⚡️ WordPress Vulnerability Scanner
TL;DR –
WordPress vulnerabilities are the security flaws present in the database that leads to hacking. You require an advanced WordPress security scanner to scan for vulnerabilities & malware. But which one to choose? How to select the best ? It seems like a complex situation to choose a vulnerability scanner. In this 2024 updated guide, we provide you with a tested list of Best Online WordPress Vulnerability scanners to detect malicious code, scan aspects of your website .
Table of Contents [TOC]
Why Scan Your WordPress Site?
Scanning your wordpress website for security vulnerabilities, malware, Trojans, viruses, and online threats should be at the top priority list for any webmaster. Do you know that 96% of the tested applications have vulnerabilities .
We often pay attention to website design, SEO, content, and underestimate the area of security. As the owner of a website or blog, web security should be more important than anything else. You must check out our WordPress security guide for detailed checklist & WordPress security tips.
240.000 WordPress websites were vulnerable.* in 2014, this number was 170.00
There were an estimated 28,183,568 live websites using WordPress in 2023. Over 400 million people visit WordPress websites every month. 661 new WordPress sites go live each and every day. There are over 50,000 plugins available to enhance your WordPress website.
- Wordfence reported in July 2024 that 74% of compromised WordPress installations were due to outdated plugins or themes. This suggests a significant portion of vulnerable websites exist, though it doesn’t specify a total number.
- Security firm Sucuri estimated in their 2022 Q3 report that 54% of hacked websites they analyzed were running WordPress. While not directly about vulnerabilities, it indirectly indicates a large pool of potentially vulnerable sites.
- Website scanning service Sitecheck claims to find over 850,000 vulnerable WordPress installations daily. However, this might only capture a subset of all vulnerable websites and may include false positives.
In most of the WordPress websites that are prone to hacking:
- 29% WordPress themes are vulnerable
- 22% WordPress plugins are vulnerable
- 8% have Weak passwords
- 41% WordPress sites have vulnerable hostings
Checks include application security, WordPress plugins, hosting environment, and web server. Although, the latest WordPress core version WordPress 5.8 is secure, but it may contain serious security vulnerabilities once we install various wordpress plugins and nulled wordpress themes.
WordPress Vulnerability scanning
Vulnerability scanning is generally considered the most effective way to scan your site against a long list of known vulnerabilities. Vulnerability scanning also identifies potential weaknesses in the security of your applications.
Most websites contain more or less significant security vulnerabilities that can compromise their functionality or the security of the data they contain.
To fill these loopholes and strengthen the security of its website, it is necessary to audit it with computer software . Vulnerability detection software constantly scans and audits your site or web application to warn you of vulnerabilities and suggest fixes.
Website vulnerability scanning comprises of 3 basic mechanisms:
1. Detection
The first step of the vulnerability assessment tool is to perform a vulnerability test to detect and identify potential attack surfaces. It allows you to determine security gaps in your network and fill them before attackers can penetrate it.
2. Classification
In the second step, vulnerabilities are classified to help administrators prioritize their course of action. These vulnerabilities can include missing updates, script errors, or anomalies. while threats are prioritized based on age and risk measure.
3. Remediation
web Vulnerability scanners generally do not provide a way to address automatically identified vulnerabilities. They are more focused on monitoring and providing details for administrators to go one step further. But some scanners handle configuration errors, saving the administrator hours of work by reaching multiple devices simultaneously.
Benefits Of WordPress Security Scanner
A vulnerability scanner or security scanner is a software that can inspect a company’s systems, to detect and display a detailed list of the software that is running there with all of its vulnerabilities. An Online WordPress Security Scanner is used to test common wordpress vulnerabilities .
As alarming as it may sound, the vulnerabilities discovered have increased by 200% in the past 4 years. With this number soaring, manual attempts to detect these vulnerabilities have repeatedly failed.
The task of knowing all the vulnerabilities discovered, and of being up to date with the fixes that are released for those vulnerabilities, is beyond the ability of even qualified IT administrators to handle.
This is why vulnerability scanners today are designed to help them by allowing them to detect and manage these software vulnerabilities.
Web services have become a central pillar to meet customer requirements and ensure the competitiveness of the organization in the digital age. However, being so exposed on the web, corporate systems need state-of-the-art tools to stay protected.
Vulnerability scanning can be used as part of an independent assessment or as part of an overall continuous security monitoring strategy.
The purpose of vulnerability scanners is to protect the organization’s security framework against ever-evolving threats. It regularly checks your IT environment for known vulnerabilities and enables them to be remediated as soon as possible. This is how a vulnerability scanner serves its purpose.
- Detect security threats – Ongoing scans help you detect vulnerabilities and address emerging vulnerabilities from both an external and internal perspective.
- Discover unidentified devices: Vulnerability scanners identify routed machines connected to your network without proper authorization. It helps you prevent the possible threats that these devices may present on your network.
- Check network device inventory – Vulnerability scanners help identify all devices on the network with specific details like device type, OS version, hardware configuration, patch level, etc.
