WordPress 5.8.3 Security and Maintenance Release

WordPress 5.8.3 is now available!

Four security issues affect WordPress versions between 3.7 and 5.8. If you haven’t yet updated to 5.8, all WordPress versions since 3.7 have also been updated to fix the following security issue (except where noted otherwise):

  • an issue with stored XSS through post slugs
  • an issue with Object injection in some multisite installations
  • an SQL injection vulnerability in WP_Query.
  • an SQL injection vulnerability in WP_Meta_Query (only relevant to versions 4.1-5.8).

WordPress.org already started automatic background updates that do not require you to do anything, but it may take some time for them to get to your website. If it does not update automatically, either do it yourself (and don’t forget to make a full backup first!) or contact Dusk Owl for help.

WordPress 5.8.2 Security and Maintenance Release

WordPress 5.8.2 is now available!

This security and maintenance release features 2 bug fixes in addition to 1 security fix. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. All versions since WordPress 5.2 have also been updated.

WordPress 5.8.2 is a small focus security and maintenance release. The next major release will be version 5.9.

WordPress.org already started automatic background updates that do not require you to do anything, but it may take some time for them to get to your website. If it does not update automatically, either do it yourself (and don’t forget to make a full backup first!) or contact Dusk Owl for help.

WordPress 5.8.1 Security and Maintenance Release

WordPress 5.8.1 is now available!

This security and maintenance release features 60 bug fixes in addition to 3 security fixes. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. All versions since WordPress 5.4 have also been updated.

WordPress.org already started automatic background updates that do not require you to do anything, but it may take some time for them to get to your website. If it does not update automatically, either do it yourself (and don’t forget to make a full backup first!) or contact Dusk Owl for help.

WordPress 5.7.2 Security Release

WordPress 5.7.2 is now available!

This security release features one security fix. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. All versions since WordPress 3.7 have also been updated.

If you have sites that support automatic background updates, they’ve already started the update process. If not, you can update to WordPress 5.7.2 by downloading it from WordPress.org or by visiting your Dashboard >> Updates >> click Update Now.

As usual, feel free to contact Dusk Owl for help with this or any other issues with your WordPress website.

WordPress 5.7.1 Security and Maintenance Release

WordPress 5.7.1 is now available!

This security and maintenance release features 26 bug fixes in addition to two security fixes. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. All versions since WordPress 4.7 have also been updated.

WordPress.org already started automatic background updates that do not require you to do anything, but it may take some time for them to get to your website. If it does not update automatically, either do it yourself (and don’t forget to make a full backup first!) or contact Dusk Owl for help.

WordPress 5.6 Introduces a New Risk to Your Site: What to Do

WordPress 5.6, the final major release planned for 2020, comes out today, on December 8, 2020. It includes a few major features and updates, as well as a huge number of minor enhancements and bug fixes. A few changes have immediate implications for security and compatibility which Ram Gall of Wordfence has highlighted in this post.

The post is focused on the items that are most likely to cause security issues: application passwords, jQuery library update, automatic version updates, and some others. 

WordPress 5.5.2 Security and Maintenance Release

WordPress 5.5.2 is now available.

This security and maintenance release features 14 bug fixes in addition to 10 security fixes.

WordPress.org already started automatic background updates that do not require you to do anything, but it may take some time for them to get to your website. If it does not update automatically, either do it yourself (and don’t forget to make a full backup first!) or contact Dusk Owl for help.

WordPress themes and SEO

When you decide on a WordPress theme to use for your website, SEO may not be one of your concerns, but there are a few ways in which the theme can interfere with your SEO efforts:

  • it can obstruct search engines from fully index your content if links in it were not created with SEO in mind
  • it can create a messy site structure with badly rewritten URLs; search engines may not be able to figure it out easily and will miss your important content
  • it can create multiple URLs for the same page that will lead to a duplicate content problem; search engines will randomly split ranks between all indexed URLs, and as a result your your pages will stay buried in search results

Google will not penalize you for any of the above. But those issues could still make your pages less visible and more difficult for customers to find.

To figure out if the theme is problematic, run your site through a service that simulates what a search engine would see, for example https://smallseotools.com/spider-simulator/ or https://theseotools.net/spider-simulator. If all intended text and all links from the page are showing in the result, then the theme is ok.

Another danger of an unknown theme is a messy site structure. To check if this is an issue, use the “Coverage” report in Google Search Console (Google Search Console >> Index >> Coverage).  It will show errors, warnings, and other details about the index status of your website.

Once you chose a SEO-friendly WordPress theme, keep your website in a good shape with a SEO plugin that helps to prepare content for thorough indexing and spot potential issues. All in One SEO Pack and WordPress SEO by Yoast are both good choices and are both free. Their premium versions have more features and offer even more help. 

WordPress 5.4.1 Security and Maintenance Release

WordPress 5.4.1 is now available.

This security and maintenance release features 17 bug fixes in addition to 7 security fixes. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. All versions since WordPress 3.7 have also been updated.

WordPress 5.4.1 is a short-cycle maintenance release. The next major release will be version 5.5.

While WordPress.org already started automatic background updates that do not require you to do anything, it may take some time for them to get to your website. If it does not update automatically today, either do it yourself (and don’t forget to make a full backup first!) or contact Dusk Owl for help.

WordPress 5.4 Release – new features and privacy enhancements

WordPress 5.4 is now available.

It brings more ways to get it all done, looking better than ever and with boosts in speed you can feel.

WordPress 5.4 helps with a variety of privacy issues around the world:

  • Now personal data exports include users session information and users location data from the community events widget. Plus, a table of contents!
  • See progress as you process export and erasure requests through the privacy tools.
  • Plus, little enhancements throughout give the privacy tools a little cleaner look.

See the full list of new features here.

This update will not happen automatically. You either need to do it yourself (and don’t forget to make a full backup first!) or contact Dusk Owl for help.