CVE-2023-41955Network attack vector

Contributor-to-Administrator escalation via unrestricted registration role

Published May 17, 2024 · Updated Apr 28, 2026

Privilege escalation in Essential Addons for Elementor 5.8.8 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to create administrator accounts. The Login/Register widget trusts its register_user_role setting when register_user passes the role to wp_insert_user, while restrictions exist only in the editor interface. Contributor access and an enabled registration widget are sufficient; submitting the form from an unpublished draft creates an administrator account.

CVSS severity8.8
High
EPSS probability0.79%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in Essential Addons for Elementor 5.8.8 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to create administrator accounts. The Login/Register widget trusts its register_user_role setting when register_user passes the role to wp_insert_user, while restrictions exist only in the editor interface. Contributor access and an enabled registration widget are sufficient; submitting the form from an unpublished draft creates an administrator account.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-41955
Published
May 17, 2024
Updated
Apr 28, 2026
Vendor
ReviewX Team
Product
Essential Addons for Elementor
Classifications
CWE-269, T1136
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 17, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Apr 28, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=n/a <=5.8.8 changes=[{"at":"5.8.9","status":"unaffected"}]

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

ReviewX Team · Essential Addons for Elementorversion=n/a <=5.8.8 changes=[{"at":"5.8.9","status":"unaffected"}]

Published CVSS scores

8.8PatchstackCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
T1136Create Account

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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