WordPress Plugins Experienced an Increase of 328% in the Number of Security Bugs Reported in 2022, According to Patchstack

In 2022, Patchstack tracked 328 more security bugs reported in WordPress plugins than the previous year. This is a significant increase from 2021 when only 249 were reported. The number of vulnerabilities found in WordPress plugins has been steadily increasing over the past few years and this trend shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

The majority of these vulnerabilities are related to cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection attacks, which can be used to gain access to sensitive data or take control of a website. Other types of security issues include privilege escalation, information disclosure, and remote code execution flaws.

Patchstack’s research team analyzed all publicly available reports on WordPress plugin vulnerabilities for 2022 and identified 328 unique security bugs that had not been previously disclosed or patched by the developers responsible for them. Of those 328 new vulnerabilities, nearly half (47%) were classified as high severity according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).

The most vulnerable plugins included Jetpack by Automattic with 18 total vulnerabilities; WooCommerce with 17; WPBakery Page Builder with 16; Gravity Forms with 15; Yoast SEO with 14; Contact Form 7 with 13; All In One SEO Pack Pro Edition with 12; Elementor Pro Edition also had 12 total vulnerabilities discovered during this period.

While it’s encouraging that many plugin developers have taken steps to address these issues quickly after they are made public knowledge, there is still much work left to do before we can say that all WordPress sites are secure from potential attack vectors like XSS or SQL injection attacks. It’s important for site owners and administrators alike to stay up-to-date on any newly discovered security flaws so they can patch their own installations accordingly in order to protect their websites from malicious actors looking for easy targets online.

To help ensure your website remains safe against potential threats posed by outdated software components such as plugins or themes, Patchstack recommends using its automated vulnerability scanning service which will scan your entire installation regularly for known weaknesses and alert you if anything suspicious is detected so you can take action immediately before an attacker does first! Additionally, it’s always wise practice to keep backups handy just in case something goes wrong during an update process – better safe than sorry!

As technology continues advancing at breakneck speeds every day it becomes increasingly difficult for webmasters everywhere – especially those running open source CMS platforms like WordPress –to keep up-to-date on all the latest patches released by third party vendors who develop popular addons such as themes & plugins used widely across millions of websites worldwide today . That said , staying vigilant about monitoring & addressing any newly discovered security flaws should remain top priority among everyone involved in maintaining a secure online presence .