WPVulnerability WordPress plugin

WPVulnerability 4.3.1

Compatibility

• WordPress: 4.7 – 6.9
• PHP: 5.6 – 8.5
• WP-CLI: 2.3.0 – 2.11.0

Tests

• PHP Coding Standards: 3.13.5
• WordPress Coding Standards: 3.3.0
• Plugin Check (PCP): 1.8.0

Changelog

View the full changelog.

[4.3.1] – 2026-01-20

Fixed

• Dashboard widget now correctly counts only vulnerabilities from enabled components, excluding disabled ones from settings.
• Status badge calculation (Critical/Warning) now properly considers only enabled components when determining severity level.
• Fixed PHPCS warnings for global variables without plugin prefix in wpvulnerability-admin.php and wpvulnerability-adminms.php.

Using the plugin

WP-CLI

You can use the following WP-CLI commands to manage and check vulnerabilities:

• Core: wp wpvulnerability core
• Plugins: wp wpvulnerability plugins
• Themes: wp wpvulnerability themes
• PHP: wp wpvulnerability php
• Apache HTTPD: wp wpvulnerability apache
• nginx: wp wpvulnerability nginx
• MariaDB: wp wpvulnerability mariadb
• MySQL: wp wpvulnerability mysql
• ImageMagick: wp wpvulnerability imagemagick
• curl: wp wpvulnerability curl
• memcached: wp wpvulnerability memcached
• Redis: wp wpvulnerability redis
• SQLite: wp wpvulnerability sqlite

To configure the plugin you can use:

• Hide component: wp wpvulnerability config hide <component> [on|off]
• Notification email: wp wpvulnerability config email <emails> (comma separatted)
• Notification period: wp wpvulnerability config period <never|daily|weekly>
• Log retention: wp wpvulnerability config log-retention <0|1|7|14|28> (in days)
• Cache duration: wp wpvulnerability config cache <1|6|12|24> (in hours)

All commands support the --format option to specify the output format:

• --format=table: Displays the results in a table format (default).
• --format=json: Displays the results in JSON format.

Need help?

• wp wpvulnerability --help: Displays help information for WPVulnerability commands.
• wp wpvulnerability [command] --help: Displays help information for a WPVulnerability command.

REST API

The WPVulnerability plugin provides several REST API endpoints to fetch vulnerability information for different components of your WordPress site.

• Core: /wpvulnerability/v1/core
• Plugins: /wpvulnerability/v1/plugins
• Themes: /wpvulnerability/v1/themes
• PHP: /wpvulnerability/v1/php
• Apache HTTPD: /wpvulnerability/v1/apache
• nginx: /wpvulnerability/v1/nginx
• MariaDB: /wpvulnerability/v1/mariadb
• MySQL: /wpvulnerability/v1/mysql
• ImageMagick: /wpvulnerability/v1/imagemagick
• curl: /wpvulnerability/v1/curl
• memcached: /wpvulnerability/v1/memcached
• Redis: /wpvulnerability/v1/redis
• SQLite: /wpvulnerability/v1/sqlite

The WPVulnerability REST API uses Application Passwords for authentication. You need to include a valid Application Password in the Authorization header of your requests.

Example Request with Authentication

curl -X GET https://example.com/wp-json/wpvulnerability/v1/plugins -u username:application_password

Replace username with your WordPress username and application_password with your Application Password.

Configurations

From mail

Since 3.2.2

If, for some reason, you need the emails sent by the plugin to have a From different from the site administrator, you can change it from the wp-config.php by adding a constant:

define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_MAIL', 'sender@example.com' );

If the constant is active, it will be visible in the configuration screen.

Force hiding checks

Since 4.1.0

If you want to always hide a specific component, you can define a constant in wp-config.php. When set to true, the option will be checked automatically in the settings screen and the related analysis will be skipped.

define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_APACHE', true );

Available constants: WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_CORE, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_PLUGINS, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_THEMES, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_PHP, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_APACHE, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_NGINX, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_MARIADB, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_MYSQL, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_IMAGEMAGICK, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_CURL, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_MEMCACHED, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_REDIS, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_SQLITE.

Cache duration

Since 4.1.0

By default, data from the API is cached for 12 hours. To change this, define WPVULNERABILITY_CACHE_HOURS in wp-config.php with one of 1, 6, 12 or 24. This value overrides the setting screen and WP-CLI command.

define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_CACHE_HOURS', 24 );

Log rotation

Since 4.2.0

WPVulnerability stores the most recent API responses so you can review recent calls from the new log tab. Define WPVULNERABILITY_LOG_RETENTION_DAYS in wp-config.php to control how many days of entries are preserved. Supported values are 0, 1, 7, 14 or 28; using 0 disables logging entirely.

define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_LOG_RETENTION_DAYS', 14 );

When the constant is present its value is enforced in the settings UI and through WP-CLI, ensuring consistent log rotation across environments.

Security configuration

Since 4.3.0

WPVulnerability uses a hybrid detection approach for server software (ImageMagick, Redis, Memcached, SQLite): PHP extensions first (most secure), then shell commands as fallback (most accurate). You can control this behavior using security configuration constants in wp-config.php.

Global disable of shell commands:

define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_DISABLE_SHELL_EXEC', true );

Completely disables shell command usage. Falls back to PHP extensions only. Use for maximum security when accuracy loss is acceptable.

Security mode (standard/strict/disabled):

define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_SECURITY_MODE', 'strict' );

• standard – Hybrid detection: PHP extensions first, shell commands fallback (default, best accuracy)
• strict – PHP extensions only, no shell commands (high security, lower accuracy)
• disabled – No software detection at all (maximum security)

Component whitelist:

define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_SHELL_EXEC_WHITELIST', 'imagemagick,redis' );

Allows shell commands only for specified components. Available components: imagemagick, redis, memcached, sqlite. Use for granular control.

Examples:

Maximum security (no shell commands):

define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_SECURITY_MODE', 'strict' );

Only allow ImageMagick shell detection:

define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_SHELL_EXEC_WHITELIST', 'imagemagick' );

Complete disable:

define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_DISABLE_SHELL_EXEC', true );

All shell commands are hardcoded and validated – no user input is involved. Commands are logged for security auditing.

Security

This plugin adheres to the following security measures and review protocols for each version:

• WordPress Plugin Handbook
• WordPress Plugin Security
• WordPress APIs Security
• WordPress Coding Standards
• Plugin Check (PCP)
• SonarCloud Code Review
• Amplify Code Check

Privacy

• This plugin or the WPVulnerability API does not collect any information about your site, your identity, the plugins, themes or content the site has.

Vulnerabilities

• No vulnerabilities have been published up to version 4.2.0.

Found a security vulnerability? Please report it to us privately at the WPVulnerability GitHub repository.

Contributors

You can contribute to this plugin at the WPVulnerability GitHub repository.