# 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.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** 22 May 2026
- **Updated:** 22 May 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-jvg6-x4cw-2wj7

## 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 (Improper Privilege Management)

## 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:

- Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation CVE-2026-9018: Easy Elements for Elementor (github_poc): https://github.com/xxconi/CVE-2026-9018

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-9018 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-9018 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: themewant Easy Elements for Elementor – Addons & Website 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-2026-9018/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-9018/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-9018
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-9018
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-9018

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-9018/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.