In recent news, a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability (CVE-2025-1005) has been discovered in the ElementsKit Elementor addons plugin for WordPress. The popular plugin has over 100,000 installations, making this a critical threat to many WordPress websites. This vulnerability affects the plugin's Image Accordion widget in all versions up to, and including, 3.4..

If exploited, this vulnerability could allow authenticated attackers, with contributor-level access and above, the ability to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages. This malicious code could then execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. This blog post provides details on the discovered vulnerability, including a code snippet, original references, and an overview of the exploitation process.

Code Snippet

The vulnerability exists due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user-supplied attributes, specifically in the Image Accordion widget.

Below is an example of how an attacker could inject a malicious script into a vulnerable site

[ekit_image_accordion_item src='https://example.com/image.jpg'; title='<script>alert("XSS")</script>']

In this scenario, the attacker inserts a JavaScript alert containing "XSS" into the 'title' attribute of the Image Accordion widget. When a user accesses the page containing this widget, the alert will be triggered.

Original References

For more details on this vulnerability and its status, you can refer to the following original references:

1. CVE Details: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2025-1005
2. National Vulnerability Database (NVD): https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-1005
3. WPVulnDB: https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/10731

Exploit Details

To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must have an account on the target WordPress website, with contributor-level access and above. As the attacker only requires contributor-level access, this widens the attack surface for possible malicious activity.

Furthermore, attackers can leverage this vulnerability for several purposes, including stealing sensitive information, injecting malicious content, defacing websites, or redirecting users to malicious external pages.

Mitigation Steps

To protect your WordPress website from this vulnerability, it's essential to update the ElementsKit Elementor addons plugin to the latest version (3.4.1 or later) as soon as possible. Additionally, it is always recommended to follow best security practices, such as regularly updating all plugins and themes, using strong and unique passwords, and enforcing two-factor authentication for all user accounts.

Conclusion

Stored Cross-Site Scripting vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-1005 can pose a significant threat to website owners, as they enable attackers to manipulate website content and potentially compromise user data. With the widespread use of the ElementsKit Elementor addons plugin, it's crucial for WordPress administrators to update their plugin installation and follow good security practices to safeguard their websites and user data.

Timeline

Published on: 02/15/2025 10:15:08 UTC
Last modified on: 02/24/2025 12:31:01 UTC