# CVE-2023-5360: Royal Elementor Addons and Templates - Arbitrary File Upload

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2023-5360 by the CrowdSec Live Exploit Tracker, built from real-world attack data crowdsourced from CrowdSec's global network.

Page: https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2023-5360

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Limited Exploitation. The vulnerability is known but shows very limited attacker interest or exploitation activity.
- **CVSS score:** 9.8
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** WP Royal Royal Elementor Addons and Templates
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-434 (Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type)
- **Tags:** cms, wordpress

## Description

The Royal Elementor Addons and Templates WordPress plugin before 1.3.79 does not properly validate uploaded files, which could allow unauthenticated users to upload arbitrary files, such as PHP and achieve RCE.

## CrowdSec analysis

[CVE-2023-5360](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2023-5360) is a critical vulnerability in the Royal Elementor Addons and Templates WordPress plugin, allowing unauthenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files through improper validation, potentially leading to remote code execution.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 20th of May 2025.

According to CrowdSec data, while opportunistic exploitation dominates, a portion of threat actors trying to exploit CVE-2023-5360 apply basic targeting methods such as port or service detection. This indicates emerging patterns of selective targeting.
CrowdSec data also reveals a clear uptick in attacks involving CVE-2023-5360 over the past week. Activity is above the usual baseline, suggesting growing attention from attackers. This may reflect rising awareness, recent exploit releases, or expanded targeting efforts.

Attacks typically target requests to the `/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php` endpoint, focusing on actions related to file uploads.

## Timeline

- 2023-10-31: CVE Published. CVE-2023-5360 is published to NVD.
- 2025-05-20: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2023-5360 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.
- 2025-06-05: CrowdSec First Seen. CrowdSec observes in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2023-5360 for the first time.

## References

- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2023/CVE-2023-5360.yaml

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2023-5360) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2023-5360. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.