WordPress Vulnerability Roundup: October 2019, Part 1

WordPress Themes

How to Be Proactive About WordPress Theme & Plugin Vulnerabilities

Running outdated software is the number one reason WordPress sites are hacked. It is crucial to the security of your WordPress site that you have an update routine. You should be logging into your sites at least once a week to perform updates.

Automatic Updates Can Help

Automatic updates are a great choice for WordPress websites that don’t change very often. Lack of attention often leaves these sites neglected and vulnerable to attacks. Even with recommended security settings, running vulnerable software on your site can give an attacker an entry point into your site. Using the iThemes Security Pro plugin’s Version Management feature, you can enable automatic WordPress updates to ensure you are getting the latest security patches. These settings help protect your site with options to automatically update to new versions or to increase user security when the site’s software is outdated.

Version Management Update Options

• WordPress Updates –Automatically install the latest WordPress release.
• Plugin Automatic Updates – Automatically install the latest plugin updates. This should be enabled unless you actively maintain this site on a daily basis and install the updates manually shortly after they are released.
• Theme Automatic Updates – Automatically install the latest theme updates. This should be enabled unless your theme has file customizations.
• Granular Control over Plugin and Theme updates – You may have plugins/themes that you’d like to either manually update, or delay the update until the release has had time to prove stable. You can choose Custom for the opportunity to assign each plugin or theme to either update immediately (Enable), not update automatically at all (Disable) or update with a delay of a specified amount of days (Delay).

Strengthening and Alerting to Critical Issues

• Strengthen Site When Running Outdated Software – Automatically add extra protections to the site when an available update has not been installed for a month. The iThemes Security plugin will automatically enable stricter security when an update has not been installed for a month. First, it will force all users that do not have two-factor enabled to provide a login code sent to their email address before logging back in. Second, it will disable the WP File Editor (to block people from editing plugin or theme code), XML-RPC pingbacks, and block multiple authentication attempts per XML-RPC request (both of which will make XML-RPC stronger against attacks without having to turn it off completely).
• Scan for Other Old WordPress Sites – This will checks for other outdated WordPress installs on your hosting account. A single outdated WordPress site with a vulnerability could allow attackers to compromise all the other sites on the same hosting account.
• Send Email Notifications – For issues that require intervention, an email is sent to admin-level users.

Breaches From Around the Web

1. Hackers Using Gifs to Attack Drupal

Akami–a security research company–has noticed an increase in attacks embedding malicious codes inside .gif files. The good news is that Drupal patched this vulnerability more than a year ago. The bad news is that poorly maintained sites still haven’t been updated. The number one reason malicious attacks are successful is due to outdated software. Don’t be the guy/gal whose site is compromised by a year old update. Update your site

2. Signal Vulnerability Allows Hackers to Listen to Android Microphones

Google Project Zero recently disclosed a vulnerability in the messaging app Signal. The vulnerability can be used when calling someone’s phone using the Signal app. During the phone call, the hacker will need to press the mute button while the target’s phone is ringing. Pressing the mute button will force the target’s device to answer the call, allowing the attacker to eavesdrop on their mark. After being notified of the bug by Google Project Zero, Signal quickly released a patch. The exploit required the attacker to remove and modified code in the app. Thankfully, due to the difficulty, there are no reports of the exploit being used in the wild.