WordPress Vulnerability Report – August 16, 2023

Since last week, 90 total vulnerabilities emerged in public disclosure. They may affect over one million WordPress sites. There are 49 plugin vulnerabilities and five theme vulnerabilities with security patches, so run those updates!

Additionally, there are 35 plugin vulnerabilities and one theme vulnerability 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.

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.