Blog Layout

Update This WordPress Plugin Immediately To Prevent Security Risks

sccomputerguys • Mar 04, 2022

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.

By sccomputerguys 22 Jul, 2022
Do you own one or more of the following products made by Cisco? The RV110W Wireless-N VPN Firewall The RV130 VPN Router The RV130W Wireless-N Multifunction VPN Router The RV215W Wireless-N VPN ...
By sccomputerguys 21 Jul, 2022
Do you use Microsoft Teams?  If so, you'll be thrilled to know that the Redmond Giant is continuing to pour resources into improving the software with a specific focus on audio and ...
By sccomputerguys 20 Jul, 2022
Corporate branding can be worth its weight in gold and certain images are absolutely iconic.  The Golden Arches, the Nike "swoosh," and Apple's Apple all come to mind. Logo images give companies ...
By sccomputerguys 19 Jul, 2022
Remember the Heartbleed scare we had a couple years back?  It was a nasty side-channel attack that was somewhat exotic and difficult to pull off, and it was absolutely devastating and sent ...
By sccomputerguys 18 Jul, 2022
Microsoft Exchange servers are once more in the crosshairs of hackers around the world.  Most recently, hacking groups have been specifically targeting them to deploy BlackCat ransomware. As is common among ransomware ...
By sccomputerguys 16 Jul, 2022
If you grew up in the days before the internet, it's absolutely staggering to think of all the ways that mobile technology has changed our lives (and mostly for the better). Remember ...
By sccomputerguys 15 Jul, 2022
It may seem as though Internet Explorer is the browser that will not die, but according to Microsoft, it is now a step closer to breathing its last virtual breath. Microsoft has ...
By sccomputerguys 14 Jul, 2022
If you're involved with IT Security at any level and if your network includes Linux servers, keep a watchful eye out for the new Panchan botnet. It first appeared in the wilds ...
By sccomputerguys 13 Jul, 2022
These days, companies spend significant sums of money to protect themselves from cyber criminals.  The threat matrix is vast, and attacks can come from almost any quarter. That is why many companies ...
By sccomputerguys 12 Jul, 2022
Do you receive healthcare of any kind from Kaiser Permanente?  If so, be aware that they recently published a data breach notification indicating that an unidentified attacker accessed an email account that ...
More Posts
Share by: