WordPress Security Issues: Why Business Blogs Are Switching

Your blog runs on WordPress. So do 7 million other sites using the LiteSpeed Cache plugin. In early 2025, all of them became vulnerable to takeover through a single line of malicious code.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-12450, allowed attackers to inject scripts that execute in visitors' browsers. No authentication required. Just visit the page, and the attack runs.

This wasn't an isolated incident. It's the pattern.

Recent Major Vulnerabilities

WordPress security in 2025 has been defined by scale. Not individual sites getting hacked, but entire categories of businesses exposed simultaneously.

LiteSpeed Cache (January 2025) CVE-2025-12450 affected 7 million active installations through a cross-site scripting flaw. The plugin failed to sanitize URL parameters, allowing attackers to inject malicious scripts that would execute when users visited compromised pages.

LiteSpeed Cache Again (October 2024) CVE-2024-47374 was worse. A privilege escalation vulnerability (CVSS score: 9.1 Critical) in versions 5.0 to 5.7.0.1 let unauthenticated users manipulate HTTP headers to gain administrator access. Over 6 million sites were exposed. The bounty paid to the researcher who discovered it: $16,400. The highest ever in the WordPress ecosystem.

Yoast SEO (2025) Versions 20.0 to 20.13 contained an XSS vulnerability affecting 12 million active installations. While it required editor-level access to exploit, that's exactly what credential-stuffing attacks target.

Starter Templates by Brainstorm Force (2025) CVE-2025-13065 exposed 2 million sites to arbitrary file uploads. Attackers could upload PHP shells disguised as template files and execute code on the server.

Divi Theme (2025) The most popular premium theme, with 1 million+ installations, had a vulnerability (CVSS 6.8) that let attackers modify theme settings and install malicious plugins.

December 10, 2025: Mass Disclosure SolidWP disclosed 170 vulnerabilities in a single day. Three were critical remote code execution flaws affecting 2.3 million sites. 91 of those vulnerabilities remained completely unpatched months later.

The numbers get worse when you zoom out. In 2024, researchers discovered 7,966 new WordPress vulnerabilities, a 34% increase over 2023. By early 2026, the total documented vulnerabilities across the WordPress ecosystem reached 64,782.

Why WordPress Is the Target

Market share creates risk. WordPress powers 43% of all websites. For attackers, that's not a statistic, it's an opportunity.

Plugin vulnerabilities account for 92% of successful WordPress breaches. Core WordPress itself is relatively secure. The problem is the ecosystem around it.

The average WordPress site runs 25+ plugins. Each one is written by different developers with different security standards. Many are abandoned. Over 35% of known plugin vulnerabilities remain unfixed permanently.

There are 112,000 tracked plugins and 30,000 themes. That's 142,000 potential entry points. Security researchers found 333 new vulnerabilities in plugins and themes in the first week of January 2026 alone. That's 48 new threats per day.

Low exploitation complexity makes it worse. 67% of WordPress vulnerabilities can be exploited by attackers with basic skills using ready-made tools. You don't need sophisticated hackers when automated scripts can do the work.

Wordfence blocks 55 million exploit attempts and 65 million brute force attacks daily. Your WordPress site is being probed constantly, whether you notice or not.

The Hidden Cost of Security Maintenance

WordPress sites get attacked every 32 minutes. That number improved from every 22 minutes in 2024, but "improved" is relative when you're still facing 45 attacks per day.

Prevention costs:

• Initial security hardening: 2 to 4 hours
• Monthly maintenance: 30 minutes minimum
• Security plugin subscriptions: $100 to $500 per year
• Web application firewall: $200+ per year
• Malware scanning service: $150+ per year

Recovery costs when (not if) you get breached:

• Malware removal: $500 to $5,000
• Full breach recovery: $4,000 to $50,000
• Includes cleanup, SEO recovery, customer notification, potential legal costs
• Lost revenue during downtime
• Damage to brand reputation

The maintenance burden is constant. Updates release weekly. Each one requires testing to ensure it doesn't break your site. Plugins conflict. Themes stop supporting old PHP versions. Hosting environments change.

You're not just maintaining a blog. You're managing a software stack with 142,000 third-party dependencies.

What "Secure WordPress" Actually Requires

Security companies publish checklists with 20 to 30 steps. Here's what businesses actually need to run secure WordPress in 2026:

Plugin Management

• Audit all installed plugins quarterly
• Remove unused plugins completely (not just deactivate)
• Research each plugin's security history before installation
• Monitor for vulnerability disclosures daily
• Implement staging environment to test updates

Access Control

• Enforce two-factor authentication for all users
• Limit admin accounts to only those who need them
• Change default admin username from "admin"
• Use unique passwords over 16 characters
• Implement IP restrictions for wp-admin

Technical Hardening

• Install security plugin (Wordfence, Sucuri, or similar)
• Configure web application firewall
• Enable automatic core updates
• Disable file editing in wp-admin
• Set proper file permissions (644 for files, 755 for directories)
• Move wp-config.php above web root
• Disable XML-RPC if not needed
• Change database prefix from default wp_

Monitoring

• Set up real-time malware scanning
• Monitor file integrity for unauthorized changes
• Track failed login attempts
• Review security logs weekly
• Subscribe to multiple vulnerability feeds

Backup & Recovery

• Daily automated backups stored off-site
• Test restore process quarterly
• Maintain multiple backup versions
• Include database and file backups

This isn't optional. It's the baseline for WordPress security in 2026. Miss any step and you're exposed.

