Sign in

back to article FBI to WordPress users: patch now before ISIL defaces you

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning to WordPress users: hurry up and patch your content management system before web site is defaced by ISIL sympathisers. The Bureau has issued a notice titled "ISIL defacements exploiting WordPress vulnerabilities" in which it warns that "Continuous Web …

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *
  1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Windows

    If the FBI warns that they "noticed something", there is probably not much up

    Still, being defaced by ISIS is probably something that has to be taken more literally than would otherwise be done.

    1 2 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: If the FBI warns that they "noticed something", there is probably not much up

      If the FBI warns that they "noticed something", there is probably not much up

      Au contraire, I'd say that if even they noticed it must be baaad :).

      Can't say I notice much - I have a public WP site but I keep it to the same rules as I have been building firewalls since before the idea of the URL: do not run anything unless it is absolutely required. That means limiting plugins and themes to what makes the site work, good security including login name and login URL changes (automated by some security plugins) and the use of free OTP (Google Authenticator is your friend), keeping up to date with patching and review 404 logfiles.

      So far, so good :)

      0 0 Reply
  2. AMBxx Silver badge
    Stop

    One to avoid?

    Looking through the changelog, there are XSS bugs fixed in half the updates.

    One classic bugfix is '•Maybe fixed "304 not modified" problem for some users.' I'd like something a bit more definite than that!

    0 0 Reply
  3. Ole Juul

    Automatic Updates

    WordPress has had automatic updates for a long time now and I've been very happy with that on two sites where I use WP. It's been trouble free and nothing has ever broken. I do update plugins by hand though.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Automatic Updates

      Automatic updates are a tradeoff as it requires the WP directories to be writeable by Apache.

      2 0 Reply
  4. Robert Ramsay

    Requires a valid nonce?

    I hope it's just my out of date terminology knowledge...

    0 0 Reply
    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Childcatcher

      Re: Requires a valid nonce?

      Stop watching BBC.

      Definition - What does Nonce mean?

      A nonce is a type of data bit identification in IT security and other types of technical systems. It is a number or other data variable that is used only once.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Simon Harris
        Reply Icon
        Coat

        Re: Requires a valid nonce?

        You're talking Nonce Sense.

        (I may have been watching too much Channel 4).

        3 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Requires a valid nonce?

      @Robert, unfortunately your outdated knowledge is closer to the truth. I recently had a look at WP's perverted nonce code, and... it's NOT a cryptographic nonce (number used once). You can use it as many times as you want for 12-24 hours. Seems near worthless for security purposes.

      1 0 Reply
  5. Stevie

    Bah!

    Frankly, my blog could use the traffic.

    3 0 Reply
  6. Colin Miller

    1.4.3? The 1.4 series of WordPress was released around 2004/2005. The current version is 4.1.1, which was released around the start of this year.

    https://wordpress.org/about/roadmap/ doesn't list all the releases ,

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      It's referring to the version of the WordPress Super Cache plugin, not WP.

      1 0 Reply

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like

  • How refactoring code in Safari's WebKit resurrected 'zombie' security bug
    Fixed in 2013, reinstated in 2016, exploited in the wild this year
    Jeff Burt Tue 21 Jun 2022 // 08:31 UTC

    A security flaw in Apple's Safari web browser that was patched nine years ago was exploited in the wild again some months ago – a perfect example of a "zombie" vulnerability.

    That's a bug that's been patched, but for whatever reason can be abused all over again on up-to-date systems and devices – or a bug closely related to a patched one.

    In a write-up this month, Maddie Stone, a top researcher on Google's Project Zero team, shared details of a Safari vulnerability that folks realized in January this year was being exploited in the wild. This remote-code-execution flaw could be abused by a specially crafted website, for example, to run spyware on someone's device when viewed in their browser.

    Continue reading
  • Cisco warns of security holes in its security appliances
    Bugs potentially useful for rogue insiders, admin account hijackers
    Jessica Lyons Hardcastle Wed 22 Jun 2022 // 20:16 UTC

    Cisco has alerted customers to another four vulnerabilities in its products, including a high-severity flaw in its email and web security appliances. 

    The networking giant has issued a patch for that bug, tracked as CVE-2022-20664. The flaw is present in the web management interface of Cisco's Secure Email and Web Manager and Email Security Appliance in both the virtual and hardware appliances. Some earlier versions of both products, we note, have reached end of life, and so the manufacturer won't release fixes; it instead told customers to migrate to a newer version and dump the old.

    This bug received a 7.7 out of 10 CVSS severity score, and Cisco noted that its security team is not aware of any in-the-wild exploitation, so far. That said, given the speed of reverse engineering, that day is likely to come. 

    Continue reading
  • That critical vulnerability might not be the first you should patch
    Startup Rezilion suggests enterprises should change prioritization strategies
    Jeff Burt Mon 30 May 2022 // 12:16 UTC

    Enterprise security teams being overrun by the rising numbers of vulnerabilities uncovered each day could vastly reduce their patching workload by changing how they prioritize the flaws, according to recent research from vulnerability startup Rezilion.

    Most enterprises look to the ratings given to flaws in the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) framework, which range from 0 to 10 (with 10 being the highest) and are ranked as low and medium to high and critical, depending on the characteristics of the vulnerability.

    Companies will start their remediation efforts with the vulnerabilities deemed "critical" and work their way down, said Yotam Perkal, director of vulnerability research with Rezilion.

    Continue reading
  • If you're using older, vulnerable Cisco small biz routers, throw them out
    Severe security flaw won't be fixed – as patches released this week for other bugs
    Jessica Lyons Hardcastle Thu 16 Jun 2022 // 20:07 UTC

    If you thought you were over the hump with Patch Tuesday then perhaps think again: Cisco has just released fixes for a bunch of flaws, two of which are not great.

