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.

WEBINAR REPLAY NOW AVAILABLE

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.