# CVE-2025-8489: Privilege escalation in King Addons for Elementor – 4,000+ ready Elementor sections, 650+ templates, 70+ FREE widgets for Elementor

> Unauthenticated attackers can register as administrators due to improper role restriction in the King Addons for Elementor plugin.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 31 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 1 Dec 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-q9wg-xwhc-4j78

## What is CVE-2025-8489?

CVE-2025-8489 is a critical vulnerability in kingaddons King Addons for Elementor – 4,000+ ready Elementor sections, 650+ templates, 70+ FREE widgets for Elementor, published on 31 Oct 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The King Addons for Elementor – Free Elements, Widgets, Templates, and Features for Elementor plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions 24.12.92 to 51.1.14 . This is due to the plugin not properly restricting the roles that users can register with. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register with administrator-level user accounts.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-8489?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-8489?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-8489 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-8489 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-8489 exists.

Public exploit code:

- WordPress King Addons for Elementor Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation to RCE (metasploit)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-8489 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-8489 is a critical vulnerability in kingaddons King Addons for Elementor – 4,000+ ready Elementor sections, 650+ templates, 70+ FREE widgets for Elementor, published on 31 Oct 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-8489 exists.

Affected product: kingaddons King Addons for Elementor – 4,000+ ready Elementor sections, 650+ templates, 70+ FREE widgets for Elementor. 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-2025-8489/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-8489/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-8489
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-8489
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-8489

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-8489/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.