WordPress Vulnerability Report – August 9, 2023

Since last week, only 30 total vulnerabilities emerged in public disclosure, but they include the popular Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin. ACF is used on over two million active WordPress sites. Fortunately, a patch is available immediately for ACF and 27 other plugin vulnerabilities, so run those updates if you’re affected!

Additionally, there are two plugin vulnerabilities with no patch available yet. If you use an unpatched plugin or theme, check their vendors’ intentions and progress on a security release. Suppose no patch is forthcoming or the vulnerable software has been marked “closed” and dropped from the official WordPress theme and plugin repositories. In that case, you should consider deactivation and removal in favor of alternative solutions.

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New research from Snicco, WeWatchYourWebsite, Automattic-backed GridPane, and PatchStack claims WordPress security plugins with malware scanners are fundamentally flawed. And they’re being actively defeated by malware in the wild right now!

In this webinar replay, StellarWP technical writer Dan Knauss explains the problem with malware scanners and the WordPress security best practices you need to implement to keep your sites truly safe.

WordPress Core News

WordPress 6.3 “Lionel” is out! This new release of WordPress was built to help you “create beautiful and compelling websites more efficiently than ever.” See what’s new in WordPress 6.3.

Don’t forget to fully back up your website before installing WordPress 6.3. BackupBuddy, the industry-leading data protection and recovery solution for WordPress, will help you build a strong backup strategy to manage all updates. Embrace the enhanced content creation experience of WordPress 6.3 with confidence — and a backup copy of your website safely stored on a remote server.

WordPress core is very secure when it’s properly configured and maintained. Vulnerable plugins not updated by site owners are the most common vector for attacks on WordPress websites. Our weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report, powered by Patchstack, covers new vulnerabilities that have emerged in plugins, themes, and/or WordPress core since last week’s report. Our goal is to spread awareness of emerging security threats and help you decide what to do if you find vulnerable software on your website. For a deeper analysis of recent trends in WordPress vulnerabilities and threat vectors, see our 2022 Annual Vulnerability Report.

These reports are published every Wednesday and include all active vulnerabilities tracked by Patchstack as of Monday since the previous report. This leaves a 48-hour window for the newest emerging vulnerabilities to be patched before full public disclosure. iThemes Security Pro users have access to vulnerability alerts emerging within this window.

In this section, you’ll find the most recently disclosed WordPress plugin vulnerabilities fixed with a new release from their authors and maintainers. Please apply the updates if you are affected!

These vulnerabilities have been disclosed and scored for their severity, thanks to our friends at Patchstack. Each plugin listing includes the type of vulnerability with its CVE number and CVSS severity rating with links to more technical details. You’ll also see the number of active sites using the plugin and the plugin version release that patches the vulnerability. We start with the most popular plugins, representing the largest target for attackers.

This section contains plugin vulnerabilities with no known fix. Until a patch is available, you are advised to deactivate the plugin, at minimum, immediately. If there is a high risk of active exploits or the plugin remains unpatched for weeks, you are advised to delete the plugin. You should also delete persistently unpatched plugins the WordPress.org repository has locked and marked “Closed” so they can no longer be downloaded and installed.

In this section, you’ll find the latest WordPress theme vulnerabilities to be disclosed. You’ll see the same information we provided above for vulnerable plugins, and the same advice applies. If a security update exists, install it immediately. If a vulnerability remains unpatched in a theme you are actively using, you must find an alternative theme. Deactivate and delete persistently unpatched themes and those marked “Closed” in the WordPress.org theme repository. If you have a vulnerable theme installed that you are not actively using, delete it.