Description

Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type vulnerability in Elementor Elementor Pro allows Using Malicious Files. This issue affects Elementor Pro: from n/a through 4.2.1.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "9.0",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-19T18:16:38.537Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-19T18:16:38.537Z",
  "executiveSummary": "An Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type vulnerability exists in the Elementor Pro product, specifically affecting versions from n/a through 4.2.1.\nThis security flaw permits authenticated or unauthenticated threat actors, depending on specific configuration parameters, to upload arbitrary malicious files to the underlying server infrastructure.\nSuccessful exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to severe security implications, including remote code execution, full compromise of the web application hosting environment, and unauthorized access to sensitive data assets.\nThe core vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation, type restriction enforcement, and inadequate sanitization mechanisms during the file ingestion process handled by the vulnerable component within Elementor Pro.\nAttackers with the capability to interact with the file upload functionality can leverage this weakness to bypass defensive perimeters, upload web shells or malicious script payloads directly into accessible directories, and subsequently execute arbitrary system commands.\nRemediation requires applying official vendor patches as soon as they become available and enforcing strict server-side validation policies regarding permitted file extensions and MIME types.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is classified as an Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type, residing within the file processing and upload handling mechanisms of Elementor Pro versions from n/a through 4.2.1.\nThe root cause of the issue is the absence of rigorous, robust server-side validation checks on uploaded files, specifically failing to adequately verify file extensions, MIME types, and internal file content signatures against a strict whitelist of safe formats.\nBecause the application permits the ingestion of executable or potentially dangerous file types without proper sanitization, an attacker can supply specially crafted payloads disguised as standard media or document formats, or directly upload raw script files if restrictions are entirely absent.\nThe attack flow typically proceeds as follows: First, the adversary identifies the file upload interface exposed by the vulnerable Elementor Pro component. Second, the attacker crafts a malicious payload, such as a PHP web shell. Third, the attacker submits this payload through the vulnerable upload vector. Fourth, because the application fails to restrict dangerous file types, the malicious file is successfully written to a web-accessible directory on the server file system. Finally, the attacker triggers the execution of the uploaded payload by sending a direct HTTP request to the stored file path, resulting in arbitrary code execution within the context of the web server process.\nDepending on the operational configuration of the target environment, exploitation may require specific authentication or privilege levels, such as administrative or contributor access, though misconfigurations or chaining with other vulnerabilities could lower these requirements.\nThe network exposure vector is inherently tied to the web interface exposed by the WordPress instance running the vulnerable Elementor Pro plugin.\nPost-exploitation impact includes complete system compromise, unauthorized data exfiltration, lateral movement within the internal network, deployment of secondary malware, and persistence mechanisms established via modified or newly created system files."
}