6 most popular WordPress Security Issues & How to Fix Them

Other security issues with WordPress is SQL injections. But the first question is:

What is an SQL? 

SQL is a query language designed to manage data stored in relational databases. You can use it to access, edit, and delete data. Many WordPress websites keep all the data in SQL databases. Besides, you can also use SQL commands to run operating system commands.

what is SQL injection?

WordPress SQL Injections are a common hack method in which attackers inject malicious code (like malware and spammy links) into existing SQL commands. Such malicious statements can attack the SQL database such as MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, or others. Then, the hackers may use it to pass website security measures and get unauthorized access to sensitive and important data in your site, for example, customer information, personal data, trade secrets, and more.

That’s why it is seriously dangerous if an SQL injection successfully attacks your website.

There are some types of SQL injection attacks namely Union-Based SQL Injection (using database errors or UNION commands), blind SQLi, and out-of-band SQLi. You can take a look at this material to learn more about such SQL injections.

SQL injections are code-related WordPress security issues and do not leave traces on the server. Instead, they execute direct queries on the database. Hence, the majority of attacks are recognized after an attacker successfully performs malicious actions or gets administrative access. Therefore, it’s quite complicated and difficult to address them.

Solution

Generally, there are two main ways you can use to protect your site from SQL injection attacks, shown as follows:

• Validate and sanitize all input

The first measure is to validate and sanitize all input. One of the most simple ways for hackers to attack your site with an SQL injection is through user-submitted data. Therefore, validating and sanitizing all input, as well as filtering for user-submitted data can help to prevent dangerous SQL injections. Input validation is a simple process that requires you to test any submitted data, which can then be filtered to prevent an SQL injection.

• Use prepared statements with parameterize queries

The second method to prevent SQL injection is using prepared statements. Such statements help you ensure all of the dynamic variables you need in a query can not escape their initial position. The core statement is defined beforehand, with the arguments and their types afterward.

Because the query knows the types of expected data such as string or number, they know exactly how to integrate them into the query without causing any issues.

• Use .htaccess Rules

The last but not least tip is applying .htaccess rules. This process is not so difficult. All you have to do is to add the following code to the .htaccess file to create a strong set of rules.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} ^(HEAD|TRACE|DELETE|TRACK) [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [F,L]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \\.\\.\\/ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} boot\\.ini [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} tag\\= [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ftp\\:  [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} http\\:  [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} https\\:  [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (\\<|%3C).*script.*(\\>|%3E) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} mosConfig_[a-zA-Z_]{1,21}(=|%3D) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode.*\\(.*\\) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^.*(\\[|\\]|\\(|\\)|<|>|ê|"|;|\\?|\\*|=$).* [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^.*("|'|<|>|\|{||).* [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^.*(%24&x).* [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^.*(%0|%A|%B|%C|%D|%E|%F|127\\.0).* [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^.*(globals|encode|localhost|loopback).* [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^.*(request|select|insert|union|declare).* [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !^.*WordPress_logged_in_.*$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [F,L]

All such input is not treated as an SQL query statement but is considered a string. As a result, the risk of SQL injection attacks on your WordPress site is significantly reduced.