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How Activity Logs Help WordPress Admins Better Manage Website Security

How Activity Logs Help WordPress Admins Better Manage Website Security

Aug 20, 2019
Managing a WordPress website can sap a lot of your time and energy, which otherwise you'd spend on managing your business. If you're looking to cut down on the hours, you spend troubleshooting WordPress technical and security problems, better managing and monitoring your website and users, or your customers, you need a WordPress activity log plugin . This post explains how to use the WP Security Audit Log plugin to keep a WordPress security audit log (aka activity log). It also highlights five ways an activity log helps you better manage your website and users and improve its security. WordPress Security Audit Logs - Introduction and Benefits An activity log is a record of everything that happens on your WordPress website. This includes a record of plugins, themes, and WordPress core changes, users activity (such as content changes), site settings changes, break-in attempts, WooCommerce store, and product changes, and everything else that happens on your website. WordP...
Unpatched DoS Flaw Could Help Anyone Take Down WordPress Websites

Unpatched DoS Flaw Could Help Anyone Take Down WordPress Websites

Feb 05, 2018
A simple yet serious application-level denial of service (DoS) vulnerability has been discovered in WordPress CMS platform that could allow anyone to take down most WordPress websites even with a single machine—without hitting with a massive amount of bandwidth, as required in network-level DDoS attacks to achieve the same. Since the company has denied patching the issue, the vulnerability ( CVE-2018-6389 ) remains unpatched and affects almost all versions of WordPress released in last nine years, including the latest stable release of WordPress (Version 4.9.2). Discovered by Israeli security researcher Barak Tawily , the vulnerability resides in the way " load-scripts.php ," a built-in script in WordPress CMS, processes user-defined requests. For those unaware, load-scripts.php file has only been designed for admin users to help a website improve performance and load page faster by combining (on the server end) multiple JavaScript files into a single request. Howe...
The Future of Serverless Security in 2025: From Logs to Runtime Protection

The Future of Serverless Security in 2025: From Logs to Runtime Protection

Nov 28, 2024Cloud Security / Threat Detection
Serverless environments, leveraging services such as AWS Lambda, offer incredible benefits in terms of scalability, efficiency, and reduced operational overhead. However, securing these environments is extremely challenging. The core of current serverless security practices often revolves around two key components: log monitoring and static analysis of code or system configuration. But here is the issue with that: 1. Logs Only Tell Part of the Story Logs can track external-facing activities, but they don't provide visibility into the internal execution of functions. For example, if an attacker injects malicious code into a serverless function that doesn't interact with external resources (e.g., external APIs or databases), traditional log-based tools will not detect this intrusion. The attacker may execute unauthorized processes, manipulate files, or escalate privileges—all without triggering log events. 2. Static Misconfiguration Detection is Incomplete Static tools that check ...
'WordPress SEO by Yoast' Plugin Vulnerability Affects Millions

'WordPress SEO by Yoast' Plugin Vulnerability Affects Millions

Mar 11, 2015
A critical vulnerability has been discovered in the most popular plugin of the WordPress content management platform (CMS) that puts tens of Millions of websites at risks of being hacked by the attackers. The vulnerability actually resides in most versions of a WordPress plugin known as ' WordPress SEO by Yoast ,' which has more than 14 Million downloads according to Yoast website, making it one of the most popular plugins of WordPress for easily optimizing websites for search engines i.e Search engine optimization (SEO). The vulnerability in WordPress SEO by Yoast has been discovered by Ryan Dewhurst , developer of the WordPress vulnerability scanner ' WPScan '. All the versions prior to 1.7.3.3 of 'WordPress SEO by Yoast' are vulnerable to Blind SQL Injection web application flaw, according to an advisory published today. SQL injection (SQLi) vulnerabilities are ranked as critical one because it could cause a database breach and lead to confidential information ...
cyber security

Creating, Managing and Securing Non-Human Identities

websitePermisoCybersecurity / Identity Security
A new class of identities has emerged alongside traditional human users: non-human identities (NHIs). Permiso Security's new eBook details everything you need to know about managing and securing non-human identities, and strategies to unify identity security without compromising agility.
Hacking WordPress Website with Just a Single Comment

Hacking WordPress Website with Just a Single Comment

Apr 28, 2015
Most of the time, we have reported about WordPress vulnerabilities involving vulnerable plugins, but this time a Finnish security researcher has discovered a critical zero-day vulnerability in the core engine of the WordPress content management system. Yes, you heard it right. The WordPress CMS used by Millions of website is vulnerable to a zero-day flaw that could allow hackers to remote code execution on the Web server in order to take full control of it. The vulnerability, found by Jouko Pynnönen of Finland-based security firm Klikki Oy, is a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) flaw buried deep into the WordPress' comments system. The vulnerability affects the WordPress versions 3.9.3, 4.1.1, 4.1.2, and the latest WordPress version 4.2. Pynnönen disclosed the details of the zero-day flaw, along with a video and a proof-of-concept code for an exploit of the bug, on his blog post on Sunday before the WordPress team could manage to release a patch. Why the researcher m...
45000 Wordpress blogs hacked on 2nd day of Spam campaign

