dbcve.org
Essential Addons For ElementorWordPress extension · Wpdeveloper

CVE-2021-4447

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.6.5 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The Essential Addons for Elementor plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions up to and including 4.6.4 due to a lack of restrictions on who can add a registration form and a custom registration role to an Elementor created page. This makes it possible for attackers with access to the Elementor page builder to create a new registration form that defaults to the user role being set to administrator and subsequently register as an administrative user.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The Essential Addons for Elementor WordPress plugin (versions up to 4.6.4) lacks access controls on its registration form functionality. Users with access to the Elementor page builder can create registration forms that default to the administrator role, enabling privilege escalation by registering new admin accounts.

MitigationUpdate Essential Addons for Elementor to a version newer than 4.6.4. Review existing user accounts for unauthorized administrator accounts created during the vulnerable period.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Essential Addons For ElementorWordPress extension
Affected:< 4.6.5

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Essential Addons for Elementor version
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins > Essential Addons for Elementor and note the version number. Alternatively, check the version in the plugin files at wp-content/plugins/essential-addons-for-elementor/readme.txt or in the plugin header comment of the main PHP file.
    Affected if The installed version is less than 4.6.5 (versions 4.6.4 and below are vulnerable).
  2. Verify registration form feature status
    In WordPress admin, navigate to Essential Addons > Elements and locate the 'Registration Form' element. Check if it is enabled (toggle turned on).
    Affected if The Registration Form element is enabled, making the vulnerable functionality active.
  3. Review all administrator accounts
    In WordPress admin, go to Users > All Users and filter or scroll to view all accounts with Administrator role. Note the creation date and username for each admin account.
    Affected if There are administrator accounts you did not create, with creation dates during the period the vulnerable plugin was active, or with suspicious usernames.
  4. Audit user registration forms
    In WordPress admin, go to Pages > All Pages and look for pages created using the Essential Addons Registration Form element. Check the form settings for the assigned user role.
    Affected if A registration form exists that assigns the Administrator role (or any elevated role) to new users.

Your environment is affected if Essential Addons for Elementor version is below 4.6.5 AND the Registration Form element is enabled AND either suspicious admin accounts exist or registration forms with admin role assignment are present.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.6.5 or later
Fixed in 4.6.5
Interim mitigation

Update Essential Addons for Elementor to a version newer than 4.6.4. Review existing user accounts for unauthorized administrator accounts created during the vulnerable period.

Recommended fix High confidence

4.6.5 or later

  1. Backup the WordPress database and files before making any changes
  2. Navigate to WordPress Dashboard > Plugins
  3. Locate Essential Addons for Elementor in the plugin list
  4. Click 'Update now' if an update is available, or manually upload version 4.6.5 or later from the WordPress plugin repository
  5. Verify the plugin version after updating to confirm the fix is applied
  6. Test that the registration form functionality still works as expected

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Essential Addons For Elementor Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-4447 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data