VulnerabilityPublished 29 Dec 2025

CVE-2023-41656: Better Elementor Addons (WordPress plugin) · Missing Authorization

Affects Better Elementor Addons (WordPress plugin)Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.4 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 09:15 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.4Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 15% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
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 29 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 26 Oct 2026.

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
wpdive Better Elementor Addons	Affected <=1.3.7	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Monitor the vendor’s official channels for patches or updates addressing CVE-2023-41656 and apply them promptly once available. 2. Restrict access to the Better Elementor Addons plugin features to trusted and necessary users only, minimizing the number of accounts with privileges that could be leveraged. 3. Implement strict role-based access control (RBAC) within WordPress to ensure users have the minimum required permissions. 4. Regularly audit user accounts and permissions to detect and remove unnecessary privileges. 5. Employ web application firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting the plugin endpoints. 6. Monitor logs for unusual activity related to plugin usage or privilege escalation attempts. 7. Consider isolating critical WordPress instances or using staging environments to test plugin updates before production deployment. 8. Educate site administrators and developers about the risks of missing authorization vulnerabilities and best practices for secure plugin management.

Description

Missing Authorization vulnerability in wpdive Better Elementor Addons allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Better Elementor Addons: from n/a through 1.3.7.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to the integrity and availability of websites using the Better Elementor Addons plugin. Unauthorized users with limited privileges could exploit the missing authorization to alter site content, configurations, or disrupt normal operations, potentially leading to defacement, service interruptions, or degraded user experience. This can affect customer trust, brand reputation, and business continuity, especially for e-commerce platforms or service providers relying on WordPress. Since the vulnerability does not impact confidentiality, direct data breaches are less likely, but indirect effects such as misinformation or denial of service could have significant operational and financial consequences. Organizations with complex WordPress deployments or multiple contributors are at higher risk. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate threat but does not eliminate the risk of future attacks. Compliance with European data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR) may also be impacted if service disruptions affect data availability or integrity.

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/better-elementor-addons/vulnerability/wordpress-better-elementor-addons-plugin-1-3-5-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 30 Dec 2025, 22:42 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-862

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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