45000 Wordpress blogs hacked on 2nd day of Spam campaign

Oct 17, 2012
Yesterday I have reported about a huge mysterious hack in wordpress servers, that cause compromise of 15000 wordpress account and hacker managed to post same spam article of " Money making sites " with title - " Im getting paid! " on each blog. We explained how hacker was earning in thousands of dollars by just sharing his Referral link on all these hacked sites. The campaign include some malicious domains where hacker is redirecting all readers and service from a well known email marketing company - Getresponse . Using the same dork -- site:wordpress.com "Im getting paid!" , today we tried to find out number of hacked accounts and once again another shocking number - its 59300 blogs in compromised list on 2nd day of hacking campaign. So many blogs have been compromised without any known method and wordpress team still not in action. As mentioned in last article, yesterday I tried to contact with Getresponse response team whose ...
Critical WordPress REST API Bug: Prevent Your Blog From Being Hacked!

Critical WordPress REST API Bug: Prevent Your Blog From Being Hacked!

Feb 02, 2017
Last week, WordPress patched three security flaws, but just yesterday the company disclosed about a nasty then-secret zero-day vulnerability that let remote unauthorized hackers modify the content of any post or page within a WordPress site. The nasty bug resides in Wordpress REST API that would lead to the creation of two new vulnerabilities: Remote privilege escalation and Content injection bugs. Wordpress is the world's most popular content management system (CMS) used on millions of websites. The CMS recently added and enabled REST API by default on WordPress 4.7.0. Flaw lets Unauthorised Hacker Redirect Visitors to Malicious Exploits The vulnerability is easy to exploit and affects versions 4.7 and 4.7.1 of the Wordpress content management system (CMS), allowing an unauthenticated attacker to modify all pages on unpatched sites and redirect visitors to malicious exploits and a large number of attacks. The vulnerability was discovered and reported by Marc-Alexandr...
WordPress Update Breaks Automatic Update Feature—Apply Manual Update

WordPress Update Breaks Automatic Update Feature—Apply Manual Update

Feb 09, 2018
WordPress administrators are once again in trouble. WordPress version 4.9.3 was released earlier this week with patches for a total 34 vulnerabilities, but unfortunately, the new version broke the automatic update mechanism for millions of WordPress websites. WordPress team has now issued a new maintenance update, WordPress 4.9.4 , to patch this severe bug, which WordPress admins have to install manually. According to security site WordFence , when WordPress CMS tries to determine whether the site needs to install an updated version, if available, a PHP error interrupts the auto-update process. If not updated manually to the latest 4.9.4 version, the bug would leave your website on WordPress 4.9.3 forever, leaving it vulnerable to future security issues. Here's what WordPress lead developer Dion Hulse explained about the bug: "#43103-core aimed to reduce the number of API calls which get made when the auto-update cron task is run. Unfortunately, due to human e...
15000 Wordpress blogs hacked for making money from Survey

15000 Wordpress blogs hacked for making money from Survey

Oct 16, 2012
Wordpress Security Team is sending out warning messages to thousands of wordpress users that their account has been compromised recently. Warning message include " We recently detected suspicious activity on your WordPress.com account. To protect your identity and keep your site safe, we've reset your password. " Message continue " To reset your password and get access to your account and blog, please visit WordPress.com. Click on "Forgot password?" in the Login toolbar to get started. It is very important that your password be unique because using the same password across different web applications increases the risk of your account being hacked. " Note: Wordpress officially has not announce yet any security breach news on their website, but these warning mails are silently received by compromised account holders. Method of hack is still not confirmed. But hacking 15000 blogs from wordpress server and posting same article on all sites most ...
Unpatched Wordpress Flaw Could Allow Hackers To Reset Admin Password

Unpatched Wordpress Flaw Could Allow Hackers To Reset Admin Password

May 04, 2017
WordPress, the most popular CMS in the world, is vulnerable to a logical vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to reset targeted users' password under certain circumstances. The vulnerability (CVE-2017-8295) becomes even more dangerous after knowing that it affects all versions of WordPress — including the latest 4.7.4 version. The WordPress flaw was discovered by Polish security researcher Dawid Golunski of Legal Hackers last year in July and reported it to the WordPress security team, who decided to ignore this issue, leaving millions of websites vulnerable. "This issue has been reported to WordPress security team multiple times with the first report sent back in July 2016. It was reported both directly via security contact email, as well as via HackerOne website," Golunski wrote in an advisory published today. "As there has been no progress, in this case, this advisory is finally released to the public without an official patch." Golunski ...
WordPress Vulnerability Puts Millions of Websites At Risk

WordPress Vulnerability Puts Millions of Websites At Risk

May 07, 2015
Millions of WordPress websites are at risks of being completely hijacked by the hackers due to a critical cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability present in the default installation of the widely used content management system. The cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability, uncovered by the security researcher reported by Robert Abela of Security firm  Netsparker . Wordpress vulnerability resides in Genericons webfont package that is part of default WordPress Twenty Fifteen Theme. Here comes the threat: The XSS vulnerability has been identified as a " DOM-based ," which means the flaw resides in the document object model (DOM) that is responsible for text, images, headers, and links representation in a web browser. The easy-to-exploit DOM-based Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability occurred due to an insecure file included with Genericons that allowed the Document Object Model Environment in the victim's browser to be modified. What's DOM-Bas...
WordPress Plugin Zero-Day Vulnerability Affects Thousands of Sites

