Hardening & Improving WordPress Security

WP Security README.md

Hardening WP Security

A shortened, actionable version of the full punchlist

1. Sync your entire live site down to your local repo
2. Change the WordPress default admin user + generate a new password
3. Remove any users that aren’t supposed to be there, or that are no longer in use
4. Update WordPress (in case you need to update it manually: https://gist.github.com/ericrasch/4192dc480398a896d4d58b5afe08a1d0)
5. Update all WordPress plugins
6. Remove unused plugins
7. Remove unused themes
8. Remove most .php/..php5/.html/.phtml/.txt files from the /wp-content/uploads foler.
9. Run grep -R --exclude="*.js" -e 'eval(' .|cut -c -80 in the command line of the site's root folder to help find evil code
10. Add this to the wp-config.php file: define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true );
11. I highly recommend deleting the /xml-rpc.php file as an additional step to this: Disable XML-RPC access by adding this plugin to the /mu-plugins folder: https://gist.github.com/ericrasch/bda89f60042dd433037b
12. Add this to your .htaccess for additional file security
13. Add these .htaccess files to both the /wp-content and /wp-includes folders
14. Run this sql command UPDATE wp_posts SET ping_status="closed"; in a database editing app like Sequel Pro (but only if you know what you're doing).
15. change the table prefix in the wp-config.php file using the iThemes Security plugin
16. Install WP-Optimize and clean up the database locally, but there's no need to commit this (or iThemes) to a repo and/or exist on a live site (unless you're intending to keep iThemes on your site)
17. If you're using the Genesis WordPress Skeleton Framework, run the genesis:up:mirror command to automatically sync/delete the hacked files within the /wp-content/uploads/ folder.

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Must do... first thing

1. Sync your entire live site down to your local repo to see if there are any new files on the live server that may/may not have added indicating your site has been exploited.
   • example files I've personally found were wp-editor.php and .cache.php
   • If you're using the Genesis WordPress Skeleton Framework, then run bundle exec cap production genesis:down
2. change the WordPress default admin user + password
   • create another Super Admin user
   • If you're running your site as a company, use companyname_admin for the username and contact+sitedomainwithextension@companyname.com for the email (Staff Writers will work for a name and Staff as a nickname; just make sure you know what's being displayed publicly) and generate a password
   • login as that user
   • delete the base admin user and auto-reassign all Post/Pages from that user to the new admin user you just created
   • If your company keeps track of multiple logins for your website(s), be sure to update those records, too.
3. Go to your WordPress admin panel and remove any admin/editor users that aren’t supposed to be there, or that are no longer in use.
4. Re-run the WordPress update tool (to overwrite all the files with a clean copy)
   • If you're using the Genesis WordPress Skeleton Framework, then run yo to install the latest version of WordPress through Yeoman.
5. Update all WordPress plugins. To see if an installed plugin has a known vulnerability, use the following plugins to check them:
   • Total Security plugin
   • Plugin Security Scanner plugin
6. Remove unused plugins. Hackers can still files/issues within inactive plugins.
7. Remove unused themes. Hackers can still files/issues within inactive themes.
8. Remove most .php/..php5/.html/.phtml/.txt files from the /wp-content/uploads foler. There's generally only 1 index.php in that foler.
9. Run grep -R --exclude="*.js" -e 'eval(' .|cut -c -80 in the command line of the site's root folder to help find evil code (source: http://halfelf.org/2013/evaluating-evil/ which also gives a good snapshot of a clean WP install)

Second steps

1. Scan your site/database with the following plugins:
   • Sucuri Security plugin
   • Total Security plugin
   • Gauntlet Security plugin
2. disallow file edits from with a theme
   • add this to the wp-config.php file: define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true );
3. disable XML-RPC access
   • check if it's enabled on your site here: http://xmlrpc.eritreo.it/
   • combine the 2 existing WP plugins for disabling this into one and add it as a new plugin to the /mu-plugins folder
     • final: https://gist.github.com/ericrasch/bda89f60042dd433037b
     • src: https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-xml-rpc-pingback
     • src: https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-xml-rpc/

If you're not using the Genesis WordPress Skeleton Framework, then do the following:

1. Edit your .htaccess for additional file security by using the Solid Base .htaccess
   • be sure to change line #101 CHANGETHENAMEOFYOURWEBSITEHERE.com where you need to reference your own website's domain
2. Add these .htaccess files to both the /wp-content and /wp-includes folders

If you have the time/skill to mess with the database

1. change the db username + password
2. block old posts from trackback spammers:
   • run this sql command: UPDATE wp_posts SET ping_status="closed";
3. change the table prefix in the wp-config.php file
   • $table_prefix = 'wp_';
   • consider installing to do this for you iThemes Security plugin to change this automatically
4. look for malicious cron jobs running on your server
   • one cron job we found recreated the .cache.php file every hour and at 00:27 minutes, so just deleting the file wasn't enough

Untested, but recommended

• Change permissions on core files:
  • chmod .htaccess to 444
  • chmod wp-config.php to 400
• Consider enabling Two-Factor Authentication

Further Steps

• Scan your live site through Sucuri's SiteCheck: https://sitecheck.sucuri.net/
• Consider adding the WP-SpamShield Anti-Spam plugin
  • This plugin is good, but it does as another .js script on the front-end of your website. I didn't like that, so I'm not going to use this plugin.
• Read the following for sources:
  • WordPress Security: The Ultimate Guide
  • Stopping Manual WordPress Comment Spam
  • Cleaning up an infected website
  • My Wordpress site was hacked

Plugins that helped:

• Sucuri Security
• Total Security
• Gauntlet Security
• BulletProof Security
• Site Protection
• iThemes Security plugin
• Plugin Security Scanner
  • this plugin duplicated some of the functions from other plugins listed above
• WP-Optimize
  • while not a security plugin, this one will help clean out comment spam and such

Plugins that didn't help:

Some of these worked just fine, but they required more digging to find out the actual issues on the site and/or were handled better by the plugins listed above. Others required you to create an account to even begin to use them.

• Exploit Scanner
• VIP Scanner
• Asgard Security Scanner
• WPSecureOps Easy Firewall
• Apocalypse Meow
• Quttera Web Malware Scanner
• WP Antivirus Site Protection
• All In One WP Security & Firewall

wp-content .htaccess

<Files *.php>
  deny from all
</Files>

wp-includes .htaccess

<Files *.php>
  deny from all
</Files>
<Files wp-tinymce.php>
  allow from all
</Files>
<Files ms-files.php>
  allow from all
</Files>

Hi @ericrasch.
We always try to keep our plugins as helpful as possible (but not bloated with unneeded features), so we wonder, can you share a bit more details on why our plugin "WPSecureOps Easy Firewall" was not working for you? :)

Thanks!
WPSecureOps Team