CVE-2026-57620: Exclusive Addons Elementor XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2026-57620 Overview

CVE-2026-57620 is a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability [CWE-79] in the Tim Strifler Exclusive Addons Elementor plugin for WordPress. The flaw stems from improper neutralization of user-supplied input during web page generation. Authenticated attackers with contributor-level or higher privileges can inject malicious scripts that persist across sessions. When another user views an affected page, the injected script executes in their browser context. The issue affects all versions of Exclusive Addons Elementor up to and including 2.7.9.8.

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers can inject persistent JavaScript payloads that execute in the browsers of site visitors and administrators, enabling session hijacking, credential theft, and administrative account takeover.

Affected Products

Tim Strifler Exclusive Addons Elementor plugin for WordPress
Versions from n/a through 2.7.9.8
WordPress installations using the vulnerable plugin

Discovery Timeline

2026-06-26 - CVE-2026-57620 published to NVD
2026-06-26 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-57620

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a stored cross-site scripting flaw in the Exclusive Addons Elementor WordPress plugin. The plugin fails to properly sanitize and escape user-controlled input before storing it in the database and rendering it back into WordPress pages. This allows an authenticated attacker to insert JavaScript payloads through plugin widget fields that are later served to any user visiting the affected page.

The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation). Exploitation requires low privileges and user interaction, but the impact scope changes because injected scripts execute in the security context of victim users, including administrators. The EPSS score is 0.13%, reflecting a low current probability of observed exploitation.

Root Cause

The plugin accepts input through Elementor widget configuration fields without applying sufficient output escaping. When the widget renders on the front end, the stored input is embedded directly into the HTML response. WordPress escaping functions such as esc_attr(), esc_html(), or wp_kses_post() are either absent or misapplied along the code path handling the affected fields.

Attack Vector

An attacker with contributor, author, or editor access authenticates to WordPress and edits a page or post using an Exclusive Addons Elementor widget. The attacker places a JavaScript payload into a vulnerable widget field. Once the content is saved and published, the payload persists in the database. When an administrator or site visitor loads the page, the browser executes the injected script. Consequences include session cookie theft, forced administrative actions via CSRF, and delivery of secondary payloads. Refer to the Patchstack XSS Vulnerability Report for additional technical detail.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-57620

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected <script> tags, on* event handlers, or javascript: URIs in wp_posts or wp_postmeta entries associated with Exclusive Addons widgets
Outbound requests from browser sessions to unknown domains shortly after loading pages built with the plugin
New administrator accounts or role changes created shortly after content edits by lower-privileged users
Modified Elementor page data containing encoded payloads such as <script> or base64-encoded JavaScript

Detection Strategies

Audit WordPress database content in Elementor-managed post meta for HTML event attributes and script tags
Enable WordPress activity logging to correlate content edits by contributor-level accounts with subsequent XSS artifacts
Deploy a web application firewall with rules that inspect POST bodies to admin-ajax.php and Elementor save endpoints for script payloads
Monitor browser Content Security Policy (CSP) violation reports for inline script executions on affected pages

Monitoring Recommendations

Continuously review the Exclusive Addons Elementor plugin version across all WordPress sites and flag installations at or below 2.7.9.8
Track authentication events for contributor and author accounts, particularly bulk edits to pages containing plugin widgets
Alert on administrative session activity that follows a page render, which can indicate a successful XSS-driven takeover
Log outbound HTTP requests from admin browsers during WordPress backend sessions to identify data exfiltration attempts

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-57620

Immediate Actions Required

Update Exclusive Addons Elementor to a version released after 2.7.9.8 as soon as the vendor publishes a fix
Audit contributor, author, and editor accounts and remove unnecessary privileges or dormant users
Review all pages built with Exclusive Addons widgets for injected scripts and remove malicious content
Rotate WordPress administrator credentials and invalidate active sessions if compromise is suspected

Patch Information

At the time of publication, the vendor advisory referenced in the Patchstack XSS Vulnerability Report lists versions through 2.7.9.8 as affected. Apply the fixed release from the WordPress plugin repository once available and verify the installed version matches the patched build.

Workarounds

Deactivate the Exclusive Addons Elementor plugin until a patched version is installed
Restrict content editing capabilities to trusted administrator accounts by removing the edit_posts capability from lower-privileged roles
Deploy a web application firewall rule that blocks script tags and JavaScript event handlers in Elementor widget POST parameters
Enforce a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts to limit the impact of stored payloads

bash

# Example CSP header to mitigate inline script execution
Header set Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'nonce-{RANDOM}'; object-src 'none'; base-uri 'self'; frame-ancestors 'self'"