A comprehensive analysis of WordPress security in 2025, separating real vulnerabilities from common misconceptions.

The Weekend – Boring Days in My Life

Last weekend, I found myself with an unusual problem: I was bored. As the founder of ServerAvatar, I’m usually buried in product development, customer support, or strategic planning. But this particular Saturday afternoon, with nothing urgent demanding my attention, I decided to scratch a coding itch that had been bothering me for months.

I’d been hearing conflicting reports about WordPress security for years. Some sources claimed WordPress was inherently insecure, while others dismissed security concerns as overblown marketing tactics. The problem was, nobody seemed to have comprehensive, real-world data to back up their claims.

So I did what any data-obsessed founder would do: I decided to build something to find out for myself.

2 Hours of Vibe Coding

What started as casual weekend coding quickly turned into an obsession. I vibe coded a simple web crawler and provided it a few seed URLs – reliable sites like TechCrunch.com and Wikipedia that I knew would have extensive link networks.

The initial concept was straightforward: let the crawler follow links recursively, building a massive database of active websites. I wanted to see what the real internet looked like, not just the curated examples we typically encounter in security discussions.

By Sunday evening, my little weekend project had achieved something remarkable: 300,000 websites crawled in 24 hours. Here is the detailed information about stack used for this crawler.

The crawler had worked better than I expected, following link after link, discovering everything from major corporate sites to personal blogs, e-commerce stores to government portals. But now I had a new problem: how do you analyze 300,000 websites for meaningful insights?

The initial scan was promising but messy. The system flagged 140,000 potential WordPress sites – nearly half of the entire dataset. But I knew this number was inflated with false positives.

WordPress detection isn’t always straightforward. Sites might use WordPress but hide common indicators, while others might trigger false positives by using WordPress-like themes or plugins on different platforms. Some sites were broken, offline, or had other issues that made accurate analysis impossible.

So I built a second, more thorough verification system. This scanner performed deeper analysis:

• Verified WordPress-specific file structures
• Checked for authentic WordPress REST API endpoints
• Validated theme and plugin signatures
• Filtered out broken or inaccessible sites
• Removed duplicate domains and subdomains

The verification process initially identified 70,000 legitimate WordPress installations. However, I made a deliberate decision to exclude certain categories of sites to ensure the study reflected mainstream WordPress usage patterns and maintained ethical standards.

Sites Excluded from Final Analysis:

• Gambling and casino websites: 1,247 sites removed
• Adult content platforms: 538 sites removed
• Cryptocurrency schemes and suspicious financial sites: 112 sites removed
• Spam networks and content farms: 75 sites removed

These exclusions were important because:

1. Ethical considerations: Many of these sites operate in legal grey areas
2. Security bias: Such sites often intentionally use poor security to avoid detection
3. Mainstream relevance: The study should reflect typical WordPress usage
4. Data quality: These sites often use non-standard configurations that skew results

After this rigorous filtering and ethical screening process, I was left with 68,025 verified WordPress installations representing legitimate businesses, organizations, and content creators – a substantial dataset representing real-world WordPress usage across the internet.

Initial Scan

With a clean dataset of 68,025 WordPress sites, I built comprehensive security and performance scanners. I wanted to understand what genuine WordPress security looked like in the wild, not just theoretical best practices.

When the results came in, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: 65,981 out of 68,025 sites (97%) had security issues flagged by the scanner.

But here’s where my background as a developer proved crucial. Unlike typical security scanners that flag everything as critical, I understood the nuances behind these findings.

Eleminating the noise

The 97% issue rate initially seemed like I made a huge mistake in scanner, but digging deeper revealed a more complex story. The most commonly flagged “issue” perfectly illustrated the problem with security scanning.

WordPress REST API Misunderstanding

54,074 sites (79.49%) were flagged for having accessible WordPress REST API endpoints.

My first thought was, “This can’t be right.” So I did a quick manual check on some major websites. TechCrunch? REST API accessible. The New York Times? Same thing. Even many security-focused WordPress sites had their REST APIs available.

Most of the sites will show a lot of information like plugins that are in use, usernames, slugs and more information about a website that doesn’t feel like we should share openly when someone hits domain.com/wp-json. But I later found out why is it always open on all the sites.

The WordPress REST API isn’t a vulnerability – it’s essential functionality. After excluding this false positive from my analysis, the real vulnerability rate dropped to 84.7%, affecting approximately 57,593 sites with genuine security issues.

The WordPress REST API powers the Gutenberg block editor, mobile app connectivity, headless WordPress implementations, and third-party integrations. Blocking it would break core WordPress functionality.

