Executive Summary

The Elementor Website Builder plugin for WordPress has a vulnerability related to incorrect authorization that allows sensitive information exposure. Specifically, a logic error in the permission check function is_allowed_to_read_template() causes non-published templates to be treated as readable without verifying if the user has edit capabilities.

This means that authenticated users with contributor-level access or higher can read private or draft Elementor template content by supplying a template_id to the get_template_data action of the elementor_ajax endpoint.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can allow users who should not have full access to certain content—such as contributors—to view private or draft templates that are meant to be restricted.

As a result, sensitive or unpublished design templates could be exposed to unauthorized users, potentially leading to information leakage or misuse of proprietary content.

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Mitigation Strategies

The vulnerability is caused by a logic error in the permission check within the Elementor Website Builder plugin for WordPress, allowing authenticated users with contributor-level access and above to read private or draft templates.

An immediate mitigation step is to update the Elementor plugin to a version that includes the fix for this issue, where the permission logic has been corrected to properly restrict access to non-published or private templates.

• Update Elementor plugin to a version later than 3.35.7 where the permission check is fixed.
• Restrict contributor-level user permissions if updating immediately is not possible.
• Monitor and audit user access to ensure no unauthorized template data is being accessed.

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Compliance Impact

The vulnerability allows authenticated users with contributor-level access and above to read private or draft Elementor template content without proper authorization. This exposure of sensitive or private information could lead to non-compliance with data protection standards and regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA, which require strict controls on access to sensitive data.

Since unauthorized disclosure of private content is possible, organizations using the affected Elementor plugin versions might face risks related to confidentiality breaches, potentially violating regulatory requirements for protecting personal or sensitive information.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability allows authenticated users with contributor-level access or higher to read private or draft Elementor template content by supplying a template_id to the get_template_data action of the elementor_ajax endpoint.

To detect exploitation attempts on your system or network, you can monitor HTTP requests targeting the WordPress site's elementor_ajax endpoint, specifically those containing the get_template_data action and a template_id parameter.

Example commands to detect such requests include:

• Using grep on web server logs to find suspicious AJAX requests: grep 'elementor_ajax' /var/log/apache2/access.log | grep 'get_template_data'
• Using tcpdump or tshark to capture HTTP POST requests containing 'get_template_data' in the payload targeting the WordPress site.
• Checking WordPress user roles and permissions to identify users with contributor-level access or higher who might exploit this vulnerability.

Note that no specific detection commands are provided in the available resources, so these suggestions are based on the vulnerability description and typical monitoring practices.

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