During our investigation of an SEO spam infection (spam content designed to manipulate search engine results), we discovered a nicely crafted plugin that named itself after the infected domain, helping it evade detection. While this tactic was simple, it easily blended in with other legitimate plugins, making it…
Sucuri
Vulnerability & Patch Roundup — June 2025
Vulnerability reports and responsible disclosures are essential for website security awareness and education. Automated attacks targeting known software vulnerabilities are one of the leading causes of website compromises. To help educate website owners about potential threats to their environments, we’ve compiled a list of important security updates and…
Stealthy WordPress Malware Drops Windows Trojan via PHP Backdoor
Last month, we encountered a particularly interesting and complex malware case that stood out from the usual infections we see in compromised WordPress websites. At first glance, the site looked clean, no visible signs of defacement, no malicious redirects, and nothing suspicious in the plugin list. But beneath…
The Case of Hidden Spam Pages
Spammy posts and pages being placed on WordPress websites is one of the most common infections that we come across. The reason being is that the attack is very low-level in terms of sophistication: All that is required of the attacker is to brute force their way into…
Malicious WordPress Plugin Creates Hidden Admin User Backdoor
I recently wrote about a case where a malicious plugin was used to steal admin credentials. Here we will examine yet another malicious plugin that creates a malicious admin user right in the website. Examining the malware While examining the site, we noticed a plugin located at wp-content/plugins…
Analysis of a Malicious WordPress Plugin: The Covert Redirector
A few weeks ago, we received a support request from a website owner who was experiencing unexpected redirects. Visitors landed on the website normally, but after about 4–5 seconds, the site redirected them to unrelated and suspicious websites. During the investigation, we discovered a malicious plugin that was…
Understanding SSRF: Abusing Server Trust from the Inside Out
In our daily interactions online, trust is a fundamental currency. We trust servers to handle our data, process our requests, and reliably deliver content. But what happens when that trust is abused and turned against the server itself? What if an attacker could trick your server into becoming…
Fake WordPress Caching Plugin Used to Steal Admin Credentials
A common trend we see is that bad actors will upload malicious plugins to WordPress sites. These plugins serve a wide variety of functions from injecting spam to redirecting sites to other malicious content. In this article we will examine a more dangerous method where plugins can be…
Vulnerability & Patch Roundup — May 2025
Vulnerability reports and responsible disclosures are essential for website security awareness and education. Automated attacks targeting known software vulnerabilities are one of the leading causes of website compromises. To help educate website owners about potential threats to their environments, we’ve compiled a list of important security updates and…
What Motivates Website Malware Attacks?
The depiction in the media of hackers tends to be that of balaclava-wearing villains who type furiously in a dark basement, motivated by nothing but evil intentions. However, while this may be true in some instances, by and large the determining factors that result in malware attacks are…
Fake Java Update Popup Found in Malicious WordPress Plugin
We recently assisted a customer who reported a persistent and concerning “ Java Update” pop-up appearing on their WordPress website. This type of deceptive notification is a common tactic used by attackers to compromise website visitors. Our investigation revealed a malicious plugin operating stealthily within their WordPress environment. What…
Fake Google Meet Page Tricks Users into Running PowerShell Malware
Last month, a customer reached out to us after noticing suspicious URLs on their WordPress site. Visitors reported being prompted to perform unusual actions. We began our investigation, scanning the site for common malware indicators and looking for signs of obfuscated JavaScript or injected iframes. What we found, …
Another Fake Cloudflare Verification Targets WordPress Sites
A new Cloudflare infection has once again been targeting WordPress sites. This new iteration of malware mimics a legitimate-looking Cloudflare verification page, which then tricks victims into following various commands and downloading malware. This style of malware is not new – our researcher Ben Martin wrote about a…
90 Days to Shine: Why Sucuri’s SSL Certificates Are Living the Short Life (and Why That’s Awesome)
Picture this: your SSL certificate is like a carton of milk in your fridge. Sure, it’s good for a while, but let it sit too long, and you’re inviting a sour situation. At Sucuri, we’ve decided our certificates deserve a fresher approach—90 days fresh, to be exact. That’s…
Understanding CSRF: Cross-site Request Forgery Explained
Cross-Site Request Forgery, often called CSRF (or its other nicknames, Session Riding and XSRF), is a tricky type of attack. In short, it lets attackers make users do things on websites without their consent or knowledge. This attack works by misusing the trust a web application puts in…
Vulnerability & Patch Roundup — April 2025
Vulnerability reports and responsible disclosures are essential for website security awareness and education. Automated attacks targeting known software vulnerabilities are one of the leading causes of website compromises. To help educate website owners about potential threats to their environments, we’ve compiled a list of important security updates and…
MTR For Website Troubleshooting
Let’ s set the scene: You go to visit a website and you get a “connection timed out” error. Is this a browser, internet, firewall, or hosting server issue? How do I know who to contact to get the issue resolved? Should I use ping, traceroute, or an MTR…
Fake GIF Leveraged in Multi-Stage Reverse-Proxy Card Skimming Attack
In today’ s post we’ re going to review a sophisticated, multi-stage carding attack on a Magento eCommerce website. This malware leveraged a fake gif image file, local browser sessionStorage data, and tampered with the website traffic using a malicious reverse-proxy server to facilitate the theft of credit card data, …
Easy Guide to Saving HAR Files and Console Logs for Troubleshooting
When something goes wrong with a website – whether it is a broken design, slow performance, shows an error message or something else, it is sometimes difficult to find the exact cause of the issue just by looking at the page. That’s where the HAR files or browser…
When Good Software Goes Bad
Most often bad actors try their best to hide their activities by using obfuscated code or by uploading fake plugins or themes that inject simple but malicious scripts into a site. Every now and then we encounter a case where legitimate software is used for malicious purposes. We…
