HomeVulnerabilitiesCVE-2026-9018
Disclosed

CVE-2026-9018

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.

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Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low Priority
0.03%

The Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) uses machine learning to estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days.

0% (Theoretical)100% (Certainty)

7-Day Exploitation Trend

Vulnerability Timeline

1 events
May 22, 2026
Vulnerability Disclosed
Published to component-level vulnerability database.

Threat Actor Attribution

PREMIUM INTEL
Associated Groups:Lazarus Group, APT28
Ransomware Campaigns:LockBit 3.0, BlackCat
IoCs (Indicators):14 IPs, 3 Hashes

Remediation & Mitigation

SOLUTION

Official patches and mitigation steps are available for this vulnerability.

# Update Command
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y specific-package
# Verify installation
dpkg -l | grep package-name

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Check your domain or package.json for CVE-2026-9018 exposure.

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Vulnerability Details

CVSS Base Score
8.8/ 10
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published Date
May 22, 2026
Last Modified
May 22, 2026
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