WordPress Vulnerability Report: September 2021, Part 4

A Note on Responsible Disclosure

You might be wondering why a vulnerability would be disclosed if it gives hackers an exploit to attack. Well, it is very common for a security researcher to find and privately report the vulnerability to the software developer.

With responsible disclosure, the researcher’s initial report is made privately to the developers of the company that owns the software, but with an agreement that the full details will be published once a patch has been made available. For significant security vulnerabilities, there may be a slight delay in disclosing the vulnerability to give more people time to patch.

The security researcher may provide a deadline for the software developer to respond to the report or to provide a patch. If this deadline is not met, then the researcher may publicly disclose the vulnerability to put pressure on the developer to issue a patch.

Publicly disclosing a vulnerability and seemingly introducing a Zero-Day vulnerability–a type of vulnerability that has no patch and is being exploited in the wild– may seem counterproductive. But, it is the only leverage that a researcher has to pressure the developer to patch the vulnerability.

If a hacker were to discover the vulnerability, they could quietly use the Exploit and cause damage to the end-user(this is you), while the software developer remains content on leaving the vulnerability unpatched. Google’s Project Zero has similar guidelines when it comes to disclosing vulnerabilities. They publish the full details of the vulnerability after 90 days whether or not the vulnerability has been patched.

How to Protect Your WordPress Website From Vulnerable Plugins and Themes

As you can see from this report, lots of new WordPress plugin and theme vulnerabilities are disclosed each week. We know it can be difficult to stay on top of every reported vulnerability disclosure, so the iThemes Security Pro plugin makes it easy to make sure your site isn’t running a theme, plugin or WordPress core version with a known vulnerability.

1. Turn on the iThemes Security Pro Site Scanner

The iThemes Security Pro plugin’s Site Scanner scans for the #1 reason WordPress sites get hacked: outdated plugins and themes with known vulnerabilities. The Site Scanner checks your site for known vulnerabilities and automatically applies a patch if one is available.

To enable the Site Scan on new installs, navigate to the Site Check tab on the Features menu inside the plugin and click the toggle to enable the Site Scan.

To trigger a manual Site Scan, click the Scan Now button on the Site Scan Security Dashboard card.

If the Site Scan detects a vulnerability, click the vulnerability link to view the details page.

On the Site Scan vulnerability page, you will see if there is a fix available for the vulnerability. If there is a patch available, you can click the Update Plugin button to apply the fix on your website.

2. Turn on Version Management to Auto Update if Fixes Vulnerability

The Version Management feature in iThemes Security Pro integrates with the Site Scan to protect your site when outdated software is not updated quickly enough. Even the strongest security measures will fail if you are running vulnerable software on your website. These settings help protect your site with options to update to new versions automatically if a known vulnerability exists and a patch is available.

From the Settings page in iThemes Security Pro, navigate to the Features screen. Click the Site Check tab. From here, use the toggle to enable Version Management. Using the settings gear, you can configure even more settings, including how you want iThemes Security Pro to handle updates to WordPress, plugins, themes, and additional protection.

Make sure to select Auto Update if it Fixes a Vulnerability box so that iThemes Security Pro will automatically update a plugin or theme if it fixes a vulnerability that was found by the Site Scanner.

3. Get an Email Alert When iThemes Security Pro Finds a Known Vulnerability On Your Site

Once you’ve enabled Site Scan Scheduling, head to the Notification Center settings of the plugin. On this screen, scroll to the Site Scan Results section.

Click the box to enable the notification email and then click the Save Settings button.

Now, during any scheduled site scans, you’ll get an email if iThemes Security Pro discovers any known vulnerabilities. The email will look something like this.

Get iThemes Security Pro and Rest a Little Easier Tonight

iThemes Security Pro, our WordPress security plugin, offers 50+ ways to secure and protect your website from common WordPress security vulnerabilities. With WordPress, two-factor authentication, brute force protection, strong password enforcement, and more, you can add extra layers of security to your website.

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Each week, Michael puts together the WordPress Vulnerability Report to help keep your sites safe. As Product Manager at iThemes, he helps us continue to improve the iThemes product lineup. He’s a giant nerd & loves learning about all things tech, old & new. You can find Michael hanging out with his wife & daughter, reading or listening to music when not working.