CVE-2026-25436: Royal Elementor Addons Auth Bypass Flaw

CVE-2026-25436 Overview

CVE-2026-25436 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability [CWE-862] in the WProyal Royal Elementor Addons plugin for WordPress. The flaw stems from incorrectly configured access control security levels that allow unauthenticated network-based attackers to access functionality without proper authorization checks. The issue affects all versions of Royal Elementor Addons before 1.7.1053. Exploitation requires no privileges and no user interaction, and the impact is limited to confidentiality of plugin-managed data.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated remote attackers can interact with plugin functionality that should require authorization, leading to disclosure of low-impact information from affected WordPress sites.

Affected Products

• WProyal Royal Elementor Addons (WordPress plugin)
• All versions prior to 1.7.1053
• WordPress sites with the plugin installed and activated

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-05-07 - CVE-2026-25436 published to NVD
• 2026-05-07 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-25436

Vulnerability Analysis

The Royal Elementor Addons plugin exposes one or more endpoints that fail to enforce capability or nonce checks before performing privileged actions. An attacker can send crafted HTTP requests directly to these endpoints over the network, bypassing the WordPress authorization model. Because the broken check sits at the access-control layer rather than at input validation, even well-formed requests from anonymous clients are accepted. The Patchstack advisory classifies this as a broken access control issue affecting plugin functionality up to and including version 1.7.1052.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or incorrectly configured authorization logic on plugin actions. WordPress plugins typically gate sensitive AJAX or REST handlers with current_user_can() capability checks and check_ajax_referer() or wp_verify_nonce() calls. In the affected versions, these checks are either absent, applied to the wrong capability, or evaluated after the action has already executed. This pattern is the canonical [CWE-862] Missing Authorization weakness.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability is exploitable remotely over the network with low attack complexity. An attacker identifies a WordPress site running a vulnerable Royal Elementor Addons version, then issues HTTP POST or GET requests to the plugin's exposed admin-ajax or REST endpoints. No authentication, session, or social engineering is required. Successful exploitation yields read access to plugin data that should be restricted to authorized roles.

No public proof-of-concept code or exploit module is currently available. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for the technical reference.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-25436

Indicators of Compromise

• Unauthenticated HTTP requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameters tied to Royal Elementor Addons handlers.
• Requests to plugin REST routes under /wp-json/ referencing royal-elementor-addons or wpr-addons namespaces from external IPs without prior authentication cookies.
• Anomalous spikes in 200-OK responses to plugin endpoints from clients that never authenticate via wp-login.php.

Detection Strategies

• Inventory WordPress installations and flag any running Royal Elementor Addons versions earlier than 1.7.1053.
• Inspect web server access logs for repeated requests to plugin AJAX or REST endpoints originating from a single IP without a valid authenticated session cookie.
• Deploy a web application firewall rule that alerts on plugin-specific action values when the request lacks an authenticated WordPress session.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Forward WordPress and web server logs to a central analytics platform and build dashboards for plugin endpoint abuse.
• Monitor outbound data volume from WordPress hosts for unusual spikes that could indicate enumeration of plugin-managed content.
• Track plugin version drift across the fleet so that vulnerable installations are surfaced as soon as a new release is published.

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-25436

Immediate Actions Required

• Update Royal Elementor Addons to version 1.7.1053 or later on all WordPress sites.
• Audit user roles and remove unnecessary contributor or higher accounts that could compound exposure.
• Review web server logs for the past 90 days for indicators listed above and investigate any matches.

Patch Information

The vendor addressed the issue in Royal Elementor Addons version 1.7.1053. Administrators should apply the update through the WordPress plugin management interface or via WP-CLI using wp plugin update royal-elementor-addons. Confirm the installed version after the update and validate that no custom forks of the plugin remain on the site. Refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for advisory details.

Workarounds

• If the patch cannot be applied immediately, deactivate the Royal Elementor Addons plugin until the upgrade is completed.
• Restrict access to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php and /wp-json/ plugin routes at the WAF or reverse proxy layer for unauthenticated clients where feasible.
• Place the WordPress admin surface behind IP allow-listing or HTTP basic authentication to reduce exposure to unauthenticated requests.

# Update Royal Elementor Addons via WP-CLI
wp plugin update royal-elementor-addons --version=1.7.1053
wp plugin list --name=royal-elementor-addons --fields=name,status,version