A good wordpress vulnerability scanner will do the following: Monitor your website and track all activities in a log
- Regularly run a security scan on your wordpress site and detect hidden malware such
- Enable you to fix your website’s security flaws instantly
- Detect search engine blacklist status
- Never slow down your website while it monitors and scans
- Check The version of WordPress installed and any associated vulnerabilities
- Detect and block hack attempts
- Check for pending plugin or version updates on your site
- Check What plugins & themes are installed and their associated vulnerabilities
- Check Username enumeration
- Check Users with weak passwords via password brute forcing
- Check Backed up and publicly accessible wp-config.php files
- Check Database dumps that may be publicly accessible
- Check If error logs are exposed by plugins
- Check Media file enumeration
- Check Vulnerable Timthumb files
- Check If WP-Cron is enabled
- Check If user registration is enabled
- Check Full Path Disclose
- Check Upload directory listing
And much more…
Working Of WordPress Vulnerability Security Scanners
As website owners, being proactive in regularly reviewing and updating site security measures is essential in order to keep systems free from cyber attacks. In this sense, the best way to automate this task is through a web vulnerability scanner.
Your website is likely to store sensitive personal information submitted by users. Which means that the visitors who come to it have trusted your company to take care of their sensitive data. Responding efficiently to that trust is imperative when it comes to providing a positive vision of your brand.
Unfortunately, as long as it is not detected, malware or any other threat can hide on your website and collect information without you even noticing. This affects both users and your business since if Google or other security services detect that your site may be a source of malicious elements; they may blacklist you.
Luckily, you can avoid these types of situations by running regular scans that allow you to quickly discover security threats to your website.
Web vulnerability scanners work by automating several processes. These include crawling and crawling applications, discovering default and common content, and finding common vulnerabilities.
There are two main approaches to analyzing vulnerabilities:
- Passive scan – performs non-intrusive checks, simply examining items to determine if they are vulnerable. You can visualize this method by imagining meeting a door, but not touching it to see if it is open or locked. If the door is closed, that marks the end of this branch of your investigation.
- Active scan – this is a simulated attack on your site in order to gain access to vulnerabilities as they would appear to a stranger. If you envision it as a door, the fact that it could be closed wouldn’t be a dead end. Instead, your investigation would prompt you to test the door, perhaps pick the lock, or even force entry.
Some types of scanning also involve authentication, whereby the scanner uses access permissions to determine if there are other open or closed “doors” in the application. Some scanners are able to acquire these access permissions on their own, and some will need them before testing.
The scanner will then produce a more or less detailed report, depending on the type of analysis performed. This report typically includes the specific request and response that the application used to diagnose each reported vulnerability, allowing an informed user to manually investigate and confirm the existence of the bug.
The web vulnerability scanners work through the above given two main approaches. For details there are also three-step mechanism that converge towards the organization’s goal of identifying vulnerabilities and the risk they may pose.
WordPress Exploit Vulnerability Scan Types
Whether you’ve chosen an open source tool or a licensed security scanner, there are different types of vulnerability scans that you can perform with them. The type of vulnerability scan depends on the scope, environment, and other factors.
External vulnerability analysis
External vulnerability scans help companies identify and correct vulnerabilities that expose their network to attackers. These scans are performed from outside the organization’s network, including IT assets, web applications, ports, and more.
An external vulnerability scan helps identify possible superficial attacks on your network defenses, such as open ports in the network firewall, in addition to improving the security of web applications.
Additionally, the adoption of the cloud has fueled the need for external vulnerability scanning as the presence of misconfigurations and insecure databases has greatly increased.
Analysis of internal vulnerabilities
Internal vulnerability analyzes allow you to strengthen the security of applications and systems, mainly from within your company network.
These scans help you detect security vulnerabilities that hackers can use to their advantage once they have penetrated through security holes or external defense framework. These scans also help identify the threat posed by malware or insider threats modeled by disgruntled employees or contractors.
Internal vulnerability scanning primarily detects security issues that can motivate the attacker to move within systems or servers, gain privilege escalations, and more once they gain access to the local network.
There are standards such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), which requires quarterly internal and external vulnerability scans, as well as when new updates are installed, network topology is changed or modified. firewall rules. Here, you must use tools from a PCI Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV) that meets PCI DSS requirement 11.2.2 to perform your external scans.
Unauthenticated vulnerability scan
Unauthenticated vulnerability scans scan and detect open services on a computer over a network by sending packets on its open ports. Determine the version of the operating system, the version of the software behind the respective services, open shared files or any other information available without authentication.
After that, the scanners check the vulnerability database and identify the vulnerabilities most likely to be present.
Authenticated vulnerability scan
Authenticated vulnerability scans accumulate more detailed information about the version of the installed operating system and software through the use of login credentials. Authenticated scans provide comprehensive information on system vulnerabilities as they can access secure applications, files, and more.
