Top WordPress Website Security Risks (And How to Fix Them)

WordPress website security risks threaten your site’s reputation, search rankings, and client trust. Most attacks exploit preventable vulnerabilities that stem from poor maintenance, outdated software, and weak security practices. Understanding common WordPress security threats helps you protect sites before hackers exploit them. Prevention costs far less than recovery from a successful breach

TL;DR: WordPress Security Risks

• Most WordPress security risks are preventable through regular maintenance and proactive monitoring.

• Outdated plugins and themes are the top vulnerability hackers exploit to gain unauthorized access.

• Strong passwords, firewalls, and two-factor authentication dramatically reduce successful attacks.

• Secure hosting, SSL certificates, and regular backups protect against data loss and downtime.

• Ongoing security monitoring and updates prevent long-term damage to sites and reputations.

Why WordPress Sites Get Hacked So Often?

WordPress operates as an open-source platform, meaning its code is publicly available for anyone to study. While this transparency strengthens security through community oversight, it also lets attackers analyze the codebase for vulnerabilities.

Plugin dependency increases the attack surface significantly. Most WordPress sites run multiple plugins, and each one represents a potential entry point. A vulnerability in any single plugin can compromise the entire site.

Shared hosting environments expose sites to additional risks. When multiple sites share server resources, a security breach on one site can potentially affect neighboring sites on the same server.

How WPTasks Helps Prevent WordPress Security Risks?

Protecting a WordPress website requires more than one-time fixes. WPTasks provides subscription-based WordPress support designed to keep sites secure, stable, and consistently updated.

With monthly hour retainers, you get ongoing fixes and updates, recurring website maintenance, development tasks, and hosting support. This proactive structure ensures security patches, plugin updates, and performance improvements are handled before vulnerabilities turn into serious website security threats.

WPTasks operates fully white-label, so you protect your clients’ sites under your brand while we manage the technical execution behind the scenes.

The Biggest WordPress Security Risks You Should Know

WordPress powers over 43% of all websites, making it a frequent target for automated attacks and malicious actors. This popularity creates constant security pressure as hackers develop new methods to exploit vulnerabilities.

Most successful attacks exploit preventable vulnerabilities rather than sophisticated hacking techniques. Outdated plugins, weak passwords, and poor hosting configurations account for the majority of WordPress breaches. Security failures often stem from inconsistent maintenance rather than flaws in WordPress itself.

The most common WordPress security risks include outdated plugins, weak passwords, brute force attacks, malware injections, insecure hosting, and poor backup practices.

Outdated Plugins and Themes

Outdated plugins and themes contain unpatched security vulnerabilities that hackers actively exploit. When developers discover security flaws, they release updates to fix them. Sites running outdated versions remain vulnerable to known exploits that attackers can easily find and use.

Attackers scan sites for outdated software versions, then use publicly documented vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access. This makes outdated plugins the single biggest WordPress security risk.

How to Fix:

• Enable Automatic Updates: WordPress can automatically update plugins and themes, ensuring security patches install immediately without manual intervention.

• Remove Unused Plugins: Deactivated plugins still contain code that attackers can exploit. Delete plugins you don’t actively use instead of just deactivating them.

• Install Plugins from Reputable Developers: Choose plugins with active development, recent updates, strong reviews, and responsive support teams.

• Conduct Monthly Security Audits: Review installed plugins and themes monthly, checking for updates, security advisories, and developer abandonment.

Weak Passwords and Poor User Role Management

Weak passwords make brute force attacks successful. Attackers use automated tools to try thousands of password combinations until they find one that works. Simple passwords like “password123” or “admin2024” get cracked within minutes.

Poor user role management gives too many people administrative access. Every admin account represents a potential security breach if credentials get compromised or users fall victim to phishing attacks.

How to Fix:

• Enforce Strong Password Policies: Require passwords with a minimum length, mixed case letters, numbers, and special characters for all user accounts.

• Limit Admin Users: Give users the minimum permission level needed for their role. Contributors don’t need administrator access.

• Enable Two-Factor Authentication: Two-factor authentication requires a second verification step beyond passwords, blocking unauthorized access even when passwords get compromised.

