CVE-2023-40679VulnerabilityPublished 24 Dec 2025

CVE-2023-40679: Master Addons for Elementor (WordPress theme) · Missing Authorization

Affects Master Addons for Elementor (WordPress theme)Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 30% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: Low
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 24 Dec 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Jewel Theme Master Addons for Elementor	Affected <=2.0.5.3	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Monitor official Jewel Theme and Master Addons for Elementor channels for security patches and apply updates promptly once available. 2. Until a patch is released, restrict access to the plugin's administrative functions by limiting user roles and permissions strictly to trusted administrators. 3. Implement Web Application Firewalls (WAF) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting the plugin's endpoints. 4. Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability scans focusing on WordPress plugins to identify and remediate similar issues proactively. 5. Employ intrusion detection systems (IDS) to monitor for unusual activity indicative of exploitation attempts. 6. Educate site administrators on the risks of unauthorized plugin access and enforce strong authentication mechanisms for WordPress admin accounts. 7. Consider isolating critical WordPress instances or using containerization to limit the blast radius of potential exploitation. 8. Backup website data regularly to enable quick recovery in case of integrity or availability compromise.

Description

Missing Authorization vulnerability in Jewel Theme Master Addons for Elementor allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Master Addons for Elementor: from n/a through 2.0.5.3.

Impact

For European organizations, the vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily to websites and web applications built on WordPress using the Master Addons for Elementor plugin. Potential impacts include unauthorized changes to website content, defacement, injection of malicious content, or denial of service conditions affecting availability. This could disrupt business operations, damage brand reputation, and lead to loss of customer trust. Organizations in sectors such as e-commerce, media, education, and government that rely heavily on WordPress for their web presence are particularly at risk. Given the network-exploitable nature and lack of required authentication, attackers can remotely target vulnerable sites without prior access, increasing the threat surface. The absence of known exploits suggests limited current active exploitation, but the medium severity and ease of exploitation mean attackers may develop exploits in the future. Additionally, compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR could be impacted if the vulnerability leads to unauthorized data manipulation or service outages.

CWE-862Missing Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #4OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Exploitation of Thunderbolt Protection Flaws (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

vdp.patchstack.com/database/wordpress/plugin/master-addons/vulnerability/wordpress-master-elementor-addons-plugin-2-0-3-broken-access-control-vulnerability?_s_id=cve (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 24 Dec 2025, 13:11 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-862

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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