There is more bad news for WordPress website owners and developers. WordFence has found more instances of popular plug-ins being modified to contain malicious software. The three most recent discoveries are:
- Appointments by WPMU Dev (fixed in 2.2.2)
- Flickr Gallery by Dan Coulter (fixed in 1.5.3)
- RegistrationMagic-Custom Registration Forms by CMSHelpLive (fixed in 3.7.9.3)
WordFence had reported earlier about another 9 affected plug-ins. The ones that are marked safe appear to be clean in their current versions. Some plug-ins were removed from the repository.
- 404 to 301: Safe
- Display Widgets Plugin: Safe, but no longer maintained. Use Jetpack’s Widget Visibility Module instead.
- WP Slimstat: Safe
- WP Maintenance Mode: Safe
- Menu Image: Safe
- NewStatPress: Safe
- Financial Calculator Plugin: Safe. Never included malicious code, but Soiza did have access for some time this year.
- Weptile Image: Removed from repository
- No Comment: Removed from repository
These plug-ins are being exploited in a variety of ways. In some cases, the plug-in is being purchased from the original developer by a bad actor who then modifies the code with malware. Sometimes the code is being exploited via a hijacked supply chain login credential belonging to a contract developer. This again points to the fact that an organization is only as secure are the least secure member of the team. If your company allows vendors and contractors to connect to your network this can affect you. Read the WordFence articles below if you are interested in specifics.
If you are running a WordPress site using any of these plugins, you need to update or remove them now. If you are not yet running a security plug-in such as WordFence, you should add this to your plug-in collection.
More information:
- Naked Security – Hackers pounce on 3 vulnerable WordPress plugins
- WordFence – 3 Zero-Day Plugin Vulnerabilities Being Exploited In The Wild
- WordFence – 9 WordPress Plugins Targeted in Coordinated 4.5-Year Spam Campaign
OCT
About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com