• Disable Default Admin Usernames: Change the default “admin” username to something unique. Attackers target the admin username first in brute-force attacks.

Brute Force Attacks on Login Pages

Brute force attacks involve automated bots attempting thousands of login combinations on your WordPress login page. These attacks continue relentlessly until they guess correct credentials or get blocked.

Successful brute-force attacks give hackers complete control of the site. They can inject malware, steal data, deface content, or use your site to attack others.

How to Fix:

• Limit Login Attempts: Install plugins that lock accounts after a specified number of failed login attempts, automatically blocking brute-force attacks.

• Use CAPTCHA: CAPTCHA challenges verify that humans, not bots, are attempting to log in, thereby stopping automated brute-force tools.

• Change Login URL: Moving your login page from the default wp-admin URL makes it harder for automated bots to find and target.

• Install a WordPress firewall plugin: WordPress firewall plugins block malicious traffic before it reaches your site, stopping brute-force attempts at the network level.

Malware Injections and Malicious Code

Malware injections insert malicious code into WordPress files, databases, or plugins. This code performs harmful actions without site owners knowing until significant damage occurs.

Redirect Hacks

Redirect hacks send your visitors to malicious sites without their consent. Your site appears normal when you visit it, but regular visitors get redirected to spam sites, phishing pages, or malware distribution sites.

This damages your reputation severely and destroys SEO rankings. Google penalizes sites that redirect visitors to malicious destinations, often removing them from search results entirely.

Spam Injection

Spam injection adds hidden links to your content, comments, or footer sections. Attackers use your site’s domain authority to boost spam site rankings while simultaneously damaging yours.

These injected links often appear invisible to casual visitors but show up clearly in your site’s source code and to search engines crawling your pages.

Backdoor Files

Backdoor files create hidden entry points that let attackers regain access even after you change passwords or remove the initial infection. These files hide in obscure directories and masquerade as legitimate WordPress files.

Backdoors persist across security measures, making them particularly dangerous. Attackers can reinfect your site repeatedly until you find and remove the backdoor completely.

How to Fix:

• Install a WordPress Security Plugin: Security plugins scan for malware, monitor file changes, and block suspicious activity automatically.

• Run Regular Malware Scans: Schedule weekly or daily scans to detect infections early before they cause significant damage.

• Restore Clean Backups: When malware infects your site, restore from a clean backup taken before the infection occurred rather than trying to manually remove all malicious code.

Harden File Permissions: Set correct file permissions to prevent unauthorized modifications to core WordPress files, themes, and plugins.

Insecure Hosting Environment

Your hosting environment directly impacts WordPress security. Cheap hosting providers often sacrifice security for affordability, leaving your sites vulnerable to attacks.

Cheap Shared Hosting Risks

Cheap shared hosting lacks proper server hardening, runs outdated software, and offers minimal security monitoring. Sites on these servers share resources with dozens or hundreds of other sites, creating security vulnerabilities.

When one site on the server gets compromised, attackers can potentially access other sites sharing the same server environment. This makes cheap shared hosting particularly risky for business-critical sites.

No Server Monitoring

Hosting without server monitoring means you don’t know when attacks happen until damage is already done. Sites go offline, get infected with malware, or experience data breaches without any alerts or warnings.

Professional hosting includes server monitoring that detects unusual activity, failed login attempts, and performance issues before they escalate into serious problems.

Missing SSL Encryption

Sites without SSL certificates transmit data in plain text between servers and visitors. This exposes login credentials, payment information, and personal data to interception by attackers.

Google also penalizes sites without SSL by displaying “Not Secure” warnings in browsers and ranking them lower in search results.

How to Fix:

• Choose Secure Managed Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting providers handle security updates, monitoring, and server hardening automatically.

• Enable SSL Certificate: SSL encrypts data between your site and visitors, protecting sensitive information from interception.

• Implement Server-Level Firewall: Server firewalls block malicious traffic before it reaches WordPress, providing additional security beyond WordPress plugins.

• Use Uptime Monitoring: Monitoring services alert you immediately when your site goes down, letting you respond to attacks or issues quickly.

