CVE-2026-9018 Privilege escalation in Easy Elements for Elementor – Addons & Website Templates
Unauthenticated attackers can gain administrator privileges by injecting wp_capabilities into the custom_meta parameter during user registration.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-9018?
CVE-2026-9018 is a high-severity vulnerability in themewant Easy Elements for Elementor – Addons & Website Templates, published on 22 May 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The Easy Elements for Elementor – Addons & Website Templates plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.4.5 via the `easyel_handle_register()` function. This is due to the `wp_ajax_nopriv_eel_register` AJAX handler iterating the attacker-controlled `custom_meta` POST array and writing every supplied key-value pair to the newly created user's meta via `update_user_meta()` without any key whitelist or blocklist, allowing the `wp_capabilities` user meta key to be overwritten after `wp_insert_user()` has already assigned a safe role. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register a new account with full administrator-level privileges by supplying `custom_meta[wp_capabilities][administrator]=1`. Exploitation requires that user registration is enabled on the site and that at least one page exposes the Login/Register widget, which publishes the required `easy_elements_nonce` into the page DOM where it can be retrieved by any unauthenticated visitor via a simple GET request.
Weakness: CWE-269
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-9018?
How do I fix CVE-2026-9018?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-9018 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2026-9018 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-9018 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Public exploit code: 1 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-jvg6-x4cw-2wj7.