Vulnerable plugins and themes are the #1 reason WordPress websites get hacked. The weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report powered by WPScan covers recent WordPress plugin, theme, and core vulnerabilities, and what to do if you run one of the vulnerable plugins or themes on your website.
Each vulnerability will have a severity rating of Low, Medium, High, or Critical. Responsible disclosure and reporting of vulnerabilities is an integral part of keeping the WordPress community safe.
As one of the largest WordPress Vulnerability Reports to date, please share this post with your friends to help get the word out and make WordPress safer for everyone.
WordPress Core Vulnerabilities
Several WordPress core security issues were disclosed and fixed. WordPress 5.8.1 was released as a security and maintenance release. As a best practice, always be sure to run the latest version of WordPress core!
1. WordPress 5.4 to 5.8
Vulnerability: Data Exposure via REST API
Patched in Version: 5.8.1
Severity Score: Medium
Vulnerability: Authenticated XSS in Block Editor
Patched in Version: 5.8.1
Severity Score: Medium
Vulnerability: Lodash Library Update
Patched in Version: 5.8.1
Severity Score: Medium
WordPress Plugin Vulnerabilities
In this section, the latest WordPress plugin vulnerabilities have been disclosed. Each plugin listing includes the type of vulnerability, the version number if patched, and the severity rating.
1. Pinterest Automatic
Plugin: Pinterest Automatic
Vulnerability: Unauthenticated Arbitrary Options Update
Patched in Version: 4.14.4
Severity Score: Critical
2. WordPress Automatic
Plugin: WordPress Automatic
Vulnerability: Unauthenticated Arbitrary Options Update
Patched in Version: 3.53.3
Severity Score: Critical
3. ELEX WooCommerce Google Shopping
Plugin: ELEX WooCommerce Google Shopping
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
Patched in Version: 1.2.4
Severity Score: High
4. User Registration
Plugin: User Registration
Vulnerability: Low Privilege Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 2.0.2
Severity Score: Medium
5. uListing
Plugin: uListing
Vulnerability: Arbitrary Blog Option Update via CSRF
Patched in Version: 2.0.9
Severity Score: High
6. Appointment Hour Booking
Plugin: Appointment Hour Booking
Vulnerability: Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 1.3.16
Severity Score: Low
Plugin: Appointment Hour Booking
Vulnerability: Authenticated Stored XSS
Patched in Version: 1.3.17
Severity Score: Low
7. UsersWP
Plugin: UsersWP
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 1.2.2.29
Severity Score: Medium
8. PublishPress Editorial Calendar
Plugin: PublishPress Editorial Calendar
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 3.5.1
Severity Score: High
9. Better Find and Replace
Plugin: Better Find and Replace
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 1.2.9
Severity Score: High
10. CM Tooltip Glossary
Plugin: CM Tooltip Glossary
Vulnerability: Contributor+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 3.9.21
Severity Score: Medium
11. Bitcoin / AltCoin Payment Gateway for WooCommerce
Plugin: Bitcoin / AltCoin Payment Gateway for WooCommerce
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 1.6.1
Severity Score: High
12. Modern Events Calendar Lite
Plugin: Modern Events Calendar Lite
Vulnerability: Admin+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 5.22.2
Severity Score: Low
13. My Chatbot
Theme: My Chatbot
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: High
14. Duplicate Page
Plugin: Duplicate Page
Vulnerability: Admin+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 4.4.3
Severity Score: Medium
15. Weather Effect
Plugin: Weather Effect
Vulnerability: Admin+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 1.3.6
Severity Score: Low
Plugin: Weather Effect
Vulnerability: CSRF to Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 1.3.4
Severity Score: High
16. Chained Quiz
Plugin: Chained Quiz
Vulnerability: Authenticated Stored Cross Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 1.2.7.2
Severity Score: Low
17. WP Academic People List
Plugin: WP Academic People List
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
18. Konnichiwa! Membership
Plugin: Konnichiwa! Membership
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
19. 3D Cover Carousel
Plugin: 3D Cover Carousel
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
20. More From Google
Plugin: More From Google
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
21. simpleSAMLphp Authentication
Plugin: simpleSAMLphp Authentication
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
22. Custom Menu Plugin
Plugin: Custom Menu Plugin
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
23. Twitter Friends Widget
Plugin: Twitter Friends Widget
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
24. RentPress
Plugin: RentPress
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
25. SP Rental Manager
Plugin: SP Rental Manager
Vulnerability: Unauthenticated SQL Injection
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: High
26. User Activation Email
Plugin: User Activation Email
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
27. WP Google Maps
Plugin: WP Google Maps
Vulnerability: Multiple Admin+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 8.1.13
Severity Score: Low
28. GeoDirectory
Plugin: GeoDirectory
Vulnerability: Authenticated (admin+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
Patched in Version: 2.1.1.3
Severity Score: Medium
29. TranslatePress
Plugin: TranslatePress
Vulnerability: Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 2.0.9
Severity Score: Low
30. Post Title Counter
Plugin: Post Title Counter
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
31. YouTube Video Inserter
Plugin: YouTube Video Inserter
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
32. Notices
Plugin: Notices
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
33. DJ EmailPublish
Plugin: DJ EmailPublish
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
34. Yet Another bol.com Plugin
Plugin: Yet Another bol.com Plugin
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
35. WP-T-Wap
Plugin: WP-T-Wap
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
36. On Page SEO + Whatsapp Chat Button
Plugin: On Page SEO + Whatsapp Chat Button
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
37. WP Snippets
Plugin: WP Snippets
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
38. WP Design Maps & Places
Plugin: WP Design Maps & Places
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
39. Wise Agent Capture Forms
Plugin: Wise Agent Capture Forms
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
40. Edit Comments XT
Plugin: Edit Comments XT
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
41. RSVPMaker Excel
Plugin: RSVPMaker Excel
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
42. Border Loading Bar
Plugin: Border Loading Bar
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
43. Simple Matted Thumbnails
Plugin: Simple Matted Thumbnails
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
44. WordPress Simple Shop
Plugin: WordPress Simple Shop
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
45. WooCommerce Payment Gateway Per Category
Plugin: WooCommerce Payment Gateway Per Category
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
46. Custom Website Data
Plugin: Custom Website Data
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
47. Advance Search
Plugin: Advance Search
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
48. Integration of Moneybird for WooCommerce
Plugin: Integration of Moneybird for WooCommerce
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
49. Spideranalyse
Plugin: Spideranalyse
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
50. OSD Subscribe
Plugin: OSD Subscribe
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
51. Feedify Web Push Notifications
Plugin: Feedify Web Push Notifications
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
52. Dropdown and scrollable Text
Plugin: Dropdown and scrollable Text
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
53. GNU-Mailman Integration
Plugin: GNU-Mailman Integration
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
54. Bug Library
Plugin: Bug Library
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
55. SMS OVH
Plugin: SMS OVH
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
56. MoolaMojo
Plugin: MoolaMojo
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
57. WordPress InviteBox Plugin
Plugin: WordPress InviteBox Plugin
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: Medium
58. wp-publications
Plugin: wp-publications
Vulnerability: Local File Inclusion
Patched in Version: No known fix
Severity Score: High
59. Timetable and Event Schedule by MotoPress
Plugin: Timetable and Event Schedule by MotoPress
Vulnerability: Author+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 2.3.19
Severity Score: Medium
60. Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools
Plugin: Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools
Vulnerability: Arbitrary Comment Deletion via CSRF
Patched in Version: 2.1.6
Severity Score: Medium
61. WP Simple Booking Calendar
Plugin: WP Simple Booking Calendar
Vulnerability: Authenticated SQL Injection
Patched in Version: 2.0.6
Severity Score: Medium
62. Block and Stop Bad Bots
Plugin: Block and Stop Bad Bots
Vulnerability: Authenticated SQL Injections
Patched in Version: 6.60
Severity Score: Medium
63. Paid Member Subscriptions
Plugin: Paid Member Subscriptions
Vulnerability: Authenticated SQL Injection
Patched in Version: 2.4.2
Severity Score: Medium
64. Easy Accordion
Plugin: Easy Accordion
Vulnerability: Admin+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Patched in Version: 2.0.22
Severity Score: Low
WordPress Theme Vulnerabilities
1. Enfold
Theme: Enfold
Vulnerability: Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
Patched in Version: 4.8.4
Severity Score: Medium
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.