Yesterday, WordPress released version 4.3.1 of it’s software. This is a security release for all previous versions and I strongly recommend that you update your sites immediately. If you are one of our monthly maintenance plans, no worries, we will take care of it for you.
This update takes care of three issues, including two cross-site scripting vulnerabilities and a potential privilege escalation.
- WordPress versions 4.3 and earlier are vulnerable to a cross-site scripting vulnerability when processing shortcode tags.
- A separate cross-site scripting vulnerability was found in the user list table.
- Finally, in certain cases, users without proper permissions could publish private posts and make them sticky.
Twenty-six additional minor bugs were also fixed in this release.
Backup Before You Upgrade
As always, I recommend that you backup your website completely, before doing any upgrades to WordPress, plugins or themes. After upgrading WordPress, it would also be a good time to make sure your current theme and plugins are up-to-date, as well.
Why Security Updates Are Essential
A security issue is a type of bug that can affect the security of your website. It is generally a report of a bug that has been found in the WordPress core code and has been determined can be used to gain some level of access to a site running WordPress that outside users should not have.
When WordPress release a security issue, they are not saying that your website, or anyone elses, has been “been hacked.” They are saying that a bug was found that could, unless you patch the software with the upgrade, potentially be hacked in the future through it. This is why it is so important to keep your software up-to-date.
Let Us Keep You Up-To-Date
This can be a hassle for some, which is why they will pay us, or some other web company, a monthly retainer to make sure all of their files, themes and plug-ins are as up-to-date as possible. We check for these things on a daily basis, so you don’t have to worry about it.
Keep in mind, some of our monthly plans also include a certain amount of website content updates and changes as well. If you purchase our $80 plan and use us to make just one hour of changes per month to your site, it practically pays for itself!
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