Lack of Regular Backups

Sites without regular backups face complete data loss when attacks, server failures, or human errors occur. Recovery becomes impossible without recent backups available for restoration.

Many site owners only realize they need backups after losing critical data. By then, months or years of content, customer data, and customizations disappear permanently with no recovery options.

How to Fix:

• Enable Automated Daily Backups: Automated backups run without manual intervention, ensuring you always have recent restore points available when needed.

• Store Backups Offsite: Keep backups on separate servers or cloud storage services, not just on your hosting server where attacks or failures can destroy them.

• Test Restoration Regularly: Verify that backups actually work by testing restoration processes before you need them during emergencies.

XML-RPC and REST API Exploits

WordPress includes features for remote connections and external application access. Attackers exploit these features when they’re not properly secured or when sites don’t actually need them enabled.

XML-RPC Vulnerabilities

XML-RPC enables remote connections for mobile apps and third-party services. Attackers exploit XML-RPC to amplify brute force attacks, sending multiple login attempts in a single request.

This amplification makes brute force attacks faster and harder to detect compared to traditional login page attacks. Attackers can try thousands of password combinations through XML-RPC in the time it would take to try dozens through the standard login page.

REST API Security Issues

REST API endpoints expose WordPress data and functionality to external applications. Improperly secured API endpoints let attackers access sensitive information, manipulate site content, or extract user data.

Default WordPress REST API configurations expose more information than most sites need publicly available, creating unnecessary security risks.

How to Fix:

• Disable XML-RPC if Unused: If you don’t use mobile apps or services requiring XML-RPC, disable it completely to eliminate this attack vector.

• Restrict API Endpoints: Limit which REST API endpoints respond to requests and require authentication for sensitive operations.

• Use Firewall Rules: Configure firewall rules to block suspicious XML-RPC and API requests based on patterns, frequency, and source.

Poor File Permissions and Database Security

WordPress security depends heavily on proper file permissions and database configurations. Incorrect settings create vulnerabilities that attackers exploit to gain unauthorized access or steal sensitive data.

File Permission Issues

Incorrect file permissions let attackers modify WordPress core files, theme files, and plugin files without authorization. Once attackers gain file modification access, they inject malware, create backdoors, or completely take over sites.

Default file permissions after installation are often too permissive, allowing more access than WordPress actually needs to function properly.

Database Security Weaknesses

Insecure database configurations expose sensitive data including user credentials, payment information, and site content. Default database prefixes make it easier for attackers to target specific database tables using automated SQL injection tools.

Database credentials stored in wp-config.php become targets when file permissions don’t protect this critical configuration file properly.

How to Fix:

• Secure wp-config.php: Move wp-config.php above the web root or set strict file permissions preventing unauthorized access to database credentials stored in this file.

• Correct File Permissions: Set directories to 755 and files to 644 permissions, preventing unauthorized modifications while allowing WordPress to function properly.

• Disable Directory Indexing: Prevent attackers from viewing directory contents by disabling directory indexing at the server level.

• Use Secure Database Prefixes: Change the default wp_ database table prefix to something unique, making automated SQL injection attacks more difficult.

How to Prevent WordPress Security Risks Long Term?

Long-term WordPress security requires ongoing monitoring rather than one-time fixes. Security threats evolve constantly as attackers discover new vulnerabilities and develop new attack methods.

Recurring maintenance prevents security degradation over time. Sites need regular updates, security audits, backup verification, and monitoring to maintain a strong security posture. Proactive patching addresses vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.

Performance and security audits identify emerging issues before they cause problems. Regular audits catch misconfigured settings, outdated software, and new vulnerabilities. Continuous improvement adapts security practices to match evolving threats.

Conclusion

WordPress remains secure when maintained properly through regular updates, strong authentication, proper backups, and proactive monitoring. Most security breaches result from neglected maintenance rather than WordPress vulnerabilities.

Prevention costs far less than recovery from successful attacks. Investing in security measures upfront protects your reputation, client trust, and business continuity. Proactive security practices build long-term stability for sites and businesses.

FAQs About WordPress Security