Subj : This top WordPress plugin had a security flaw that could let hack
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Mon Apr 03 2023 13:45:03

This top WordPress plugin had a security flaw that could let hackers hijack 
your site

Date:
Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:24:47 +0000

Description:
Experts find a way for WordPress users to elevate privileges and get admin 
status using a flaw in Elementor Pro.

FULL STORY
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One of the most popular website builder plugins for WordPress carries a 
high-severity vulnerability that threat actors can use to take over the 
vulnerable website completely, researchers have warned. 

Cybersecurity researcher Jerome Bruandet from NinTechNet said he discovered a 
flaw in Elementor Pro that allows an authenticated attacker to create an 
administrator account. That gives the attackers a range of possibilities, 
including one thats being actively used - to redirect all traffic to an 
external malicious website. 

ArsTechnica reports that the traffic from compromised websites is being 
redirected to away[dot]trackersline[dot]com. Critical vulnerability 

 WordPress security experts PatchStack also found some threat actors 
uploading malicious files to vulnerable websites, including 
wp-resortpack.zip, wp-rate.php, and lll.zip. 

The vulnerability has been rated 8.8/10, earning the status critical. Users 
are advised to update Elementor Pro to 3.11.7, or later, as all older 
versions are vulnerable to the flaw. Read more 

> Critical WordPress plugin bug leaves millions of sites open to attack 


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This is not the first time a high-severity flaw has been discovered in 
Elementor. In April last year, cybersecurity researchers from Wordfence found 
a flaw that allowed any authenticated user to upload arbitrary PHP code. Back 
then, the plug-in was in version 3.6.0, which introduced a new Onboarding 
module. The goal of the module was to simplify the plug-ins initial setup, 
but it came with an unusual method to register AJAX actions, with no 
capability checks. 

Consequently, any logged-in user could use any of the onboarding functions. 
That being said, an attacker could, for example, create a malicious Elementor 
Pro plugin zip, and use the onboarding functions to install it. The site 
would then execute any code present in the plugin, including code designed to 
take over the site, or access additional resources on the server. The 
functions could also be used to completely deface the site, researchers were 
saying at the time. 

Today, Elementor Pro is used by more than 12 million websites, ArsTechnica 
concludes. These are the best blogging sites right now 

Via: ArsTechnica



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/news/this-top-wordpress-plugin-had-a-security-flaw-t
hat-could-let-hackers-hijack-your-site


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