Got a WordPress website? You should read this now

Wordpress is the world's most popular CMS
Wordpress is the world's most popular CMS

WordPress is by far the most popular content management system (CMS), powering almost a quarter of the whole web. It's no surprise therefore that it comes under constant scrutiny from hackers and criminals eager to exploit its growing popularity.

SaaS (Security-as-a-Service) provider Zscaler reported that a number of WordPress-based websites have been compromised with users trying to login to them being served malicious code as part of the login page. Once captured, that data is then sent, in an encrypted format, to the hacker.

Keeping your WordPress website up to date is very often just a matter of allowing the CMS to auto update to the latest version, which is currently 4.2.2.

The latter also solves a flaw that affected the Genericons WordPress package, a vulnerability that uses DOM-based cross-site scripting. What makes it a high-profile flaw is that it potentially affects millions of websites worldwide.

According to David Dede, who was part of the Sucuri team that found the flaw: "The main issue here is the Genericons package, so any plugin that makes use of this package is potentially vulnerable if it includes the example.html file that comes with the package."

WordPress 4.2.2 solves that weakness as well as another DOM-based vulnerability and more than a dozen other less important bugs.

TOPICS
Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.

Latest in Website Building
Wix automation
The world's leading website builder aims to save businesses time with new tool
Squarespace
Build a website for less with 10% off Squarespace subscriptions
Squarespace
Fresh season, fresh start— launch your dream website with Squarespace with this offer
Wix Printful
Wix teams up with Printful for in-house print-on-demand tools
Squarespace
Don't miss out on this great Squarespace deal
Hostinger Website Builder vs WordPress.com: Which is better?
Hostinger Website Builder vs WordPress.com: Battle of the WordPress website builders
Latest in News
A man holds a smartphone iPhone screen showing various social media apps including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Instagram and X
A worrying Apple Password App vulnerability reportedlyleft users exposed for months
Google Pixel 9a
Google is delaying the Pixel 9a to fix a mystery “component quality issue”
The bottom left corner of an Android phone, showing the Phone, Messages, Google icons and Google Search bar
Google Messages remote delete will soon save you from texting embarrassment – and here's how it works
ExpressVPN mobile app and Aircove
ExpressVPN ‘reduces workforce’ for the second time in two years
The Nanoleaf PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip being used on a desktop computer.
Mac gaming could get an intriguing boost – but not in the way you'd expect
Snapdragon G Series
Qualcomm poised to muscle in on AMD's territory with powerful gaming handheld processors