WordPress Plugin Zero-Day Vulnerability Affects Thousands of Sites

Feb 05, 2015
A critical zero-day vulnerability has been discovered in a popular WordPress plugin , called ' FancyBox for WordPress ', which is being used by hundreds of thousands of websites running on the most popular Blogging Platform Wordpress. 0-DAY FLAW EXPLOITED IN THE WILD The security researchers at network security firm Sucuri issued a warning Wednesday about the zero-day vulnerability that is being " actively exploited in the wild " by malicious hackers in order to infect as many as victims. While there are more than 70 million websites on the Internet currently running WordPress  content management system, over half a million websites use ' FancyBox for WordPress ' Plugin, making it one of the popular plugins of Wordpress for displaying images, HTML content and multimedia in a so-called " lightbox " that floats on top of Web pages.. HACKERS INJECT MALWARE INTO WEBSITES The vulnerability allows attackers to inject a malicious iframe...
WordPress enables Free HTTPS Encryption for all Blogs with Custom Domain

WordPress enables Free HTTPS Encryption for all Blogs with Custom Domain

Apr 09, 2016
Do you own a custom domain or a blog under the wordpress.com domain name? If yes, then there is good news for you. WordPress is bringing free HTTPS to every blog and website that belongs to them in an effort to make the Web more secure. WordPress – free, open source and the most popular a content management system (CMS) system on the Web – is being used by over a quarter of all websites across the world, and this new move represents a massive shift over to a more secure Internet WordPress announced on Friday that it has partnered with the Electronic Frontier Foundation's " Let's Encrypt " project, allowing it to provide reliable and free HTTPS support for all of its customers that use custom domains for their WordPress.com blogs. Now every website hosted on wordpress.com has an SSL certificate and will display a green lock in the address bar. "For you, the users, that means you'll see secure encryption automatically deployed on ev...
New WordPress Flaw Lets Unauthenticated Remote Attackers Hack Sites

New WordPress Flaw Lets Unauthenticated Remote Attackers Hack Sites

Mar 14, 2019
If for some reason your WordPress-based website has not yet been automatically updated to the latest version 5.1.1, it's highly recommended to immediately upgrade it before hackers could take advantage of a newly disclosed vulnerability to hack your website. Simon Scannell, a researcher at RIPS Technologies GmbH, who previously reported multiple critical vulnerabilities in WordPress, has once again discovered a new flaw in the content management software (CMS) that could potentially lead to remote code execution attacks. The flaw stems from a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) issue in the Wordpress' comment section, one of its core components that comes enabled by default and affects all WordPress installations prior to version 5.1.1. Unlike most of the previous attacks documented against WordPress, this new exploit allows even an "unauthenticated, remote attacker" to compromise and gain remote code execution on the vulnerable WordPress websites. "...
WordPress Cookie Flaw Lets Hackers Hijack Your Account

WordPress Cookie Flaw Lets Hackers Hijack Your Account

May 27, 2014
Do you own a blog on WordPress.com website? If Yes, then you should take some extra cautious while signing into your Wordpress account from the next time when connected to public Wi-Fi, because it can be hacked without your knowledge, even if you have enabled two-factor authentication. Yan Zhu , a researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) noticed that the blogs hosted on WordPress are sending user authentication cookies in plain text, rather than encrypting it. So, it can be easily hijacked by even a Script-Kiddie looking to steal information. HIJACKING  AUTHENTICATION COOKIES When Wordpress users log into their account, WordPress.com servers set a web cookie with name " wordpress_logged_in " into the users' browser, Yan Zhu explained in a blog post. He noticed that this authentication cookie being sent over clear HTTP, in a very insecure manner. One can grab HTTP cookies from the same Wi-Fi Network by using some specialized tools, such as F...
Millions of WordPress and Drupal Websites Vulnerable to DoS Attack

Millions of WordPress and Drupal Websites Vulnerable to DoS Attack

Aug 07, 2014
Users running the website on a self-hosted WordPress or on Drupal are strongly recommended to update their websites to the latest version immediately. A moderately critical vulnerability was discovered in the way Drupal and WordPress implement XMLRPC, which can lead an attacker to disable your website via a method known as Denial of Service (DoS) . VULNERABILITY RESULTS IN DoS ATTACK The latest update of WordPress 3.9.2 mainly addresses an issue in the PHP's XML processor that could be exploited to trigger a DoS (denial of service) attack . The vulnerability affects all previous versions of WordPress. The XML vulnerability was first reported by Nir Goldshlager , a security researcher from Salesforce.com's product security team, that impacts both the popular website platforms. The issue was later fixed by Michael Adams and Andrew Nacin of the WordPress security team and David Rothstein of the Drupal security team. ATTACK MAKES YOUR WEBSITE COMPLETELY INACCES...
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