# CVE-2021-42360: Starter Templates — Elementor, Gutenberg & Beaver Builder Templates <= 2.7.0 Authenticated Block Import to Stored XSS

> Authenticated users can inject malicious JavaScript into Elementor pages via block import, leading to stored XSS and potential site compromise.

- **Severity:** High 7.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 17 Nov 2021
- **Updated:** 14 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-w3jq-67c5-3rfj

## What is CVE-2021-42360?

CVE-2021-42360 is a high-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in BrainStormForce Starter Templates — Elementor, Gutenberg & Beaver Builder Templates, published on 17 Nov 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

On sites that also had the Elementor plugin for WordPress installed, it was possible for users with the edit_posts capability, which includes Contributor-level users, to import blocks onto any page using the astra-page-elementor-batch-process AJAX action. An attacker could craft and host a block containing malicious JavaScript on a server they controlled, and then use it to overwrite any post or page by sending an AJAX request with the action set to astra-page-elementor-batch-process and the url parameter pointed to their remotely-hosted malicious block, as well as an id parameter containing the post or page to overwrite. Any post or page that had been built with Elementor, including published pages, could be overwritten by the imported block, and the malicious JavaScript in the imported block would then be executed in the browser of any visitors to that page.

Weakness: CWE-99 (Improper Control of Resource Identifiers), CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation), CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-42360?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Brainstormforce Starter Templates.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-42360?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-42360 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-42360 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-42360 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in BrainStormForce Starter Templates — Elementor, Gutenberg & Beaver Builder Templates

- [CVE-2023-41804](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41804/): WordPress Starter Templates Plugin <= 3.2.4 is vulnerable to Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF) (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2023-41805](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41805/): Broken Access Control vulnerability in multiple Brainstorm Force plugins (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2022-46851](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-46851/): WordPress Starter Templates Plugin <= 3.1.20 is vulnerable to Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) (medium 4.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-42360 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-42360 is a high-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in BrainStormForce Starter Templates — Elementor, Gutenberg & Beaver Builder Templates, published on 17 Nov 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-42360 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: BrainStormForce Starter Templates — Elementor, Gutenberg & Beaver Builder Templates. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42360/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42360/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-42360
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-42360
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-42360

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42360/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.