Critical: 13 Blacklisted/CLOSED WP PLUGINS FEB 2022 – Urgent

BRIEF: It is difficult to keep an eye on every disclosed WordPress plugin vulnerability and compare that list to the variations of plugins and themes you have set up on your site. This is a MUST HAVE with the publicly reported CLOSED WP PLUGINS FEB 2022. Keeping track of vulnerabilities, and jumping ship by migrating to another premium plugin is the difference between having a secure site versus one that hackers will easily make use of.

We've been involved in WordPress security for more than a decade. Auditing hundreds of hacked domains, we understand for a fact that outdated themes and plugins are the leading cause behind hacked WordPress. Like any other software application, WordPress themes and plugins develop vulnerabilities. To patch it, developers quickly launch an update. When site owners postpone or fail to implement updates, they leave their websites susceptible to a hack.

CLOSED WP PLUGINS FEB 2022 Explained

When the developers fail to provide a patch to a reported vulnerability, then the marketplace decides, that the risk is too high and the plugin is closed. This, however, does not remove it from your WordPress. it remains there, with the reported vulnerability until you deal with this problem.

Keep Your WordPress Updated! We can't stress enough the importance of security updates. You should have noticed that many hacks attacks that we mentioned in the earlier posts were triggered due to outdated themes and plugins. It happens when there is a delay in updating the website. It leaves the site prone to a hack. Yet, with closed plugins this is IMPOSSIBLE. There is no option to update. You have to remove and delete the plugin from your WP to eliminate this problem. It's time to migrate that feature as soon as possible.

The impact of CLOSED WP PLUGINS FEB 2022:

The consequences of a hacked domains are ugly. You will experience some major backlash on your WordPress domain such as:

- A marked drop in search engine rankings for the targeted keywords;
- High bounce rates as visitors are redirected to different websites;
- Wasted SEO efforts in the future;
- Wasted development costs due to the fact, that sometimes is cheaper to start from scratch, than solve an old problem;

• - Search Engine Result Page blacklist/warnings on your domain, like:
• This site may be hacked
• Deceptive site ahead
• Hosting account suspensions
• Email providers blacklisting your domain
• High cleanup, recovery, damage control costs
• Major decline in your brand’s image, reputation

Probing attacks – 1st step for CLOSED WP PLUGINS FEB 2022

For the time being, the large bulk of these attacks appear to be information gathering attacks, created to identify whether a website has a vulnerable plugin set up rather than to perform an exploit chain. The next steps are Remote Code Execution (RCE) leading to site takeover with these vulnerabilities. We highly switching to another premium plugin as soon as possible.

CLOSED WP PLUGINS FEB 2022 identified - What should I do?

If your website is running any of these plugins, it is critical to REMOVE that plugin IMMEDIATELY. There is no patched version available, so your choices are: migrate to a similar featured plugin or adapt to the loss. An active firewall software like owl WAF, that prevents these snooping or their real attacks might postpone the first attacks. As these grow in numbers, there is no protection. If anyone you know is running any of these plugins, please share this post to guarantee they migrate as possibilities permit.

Why reporting Blacklisted/CLOSED WP PLUGINS FEB 2022 so late?

We are committed to protecting the interests of our customers. Acting internally with active patching via firewall and security rules help prevent known vulnerabilities till they are patched by the respective developers. By default, this is a lengthy process. Usually, a vulnerability report is made public within 30 days. When a vulnerability is found on the last week of a month, then by the end of the next month is solved.

We're not chasing sensationalism via blog posts to sell specific security solutions nor to jump-scare our readers. That's why we wait the standard 30 days, starting when we find out. We don't inform our users 2-3 times in the same month about the same problem, or advise removing a or premium plugin just because in that specific week there is no patch. We like to think our approach is correct and ethical. This aligns with a natural period (holidays, lengthy approval/audit processes) needed to patch a vulnerability till it is submitted back into public marketplaces.