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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...
'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 ...
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947 Security Pros Told SANS Where the AI Skills Gap Actually Is

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Mikko Hyppönen and Enterprise CISOs on What AI-Speed Attacks Actually Change

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Join the summit where leading security teams lay out how they prepare for attackers with AI on their side.
New WordPress Pre-Auth XSS Could Lead to PHP Code Execution - Patch ASAP

New WordPress Pre-Auth XSS Could Lead to PHP Code Execution - Patch ASAP

Aug 07, 2026 Web Security / Vulnerability
WordPress has fixed a pre-authentication reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) flaw in its login screen that affects every version of the content management system. pwn.ai demonstrated how the flaw can be chained into PHP code execution on the server when a logged-in administrator interacts with an attacker-controlled page. Tracked as  CVE-2026-64638  (CVSS score: 8.9), the high-severity vulnerability requires no attacker privileges. According to pwn.ai , which discovered the flaw and shared technical details with The Hacker News, the login-page XSS requires no authentication. Once a crafted username reaches the failed-login error page, the resulting JavaScript executes in the visitor's browser with no further interaction required on that page. The code-execution path requires a victim already logged in as an Administrator and explicit interaction with an attacker-controlled page. In pwn.ai's demonstration, that interaction is one ordinary click. The researchers told The...
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...
New WordPress Click2Shell Flaw Forces Theme Installs, Can Chain to Code Execution

New WordPress Click2Shell Flaw Forces Theme Installs, Can Chain to Code Execution

Sep 18, 2026 Vulnerability / Web Security
WordPress today released patches to fix a new set of vulnerabilities in its core software, one of which could allow a crafted web link, opened by a logged-in administrator, to install a theme from the official WordPress.org directory without anyone clicking Install. The security firm pwn.ai , whose researchers reported the flaw, calls the attack chain Click2Shell . On its own the flaw only installs a real theme that the attacker picks, but the security research team showed it could be combined with a separate weakness in a theme to run the attacker's own code on the server.  The fix shipped on September 17 in WordPress 7.1.1 . Because this is a security release, WordPress advises updating right away. There is no sign the flaw has been used in real attacks. The installed theme stays switched off, so the site's own appearance does not change and nothing looks wrong. Reaching code execution needed a second, separate flaw in the theme that was installed. As pwn.ai wrote of t...
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 Comment2Shell Flaw Can Turn Anonymous Comment XSS Into RCE via Admin Session

WordPress Comment2Shell Flaw Can Turn Anonymous Comment XSS Into RCE via Admin Session

Sep 22, 2026 Vulnerability / Web Security
A new flaw in WordPress core let an anonymous visitor leave a comment that planted a hidden script on the page. If a logged-in administrator later opened that page, the script could run code on the site's server. WordPress fixed the flaw, tracked as  CVE-2026-93485  and called " Comment2Shell ," on September 17 in  version 7.1.1  and told site owners to update right away. There is no sign it has been used in attacks, and it is not on the U.S. government's list of actively exploited software flaws. Patchstack, the company that assigned that identifier, rated the flaw 7.1 out of 10 on the CVSS scale. WordPress checks a comment for dangerous HTML when it is saved, then reformats it when the page is shown, and the flaw sat in the gap between those two steps. Rafie Muhammad, the security researcher who reported the bug, laid out the full chain in  a write-up  on September 21. The trick was a line break placed inside the attribute of an allowed HTML tag ...
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 Issues Patch for Critical Flaw That Can Enable Code Execution on Some Servers

WordPress Issues Patch for Critical Flaw That Can Enable Code Execution on Some Servers

Sep 22, 2026 Vulnerability / Web Security
WordPress has fixed a critical flaw in its core software that lets an attacker with no account make a site load a PHP file from outside its theme folders. On some servers, that can go further, allowing the attacker to run their own code. The fix shipped on September 22 in WordPress 7.1.2, with fixes for every branch the project still supports, back to 4.7, and WordPress is telling site owners to  update now . WordPress rates the flaw as critical, assigns it a CVSS score of 9.2, and assigns it  CVE-2026-87902 . Reaching it requires no account and no action from a logged-in user. Every version from 4.7.0 through 7.1.1 is affected. That includes 7.1.1, from WordPress's  September 17 security release , so a site updated less than a week ago still needs this one. It is a separate flaw from the ones that the release fixed.
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. "...
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