WordPress Security Vulnerabilities

As we all know, running a WordPress-based website is often a pleasure, enabling you to focus on content and build relationships with readers and other websites.

Half of the WordPress sites out there are self-hosted, which means that the WordPress administrator carries the share of responsibility for a secure installation. Out of the box, there are several ways that WordPress security can be tightened down, but only a fraction of sites do so. This makes WordPress an even more popular target for hackers. Its popularity for being used globally on millions of websites is a significant threat, as if an exploit found on one can be replicated on thousands of sites.

However, not everyone on the web is as friendly as you. Somewhere out there is a list with your blog’s name, where it sits, waiting to be targeted by hackers. When they get around to your blog, they’ll try various tactics to gain access to it, perhaps to sell legal drugs or infect your visitor’s computers with malware.

Here is a list of top WordPress Security vulnerabilities:

1. SQL Injection & URL Hacking

WordPress is a database-backed platform that executes server-side scripts in PHP. Both of these characteristics can make WordPress vulnerable to malicious URL insertion attacks. Commands are sent to WordPress via URL parameters, which can be abused by hackers who know how to construct parameters that WordPress may misinterpret or act on without authorization.

SQL injection describes a class of these attacks in which hackers embed commands in a URL that trigger behaviours from the database. (SQL is the command language used by the MySQL database.) These attacks can reveal sensitive information about the database, potentially giving hackers access to modify the actual content of your site. Many of today’s website defacement attacks are accomplished by some form of SQL Injection.

Most WordPress installations are hosted on the popular Apache web server. Apache uses a file named .htaccess to define the access rules for your website. A thorough set of rules can prevent many types of SQL Injection and URL hacks from being interpreted.

2. Access to Sensitive Files

WordPress install has several files that you want unauthorized persons to access. These files, such as the WordPress configuration file, install script, and even the “read-me” file, should be kept private.
As with preventing URL hacking, you can add commands to the Apache .htaccess file to block access to sensitive private files.

3. Default Admin User Account

WordPress installs include an administrator user account whose username is “admin”. Hackers may try to log into this account using guessed passwords.

Any element of predictability gives hackers an edge. Instead, log into WordPress and create a new user with an unpredictable name. Assign administrator privileges to this user. Now delete the account named “admin”. A hacker must now guess the username and password to gain administrator access, a significantly more challenging feat.

4. Default Prefix for Database Tables

The WordPress database consists of numerous tables. In many WordPress installs, these tables are named with a default prefix that begins with “wp_”. For hackers, the ability to predict anything can provide an extra advantage.

An easier way to change table prefixes for an existing WordPress installation is by using the Better WP Security plugin. This plugin contains several defences, including some discussed elsewhere in this article, with a simple point-and-click interface to change your table names to include a randomly generated prefix.

5. Brute-Force Login Attempts

Hackers often rely on automated scripts to do their dirty work. These scripts can make numerous attempts to log into your WordPress administration page by trying thousands and millions of combinations of usernames and passwords.

A successful brute-force attack against a strong password effectively becomes impossible with these limits because the hacker can never try enough variations (or, instead, it would take many years of continuous attempts).

Two WordPress plugins that let you enforce a login limiter are Limit Login Attempts and Better WP Security.

6. Backdoor planted in third-party extensions

(September 2019) The hackers are modifying the code of existing old plugins to include fake malicious components. Also, I used automated tools, generated plugins, and laced it with an arbitrary payload, such as a reverse shell. The attackers maintain a grip on the new site through the backdoor planted in third-party extensions.

WP-VCD, today’s most massive WordPress hacking operation, infects websites with boobytrapped pirated themes and plugins from their site’s network. They offer free downloads of commercial pieces which contain WP-VCD infections. The hackers put keywords and backlinks to the victimized websites to improve the ranking of their distribution sites. They insert ads, which open as popups and redirect visitors to the malicious sites.

Website security company Sucuri discovered the fake malicious WordPress Plugin. The legitimate software ‘wp framework’ is cloned and altered for nefarious purposes like maintaining and gaining authorized access to the compromised servers or site environment and mining cryptocurrency. The plugin development stopped in 2011 but still has 400 active installations. The cloned plugin allows hackers the executive permission to run a command at the server level. Furthermore, it has code to run a Linux binary to mine cryptocurrency.

WordPress is the most prominent content management system in the online world. Although WordPress, from its start, saw the sorrowful picture of denunciation. But within a few fractions of time, WordPress was adopted by plenty of brands that gave new heights to famous content management.

The open source feature exposes WordPress to hack attacks; hereafter, web admins were bound to consider WordPress security issues a severe matter. Secure WordPress removed the display of or access to information, folders, and protocols that may be more likely to be used by hackers than site admins.

The first and foremost requirement of any WordPress website is its security. Due to outdated core files and plugins, a website becomes much more Prone to hackers as obsolete files are easily perceptible. Therefore, WordPress Security is an important task and has to be followed in any case. Generally, WordPress attacks are caused by plugin vulnerabilities, weak passwords, and obsolete software. WordPress Security will hide the places where these vulnerabilities reside and thus prevent the attackers from knowing much more about the site and keeping them away from sensitive areas like login, admin, etc.

Hardening WordPress is not complicated or complex; It just requires that we be well-versed as web admins/mistresses and understand our exposures and how to minimize our risks for running WordPress on our website. In other words, Hardening WordPress means securing WordPress from external attacks.

WP Security Scan checks WordPress Security Vulnerabilities and suggests corrective actions such as: