On May 7, WordPress announced the release of the latest update. This is a critical security release and it’s essential for the safety of your WordPress website. It concerns millions of websites around the world and according to Sucuri’s security researchers this security issue allows others to take control of a website.
This latest Version focuses to two major security issues, according to WordPress:
- The Genericons icon font package, which is used in a number of popular themes and plugins, contained an HTML file vulnerable to a cross-site scripting attack. All affected themes and plugins hosted on WordPress.org (including the Twenty Fifteen default theme) have been updated today by the WordPress security team to address this issue by removing this non-essential file. To help protect other Genericons usage, WordPress 4.2.2 proactively scans the wp-content directory for this HTML file and removes it. Reported by Robert Abela of Netsparker.
- WordPress versions 4.2 and earlier are affected by a critical cross-site scripting vulnerability, which could enable anonymous users to compromise a site. WordPress 4.2.2 includes a comprehensive fix for this issue. (Reported separately by Rice Adu and Tong Shi). The release also includes hardening for a potential cross-site scripting vulnerability when using the visual editor. (Reported by Mahadev Subedi).
WordPress 4.2.2 also contains fixes for 13 bugs from 4.2. For more information, see the release notes or consult the list of changes.
This update is also suggested to those who don’t host their websites directly on WordPress, for example, SiteRubix, although the security level is very high. It’s always suggested to stay up to dated on the latest updates for your WordPress website. That will save your work, time and, of course, your online business!