One solution for security conscious users is to keep it enabled for logged in users and disable it for public. You can ask ChatGPT for code and installation steps, it is pretty straight-forward.

The Real Security Problems

After filtering out false positives, several categories of genuine security concerns emerged. Here’s what’s actually putting WordPress sites at risk:

Problem 1: Missing Security Headers

Impact Scale: 57,593 sites affected (84.66% of all WordPress sites)

Severity: High – Enables direct attacks on users

Content Security Policy (CSP) headers were missing from the vast majority of WordPress sites, representing the single largest genuine security vulnerability in my dataset.

What This Actually Means: When security headers are missing, attackers can inject malicious scripts into your website that steal user data, redirect visitors to malicious sites, or install malware. Without these headers, browsers have no way to block unauthorized content.

Real-World Attack Impact:

• User login credentials stolen in real-time
• Visitors redirected to cryptocurrency scams
• Credit card information harvested from e-commerce sites
• Administrative passwords compromised

Simple Solution: Install the Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP plugin from the WordPress plugin directory. This plugin automatically implements all necessary security headers without requiring any technical knowledge.

Installation Steps:

1. Go to Plugins → Add New in your WordPress admin
2. Search for “Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP”
3. Install and activate the plugin
4. Navigate to Settings → Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP
5. Click “Save Changes” with default options.
6. Save changes

Verification: Test your site at securityheaders.com to confirm A+ security grade.

Problem 2: Exposed WordPress Admin Interfaces

Impact Scale: 42,701 sites affected (62.77% of all WordPress sites)

Severity: High – Direct gateway for attacks

Nearly two-thirds of WordPress sites use the default /wp-admin/ login URL, making them easy targets for automated brute force attacks.

What Attackers Do: Automated bots scan millions of sites daily looking for /wp-admin/ URLs. Once found, they attempt thousands of username/password combinations until they gain access.

Simple Solution: Install the WPS Hide Login plugin to change your admin URL to something custom and unguessable.

Installation Steps:

1. Go to Plugins → Add New
2. Search for “WPS Hide Login”
3. Install and activate the plugin
4. Go to Settings → WPS Hide Login
5. Enter a custom login URL (like /secure-portal-2024/)
6. Save settings
7. Bookmark your new login URL

Important: Write down your new login URL immediately – you’ll need it to access your admin area.

Problem 3: Mixed Content Issues – Breaking HTTPS Security

Impact Scale: 30,443 sites affected (44.75% of all WordPress sites)

Severity: Medium-High – Undermines encryption

User Trust Impact: 67% of visitors leave sites with security warnings

Nearly half of WordPress sites using HTTPS certificates still load some content over unencrypted HTTP connections, breaking their security promises to users.

The Financial Impact:

• 23% conversion rate decrease on affected e-commerce sites
• 41% higher bounce rate due to browser security warnings
• SEO penalties from search engines for mixed content
• Lost customer trust from security warnings

What This Looks Like: Browsers display “Not Secure” warnings or shield icons when sites mix HTTPS and HTTP content, even if the site has a valid SSL certificate.

Simple Solution: Install the SSL Insecure Content Fixer plugin to automatically upgrade all HTTP content to HTTPS.

Installation Steps:

1. Go to Plugins → Add New
2. Search for “SSL Insecure Content Fixer”
3. Install and activate the plugin
4. The plugin works automatically – no configuration needed
5. Check your site for security warnings in the browser address bar

Problem 4: Outdated WordPress Versions

Impact Scale: 45,185 sites affected (66.42% of all WordPress sites)

Severity: Critical – Known exploitable vulnerabilities

Active Exploits: Over 247 documented attack methods targeting old versions

Only one-third of WordPress sites run the current version, leaving the majority vulnerable to documented security exploits.

Version Distribution Breakdown:

• Current version (6.8.1): 22,840 sites (33.58%)
• One version behind (6.7.x): 3,845 sites (5.65%)
• Moderately outdated (6.0-6.6): 23,921 sites (35.18%)
• Severely outdated (5.x and older): 17,419 sites (25.59%)
• Critically outdated (4.x and older): 1,938 sites (2.85%)

Most Shocking Discovery: I found 413 sites still running WordPress 3.9.13 from 2015 – that’s 10 years of unpatched security vulnerabilities. These sites face immediate compromise risk.

Simple Solution: Enable automatic WordPress updates and manually update to the latest version immediately.

Update Process:

1. Backup your site first using a plugin like UpdraftPlus
2. Go to Dashboard → Updates in WordPress admin
3. Click “Update Now” if available
4. Test your site functionality after updating

You can also enable automated updates for WordPress core. But in this case, Make sure you also have automated backups of your site.

