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.0.14, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Contributor access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Template Kit 1.0.14 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
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