Protecting Against the Essential Addons for Elementor Plugin Compromise

This post discusses the recent compromise of the popular Essential Addons for Elementor plugin, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2023-32243.

The active Essential Addons for Elementor exploit affects over one million websites worldwide, including those hosted at GreenGeeks.

Even if you’re not an expert web developer, it’s important to understand the implications of this compromise and the steps we’ve taken to safeguard your websites.

Understanding the Compromise

The Essential Addons for Elementor Plugin is a widely-used tool that allows website owners to create stunning designs and layouts without coding expertise.

Unfortunately, every software has vulnerabilities, and the Elementor Plugin is no exception.

Recently, a security flaw, identified as CVE-2023-32243, was discovered within the plugin’s codebase.

This vulnerability allows any unauthenticated user to reset user passwords, including user accounts with administrative-level access.

It is important to note that this vulnerability affects older versions of the affected plugin, and updating to the latest version is crucial for protection.

Our Proactive Approach and Ensuring Your Website’s Safety

Simply put, GreenGeeks takes your website security seriously!

Even though we’re not a fully managed provider, GreenGeeks takes proactive action in these cases of severe vulnerabilities to protect our clients.

In this case, we’ve already taken corrective action for our impacted customers, updating the Essential Addons for the Elementor plugin to the newly patched version as needed.

While we have updated the Essential Addons for Elementor on our network, you must remain proactive in securing your website.

In most cases, the best defense is keeping your software up to date since simply updating to the latest version available from the official WordPress repository will patch the vulnerabilities and enhance the security of your website.

The best way to keep your site up to date is by using the WordPress automatic update system within wp-admin, bypassing the need for any 3rd party software.

Conclusion

At GreenGeeks, we prioritize the security of our clients, and we strive to help you stay informed of potential security threats to ensure your peace of mind.

Although we’ve taken the critical steps to update impacted sites using the Essential Addons for Elementor plugin and remove the vulnerability, we encourage you to update all other software installed within your GreebGeeks account to maintain the overall security of your hosting account.

Remember, staying vigilant about vulnerabilities and keeping your software up to date is crucial for a safe online presence.

If you have any questions or concerns about this vulnerability or its impact on your GreenGeeks Account, please don’t hesitate to contact the GreenGeeks Technical Support Team for assistance.