Security researchers have discovered a significant supply-chain attack affecting around 36,000 WordPress websites. The attack involves five plugins that have been compromised with backdoors, allowing attackers to gain administrative control over the affected sites. The malicious updates, available on WordPress.org, not only create attacker-controlled admin accounts but also inject content aimed at manipulating search engine results.
The compromised plugins include Social Warfare, BLAZE Retail Widget, Wrapper Link Elementor, Contact Form 7 Multi-Step Addon, and Simply Show Hooks. The malicious code, while not highly sophisticated, was injected into plugin updates as recently as June 21, 2024. The code facilitates unauthorized access and adds SEO spam to websites, exploiting the trusted update mechanism of WordPress plugins.
The attackers’ methods are indicative of a broader trend in supply-chain attacks, where malware is introduced at the source, affecting numerous systems upon legitimate software updates. This attack mirrors past incidents where vulnerabilities in widely used code libraries have led to widespread infection. The ongoing investigation aims to understand how the plugins were compromised and to prevent further breaches.
Website administrators are advised to immediately uninstall the affected plugins and check their sites for unauthorized administrative accounts and malicious content. Tools like the Wordfence Vulnerability Scanner can help identify if any of the compromised plugins are in use and detect suspicious connections and admin accounts.
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