    First on the priority list should be a critical vulnerability in its enterprise security appliances, and the second concerns another critical bug in some of its outdated small business routers that it's not going to fix. In other words, junk your kit or somehow mitigate the risk.

    Both of these received a CVSS score of 9.8 out of 10 in severity. The IT giant urged customers to patch affected security appliances ASAP if possible, and upgrade to newer hardware if you're still using an end-of-life, buggy router. We note that miscreants aren't actively exploiting either of these vulnerabilities — yet.

    Continue reading
  • Halfords suffers a puncture in the customer details department
    I like driving in my car, hope my data's not gone far
    Richard Speed Thu 23 Jun 2022 // 08:30 UTC

    UK automobile service and parts seller Halfords has shared the details of its customers a little too freely, according to the findings of a security researcher.

    Like many, cyber security consultant Chris Hatton used Halfords to keep his car in tip-top condition, from tires through to the annual safety checks required for many UK cars.

    In January, Hatton replaced a tire on his car using a service from Halfords. It's a simple enough process – pick a tire online, select a date, then wait. A helpful confirmation email arrived with a link for order tracking. A curious soul, Hatton looked at what was happening behind the scenes when clicking the link and "noticed some API calls that seemed ripe for an IDOR" [Insecure Direct Object Reference].

    Continue reading
  • Azure issues not adequately fixed for months, complain bug hunters
    Redmond kicks off Patch Tuesday with a months-old flaw fix
    Jessica Lyons Hardcastle Tue 14 Jun 2022 // 13:30 UTC

    Updated Two security vendors – Orca Security and Tenable – have accused Microsoft of unnecessarily putting customers' data and cloud environments at risk by taking far too long to fix critical vulnerabilities in Azure.

    In a blog published today, Orca Security researcher Tzah Pahima claimed it took Microsoft several months to fully resolve a security flaw in Azure's Synapse Analytics that he discovered in January. 

    And in a separate blog published on Monday, Tenable CEO Amit Yoran called out Redmond for its lack of response to – and transparency around – two other vulnerabilities that could be exploited by anyone using Azure Synapse. 

    Continue reading
  • FabricScape: Microsoft warns of vuln in Service Fabric
    Not trying to spin this as a Linux security hole, surely?
    Richard Speed Wed 29 Jun 2022 // 13:40 UTC

    Microsoft is flagging up a security hole in its Service Fabric technology when using containerized Linux workloads, and urged customers to upgrade their clusters to the most recent release.

    The flaw is tracked as CVE-2022-30137, an elevation-of-privilege vulnerability in Microsoft's Service Fabric. An attacker would need read/write access to the cluster as well as the ability to execute code within a Linux container granted access to the Service Fabric runtime in order to wreak havoc.

    Through a compromised container, for instance, a miscreant could gain control of the resource's host Service Fabric node and potentially the entire cluster.

    Continue reading
  • CISA and friends raise alarm on critical flaws in industrial equipment, infrastructure
    Nearly 60 holes found affecting 'more than 30,000' machines worldwide
    Jessica Lyons Hardcastle Tue 21 Jun 2022 // 04:01 UTC

    Updated Fifty-six vulnerabilities – some deemed critical – have been found in industrial operational technology (OT) systems from ten global manufacturers including Honeywell, Ericsson, Motorola, and Siemens, putting more than 30,000 devices worldwide at risk, according to private security researchers. 

    Some of these vulnerabilities received CVSS severity scores as high as 9.8 out of 10. That is particularly bad, considering these devices are used in critical infrastructure across the oil and gas, chemical, nuclear, power generation and distribution, manufacturing, water treatment and distribution, mining and building and automation industries. 

    The most serious security flaws include remote code execution (RCE) and firmware vulnerabilities. If exploited, these holes could potentially allow miscreants to shut down electrical and water systems, disrupt the food supply, change the ratio of ingredients to result in toxic mixtures, and … OK, you get the idea.

    Continue reading
  • For a few days earlier this year, rogue GitHub apps could have hijacked countless repos
    A bit of a near-hit for the software engineering world
    Jessica Lyons Hardcastle Tue 21 Jun 2022 // 22:04 UTC

    A GitHub bug could have been exploited earlier this year by connected third-party apps to hijack victims' source-code repositories.

    For almost a week in late February and early March, rogue applications could have generated scoped installation tokens with elevated permissions, allowing them to gain otherwise unauthorized write or administrative access to developers' repos. For example, if an app was granted read-only access to an organization or individual's code repo, the app could effortlessly escalate that to read-write access.

    This security blunder has since been addressed and before any miscreants abused the flaw to, for instance, alter code and steal secrets and credentials, according to Microsoft's GitHub, which assured The Register it's "committed to investigating reported security issues."

    Continue reading
  • DeadBolt ransomware takes another shot at QNAP storage
    Keep boxes updated and protected to avoid a NAS-ty shock
    Jeff Burt Sat 18 Jun 2022 // 00:48 UTC

    QNAP is warning users about another wave of DeadBolt ransomware attacks against its network-attached storage (NAS) devices – and urged customers to update their devices' QTS or QuTS hero operating systems to the latest versions.

    The latest outbreak – detailed in a Friday advisory – is at least the fourth campaign by the DeadBolt gang against the vendor's users this year. According to QNAP officials, this particular run is encrypting files on NAS devices running outdated versions of Linux-based QTS 4.x, which presumably have some sort of exploitable weakness.

    The previous attacks occurred in January, March, and May.

    Continue reading

Biting the hand that feeds IT © 1998–2022

Do not sell my personal information Cookies Privacy Ts&Cs