Blog

Update This WordPress Plugin Immediately To Prevent Security Risks

Mar 4, 2022 | Blog

Do you have a WordPress site?  Do you use the PHP Everywhere plugin?

If so, you’re not alone.  More than 30,000 site owners have installed it.  It’s an excellent plugin that dramatically enhances websites using it, because it allows webmasters to place PHP pretty much anywhere on the page to display dynamic web content.

Wordfence is a global team of WordPress security analysts, threat researchers, software engineers, and support staff. Unfortunately, researchers at Wordfence have recently discovered not one, but three critical security issues with the plugin’s design that allow hackers to remotely execute code by abusing the plugin, on sites running version 2.0.3 and below.

To execute the attack all a hacker needs to do is be granted a subscriber or contributor level account on your site which is generally easy for them to do.

The three flaws are being tracked as CVE-2022-24663, CVE-2022-24664, and CVE-2022-24665.

The Wordfence crew discovered the flaws on January 4, 2022. To their credit the plugin’s authors responded quickly and released an update on January 10th 2022, which addresses the issue. Although they disclosed that the fix required a substantial rewrite of much of the plugin’s code.

Although the security flaws have been patched, unfortunately many admins aren’t as good as they could be when it comes to keeping plugins up to date. Based on stats gleaned from WordPress.org only about half of the 30,000 worldwide installs of the plugin are running the latest version.

Note that if you are using the Classic Editor on your site you’ll need to uninstall the plugin and find some other solution for PHP code embeds because the Classic Editor is being phased out and the update to PHP everywhere no longer works with it.

If you use the plugin be sure to verify that you’re using the latest version. Kudos to the plugin authors for their rapid response.

FBI Program Tasked with Infrastructure Security Compromised

FBI Program Tasked with Infrastructure Security Compromised

The FBI program tasked with ensuring critical infrastructure security has been compromised by hackers, who now offer access to the program's data on the dark web. The breach was initially disclosed by Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security, who claims that the data was for...

Streamline Your Business with the Latest Smart Home Technology

Streamline Your Business with the Latest Smart Home Technology

Are you a business owner looking to get the most out of your Google smart home devices? If so, you're in luck! Google has enabled its Nest products and Android OS with the initial rollout of the Matter smart home standard. This means that businesses now have the...

Data Breach at Sequoia One Exposes Sensitive Customer Information

Data Breach at Sequoia One Exposes Sensitive Customer Information

What do you do when your most personal information has been compromised? This is likely the question that customers of Sequoia One asked themselves earlier this month as they were informed that the company had been hacked. Sequoia One specializes in the management of...

Cisco Reports Critical IP Phone Vulnerability

Cisco Reports Critical IP Phone Vulnerability

As a business owner, it's important to stay informed about potential vulnerabilities that could impact your organization. Recently, Cisco reported a critical vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-20968, affecting its IP Phone 7800 and 8800 Series. This new vulnerability...

Google Chrome Releases Two New Features

Google Chrome Releases Two New Features

Google Chrome is one of the more commonly used web browsers. Over the years, though, Chrome has gained a reputation for utilizing a large portion of a computer's memory. This can be a problem if you're running other resource-intensive tasks and don't want to slow...

Get a Free Consultation

 

Fill out the form below to receive a free consultation and learn how we can make your technology worry-free!

 

Contact Information

  • 39301 Badger Street, Suite 500
    Palm Desert, CA 9221
  • (760) 333-8523
  • info@icn.tech