CVE-2025-8360 Overview
CVE-2025-8360 is a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability [CWE-79] in the LA-Studio Element Kit for Elementor plugin for WordPress. The flaw affects all versions up to and including 1.5.5.1. Insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user-supplied attributes across several plugin widgets allow authenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts into pages. Attackers require contributor-level access or above to exploit the issue. Injected scripts execute in the browser of any user who visits an affected page, enabling session hijacking, credential theft, and redirection to attacker-controlled infrastructure.
Critical Impact
Authenticated contributors can persistently inject JavaScript that executes in the context of site visitors and administrators, potentially leading to full site takeover.
Affected Products
- LA-Studio Element Kit for Elementor plugin for WordPress
- All versions up to and including 1.5.5.1
- WordPress sites using vulnerable plugin widgets
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-09-06 - CVE-2025-8360 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-8360
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability resides in several widgets provided by the LA-Studio Element Kit for Elementor plugin. These widgets accept user-supplied attributes but fail to properly sanitize inputs or escape outputs when rendering content in the page DOM. Because the malicious payload persists in the WordPress database and executes when any user renders the affected page, this is a stored XSS variant rather than a reflected one.
Exploitation requires an authenticated session with at least contributor-level privileges. WordPress contributors can create and edit their own posts, which is sufficient to place malicious widget attributes into content that will later be rendered to visitors or reviewed by editors and administrators. When an administrator previews the injected content, the attacker's JavaScript executes with administrative browser context.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing or inadequate sanitization on widget attribute inputs and missing escaping when those attributes are echoed into HTML output. WordPress provides helper functions such as sanitize_text_field(), esc_attr(), and esc_html() for these purposes, but the affected widgets did not apply them consistently to user-controlled fields.
Attack Vector
An attacker authenticates to the target WordPress site with a contributor or higher account. The attacker edits a post or page and configures one of the vulnerable LA-Studio widgets, supplying a crafted attribute containing JavaScript payloads such as event handlers or <script> tags. Once the content is saved and rendered, the payload executes in the browsers of visitors and privileged users. See the Wordfence Vulnerability Analysis for details on the specific widgets and attributes affected.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-8360
Indicators of Compromise
- Widget attributes or post content containing <script> tags, javascript: URIs, or DOM event handlers such as onerror, onload, or onmouseover.
- Unexpected outbound requests from visitor browsers to attacker-controlled domains after loading pages built with the plugin.
- New or modified WordPress administrator accounts created shortly after a contributor edited a page containing LA-Studio widgets.
Detection Strategies
- Audit the wp_posts table and Elementor _elementor_data post meta for suspicious payloads embedded in LA-Studio widget attributes.
- Deploy a web application firewall rule set that inspects logged-in user submissions to WordPress editor endpoints for XSS patterns.
- Enable Content Security Policy (CSP) reporting to surface script executions from unexpected sources.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Monitor WordPress audit logs for contributor and author accounts editing pages that use Elementor widgets.
- Track plugin version inventory across managed WordPress sites and flag installations of LA-Studio Element Kit at or below 1.5.5.1.
- Review browser telemetry and endpoint logs for administrator sessions redirected to unfamiliar external hosts.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-8360
Immediate Actions Required
- Update the LA-Studio Element Kit for Elementor plugin to a version later than 1.5.5.1 as soon as it is available from the vendor.
- Review contributor, author, and editor accounts, and remove any that are unnecessary or inactive.
- Inspect existing posts and pages containing LA-Studio widgets for previously injected payloads and remove them.
Patch Information
The vendor addressed the vulnerability through plugin updates tracked in the WordPress plugin repository. Review the changesets at WordPress Plugin Changeset 3351161 and WordPress Plugin Changeset 3352347 for the specific code changes that add input sanitization and output escaping to the affected widgets.
Workarounds
- Temporarily restrict contributor-level and above account creation until the plugin is patched.
- Deactivate the LA-Studio Element Kit for Elementor plugin if a patched version is not yet installable.
- Deploy a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts to reduce the impact of stored XSS payloads.
- Enforce administrator review of all contributor submissions before publication.
# Verify installed plugin version via WP-CLI
wp plugin get lastudio-element-kit --field=version
# Update the plugin to the latest available version
wp plugin update lastudio-element-kit
# If no patched version is available, deactivate the plugin
wp plugin deactivate lastudio-element-kit
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
