BRIEF: It is difficult to keep an eye on every disclosed WordPress theme vulnerability and compare that list to the variations of plugins and themes you have set up on your site. The same goes with the publicly reported WP themes vulnerability FEB 2023. Yet, keeping track of vulnerabilities is the difference between having a secure site versus one that hackers will easily make use of.
We've been involved in WordPress security for more than a decade. Auditing hundreds of hacked domains, we understand for a fact that outdated themes and plugins are the leading cause behind hacked WordPress. Like any other software application, WordPress themes and plugins develop vulnerabilities. To patch it, developers quickly launch an update. When site owners postpone or fail to implement updates, they leave their websites susceptible to a hack.
WP theme vulnerabilities Explained
Keep Your WordPress Updated! We can't stress enough about the importance of security updates. You should have noticed that many hacks attacks that we mentioned in the earlier area were triggered due to outdated themes and plugins. It happens when there is a delay in updating the website. It leaves the site prone to a hack.
The impact of WP themes vulnerability FEB 2023:
The consequences of a hacked domains are ugly. You will experience some major backlash on your WordPress domain such as:
- A marked drop in search engine rankings for the targeted keywords;
- High bounce rates as visitors are redirected to different websites;
- Wasted SEO efforts in the future;
- Wasted development costs due to the fact, that sometimes is cheaper to start from scratch, than solve an old problem;
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- Search Engine Result Page blacklist/warnings on your domain, like:
- This site may be hacked
- Deceptive site ahead
- Hosting account suspensions
- Email providers blacklisting your domain
- High cleanup, recovery, damage control costs
- Major decline in your brand’s image, reputation
Probing attacks – 1st step for WP themes vulnerability FEB 2023
For the time being, the large bulk of these attacks appear to be information gathering attacks, created to identify whether a website has a vulnerable theme set up rather than to perform an exploit chain. The next steps are Remote Code Execution (RCE) leading to site takeover with these vulnerabilities. We highly advise upgrading as soon as possible.
WP themes vulnerability FEB 2023 identified - What should I do?
If your website is running any of these themes, it is critical to upgrade to the LATEST version IMMEDIATELY. If no patched version is available you will wish to momentarily change to another theme or use an active firewall software like owl WAF, that prevents these snooping or their real attacks. If you have made changes, modifications to these themes without the use of a child theme, you will want to download a backup copy of the present variation before updating. If anyone you know is running any of these themes, please share this post to guarantee they update their website also.