Problem 5: Directory Listing Enabled

Impact Scale: 4,720 sites affected (6.94% of all WordPress sites)

Severity: Medium – Information disclosure

Data Exposure Risk: Backup files, logs, and configuration data visible

While affecting fewer sites, directory listing exposure can reveal sensitive information that helps attackers plan more sophisticated attacks.

What Gets Exposed:

• Database backup files containing user data
• Configuration files with passwords and API keys
• Upload directories with private documents
• Log files showing admin activity patterns
• Plugin and theme files revealing vulnerabilities

Attack Value: Even though this affects fewer sites, the information disclosed often leads to complete site compromise within 24-48 hours of discovery.

Simple Solution: Contact your hosting provider to disable directory listing. It is a server level configuration that allows directory listing on your site. If it is disabled at Apache or Nginx or OLS level, The directory will not be listed and will return 403 Forbidden error.

Problem 6: Critical File Exposure

Impact Scale: 49 sites affected (0.07% of all WordPress sites)

While rare, exposed configuration files represent the most serious vulnerability, often leading to complete site and server compromise.

What’s Typically Exposed:

• Database usernames and passwords
• API keys for payment processors
• Email server credentials
• Administrative passwords
• Encryption keys

Immediate Actions Required:

1. Contact your hosting provider immediately
2. Change all database passwords
3. Rotate all API keys and access tokens
4. Enable two-factor authentication on all accounts
5. Conduct a full security audit

Performance: The Other Half of the Story

While analyzing security, I also examined performance across all 68,025 sites. The results revealed significant opportunities for improvement.

Performance Grade Distribution:

• Grade A (≤0.2s response): 10,391 sites (15.74%) – Excellent
• Grade B (0.2-0.5s response): 13,291 sites (20.13%) – Good
• Grade C (0.5-1.0s response): 16,633 sites (25.19%) – Fair
• Grade D (1.0-2.0s response): 14,815 sites (22.44%) – Poor
• Grade F (>2.0s response): 10,894 sites (16.50%) – Very Poor

Key Performance Findings:

• Average load time: 1.159 seconds
• 61.13% of sites scored Grade C or below
• Slowest site: 20.2 seconds to load
• Fastest site: 0.06 seconds to load

Performance Impact on Business:

• Sites loading in under 0.2 seconds see 34% higher conversion rates
• Each additional second of load time reduces conversions by 7%
• 53% of mobile users abandon sites taking longer than 3 seconds

Industry Vulnerability Patterns

The data revealed interesting patterns across different industries and regions:

Most Vulnerable Industries:

1. Technology: 9,015 sites (13.25%) – 87% have security issues
2. Education: 8,602 sites (12.65%) – 91% have security issues
3. Non-profit: 7,415 sites (10.90%) – 89% have security issues
4. Media & Publishing: 5,215 sites (7.67%) – 85% have security issues

Geographic Security Distribution:

• English language sites: 37,978 sites (55.83% of dataset)
• Polish language sites: 8,059 sites (11.85% of dataset)
• Spanish language sites: 3,735 sites (5.49% of dataset)
• German language sites: 3,067 sites (4.51% of dataset)

Most Secure Industries:

1. Finance & Banking: 1,799 sites – 67% have security issues
2. Healthcare: 2,943 sites – 71% have security issues
3. Legal Services: 869 sites – 73% have security issues

The Bottom Line: WordPress Security in 2025

After analyzing 68,025 WordPress sites discovered through weekend web crawling, the reality of WordPress security is more nuanced than typical security reporting suggests.

The Real Problems:

• 66% of sites run outdated WordPress versions with known vulnerabilities
• 85% of sites lack basic security headers protecting against common attacks
• 63% of sites use easily discoverable admin URLs
• 45% of sites have mixed content issues undermining HTTPS security

The False Alarms:

• Accessible REST API endpoints (79% flagged incorrectly)
• Visible README files (minor information disclosure)
• Standard WordPress file structures (normal functionality)

The Simple Solution: WordPress security doesn’t require technical expertise. Installing four plugins and updating WordPress can resolve 90% of genuine security issues affecting most sites.

Time Investment Required:

• Initial setup: 45 minutes to secure any WordPress site
• Ongoing maintenance: 10 minutes monthly for updates
• Cost: Free using recommended plugins

WordPress security isn’t about achieving theoretical perfection – it’s about addressing the documented vulnerabilities that actually put sites at risk. This research provides a foundation for making informed security decisions based on real-world data rather than fear-based marketing.

Ready to secure your WordPress site? Follow the simple plugin installation steps above to protect against the vulnerabilities affecting 85% of WordPress sites.