The effort never stops. Vulnerabilities don't wait for convenient times. The LiteSpeed privilege escalation was discovered on a Saturday. Sites running unpatched versions were compromised by Monday morning.

The JAMstack Alternative

Static site generators solve the security problem by eliminating the attack surface.

Traditional WordPress architecture runs PHP code on every page request. That code queries a MySQL database, processes plugins, applies theme logic, and renders HTML. Every step is a potential vulnerability.

JAMstack architecture pre-builds all pages as static HTML during deployment. When visitors request a page, the server sends a file. No code execution. No database queries. No plugins loading. Just files served from a CDN.

What attackers can't exploit:

• No PHP code running at request time
• No database to inject SQL into
• No plugin code to compromise
• No admin login page to brute force
• No file upload mechanisms to abuse
• No server-side code to execute remotely

Common WordPress attacks simply have nothing to target. SQL injection requires a database connection. Remote code execution requires code that runs. Cross-site scripting needs dynamic content rendering. None of those exist in static sites.

The security posture fundamentally changes. Instead of defending 142,000 potential entry points through plugins and themes, you're serving pre-built files. The only attack surface is the CDN itself, which is managed by companies like Cloudflare with security teams larger than most businesses.

How Superblog Eliminates WordPress Security Risks

Superblog uses JAMstack architecture specifically to avoid the WordPress security model.

No plugins to patch The platform includes everything built-in. SEO features, image optimization, forms, analytics, internationalization. No third-party code. No abandoned plugins. No vulnerability notifications at 3 AM.

No updates to manage Your blog is hosted infrastructure, not software you maintain. Security patches happen platform-wide. You don't test updates or worry about breaking changes. The blog just works.

No database to protect Content is stored in a managed PostgreSQL database on the backend. The public blog serves static files from a CDN. Visitors never interact with the database. SQL injection isn't possible because there's no SQL interface.

Built-in security features

• SSL/TLS encryption automatic on all pages
• DDoS protection through Cloudflare CDN
• No exposed admin login pages
• No file upload vulnerabilities
• Automatic HTTPS enforcement
• Security headers configured correctly

Performance as security benefit Static pages load in under 1 second (sub-1s First Contentful Paint). Fast sites rank higher. Google's algorithm explicitly rewards Core Web Vitals. Your security architecture improves your SEO.

The platform maintains 99.99% uptime because there's nothing to crash. No database connection failures. No PHP memory limits. No plugin conflicts bringing down the site.

What This Means for Business Blogs

If content drives revenue, security isn't optional. Each breach costs $4,000 to $50,000 in recovery. Add lost rankings from downtime, customer trust damage, and time spent managing the crisis.

WordPress security can be done right. Large enterprises do it with dedicated security teams, staging environments, and strict change management processes. That's appropriate for complex web applications.

For business blogs, that's overhead. You're securing content management, not processing transactions or handling PHI data. The security requirements don't match the use case.

JAMstack architecture matches the use case. You get professional publishing tools (WYSIWYG editor, scheduling, team collaboration) without the security burden of dynamic web applications.

The total cost of ownership changes. Instead of $1,000+ per year on security subscriptions plus maintenance hours, you pay a flat platform fee. No surprise malware cleanups. No emergency weekend updates.

More importantly, the mental overhead disappears. You're not monitoring vulnerability feeds or testing plugin updates. You're publishing content and watching traffic grow.

Superblog starts at $29/month for the Basic plan, $49/month for Pro (most popular with growing teams), and $99/month for Super with AI features. All plans include the same security model: static sites served from CDN with no maintenance required.

Making the Switch

Moving from WordPress to JAMstack isn't a server migration. It's an architecture change. Your content exports to markdown. Images move to a CDN. URLs can maintain the same structure for SEO continuity.

The transition typically takes a few hours, not weeks. Most businesses see improved Lighthouse scores (90+ compared to WordPress's typical 40-60) immediately after launch.

If your business depends on organic traffic, your blog's security affects your revenue. Either invest in proper WordPress security hardening and maintenance, or switch to an architecture where those problems don't exist.

The WordPress security issues aren't going away. 48 new vulnerabilities discovered daily, 92% of breaches through plugins, constant maintenance requirements. That's the ecosystem in 2026.

JAMstack eliminates the problem at the architectural level. No plugins means no plugin vulnerabilities. No dynamic code means no code execution. No database connection means no injection attacks.

Your blog should drive growth, not create security overhead. Choose architecture that matches that goal.