Sometimes some programs may not be accessible over the network, but may still disclose vulnerabilities exposed to other attack vectors, such as opening malicious web pages or maliciously crafted files.
To manage such vulnerabilities, some vulnerability assessment solutions deploy lightweight software agents on computers to get a complete picture of an organization’s cybersecurity landscape.
Comprehensive vulnerability analysis
Comprehensive vulnerability scans scan, examine, and identify new vulnerabilities on all managed devices on the network. These include servers, desktops, laptops, virtual machines, mobile phones, containers, printers, firewalls, switches, and more.
Here, you get a full scan report on the installed operating system, user account information, and open ports, among other things. Full vulnerability scanning can use a lot of bandwidth, but the advantage is that it leaves no risk overlooked.
Limited vulnerability scan
Limited vulnerability scans are primarily focused on particular devices such as a server, workstation, or software. These analyzes are performed to obtain a very specific security posture of the tools and to better protect them against potential risks.
Run A WordPress Security Scan
Performing a vulnerability scan requires a standard set of scalable and repeatable processes to address the growing needs of your organization.
Follow the steps below to perform a network vulnerability scan for your organization and establish a standard procedure:
Define the scope
It is essential to define the scope of the vulnerability scan before scheduling it. You must identify all the assets that are part of your organization’s information system. You can do this with your asset registry with additional columns for threats and vulnerabilities to maintain a centralized repository of assets, vulnerabilities, risks, and remediation measures.
Create a standard procedure
To create a clear and structured vulnerability scanning methodology, you must have a fixed standard procedure, policies, and a course of action to implement it.
First, you need an official owner who is responsible for running the mentioned SOP. Remember, this SOP must be approved by the highest level authorities and must be in accordance with different compliance.
This standard procedure would define how often you should perform these scans, the type of scans, the use of software solutions, and the steps after the scan is complete.
Identify the type of vulnerability scan required
Before you go straight to scanning your assets for vulnerabilities, you need to identify what type of scan would yield the most benefit.
There are four types of scans that you can perform according to your needs.
Network vulnerability scans – The scope of network vulnerability scans includes the hardware and software that are part of the network, its communication channels, or network equipment. These include hubs, switches, firewalls, routers, web servers, clusters, etc.
Host-based vulnerability scans – These scans are often mistaken for network scans. In reality, host-based vulnerability scans identify vulnerabilities in hosts on a network such as computers, systems, laptops, etc. The scope of research in these analyzes includes configuration, directories, file systems, and other information. Through them, you can identify latent vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that attackers can exploit.
Wireless-based vulnerability scans: These scans include knowing all the wireless devices on your network, tracing the attributes of each device, and identifying any rogue access points on the network that hackers can use to eavesdrop on your wireless traffic.
Application-based vulnerability scans – These scans include detecting application vulnerabilities on a system; Based on the results, an application pen test is performed to create stronger application security.
Configure vulnerability scanning
You can go about setting up a vulnerability scan based on the overall goals you want to achieve and the system involved.
First, you need to add a list of specific IP addresses where the courses are hosted in the vulnerability scanning software. Then you must select the range of ports you want to scan and the protocol you will use.
The next step defines the targets on the specified IP addresses, such as where a database is located, a server, a wireless device, or something else. With this, you can make your scan more specific to get accurate results.
Assess the risks associated with exploration.
Performing a vulnerability scan can place a substantial burden on the target, potentially forcing it to reboot or experience downtime.
You must take precautions when scanning production systems and those vital to the organization’s operations. It’s best if you do your scans outside of business hours so that the effect on the target is minimal and there is less chance of an overload.
Start the vulnerability scan
Once you have completed the configuration and risk assessment, you can run your desired analysis. Now, the duration of the scan depends on a variety of factors; it may take minutes or hours to complete. It depends on the scope of the scan, its intrusion, and more.
There are three phases of a vulnerability scan. First is the scan, where the tool will analyze the targets and collect the necessary information. Next comes the enumeration, when the tool looks for more specific details like ports and services these targets are running. Lastly, the vulnerability scanner will create a map of the vulnerabilities present.
Analyze the results
To analyze the vulnerability scan results, you need qualified resources who possess the knowledge about the scanned systems. Vulnerability scanning tools will automatically generate a priority list, but you should check for false positives or false negatives before prioritizing vulnerabilities for remediation.
You should also consider the possibilities and the effort required to exploit the vulnerability. Hackers will attack those who require fewer steps and earn higher profits for them. Similarly, it will be helpful if you first fix vulnerabilities that are open to exploitation publicly.
Create a remediation plan
After you’ve analyzed the results, your information security staff should collaborate with the IT team to prioritize the remediation process.
It is best to use CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) to prioritize remediation measures. This standard system helps you quantify the severity of security risks associated with the vulnerability on a scale of zero to 10. Together, it would allow you to prioritize and speed up the remediation process.
It would be helpful if you didn’t consider a vulnerability fixed after the patch, run scans to make sure they won’t reappear in reports. Some vulnerabilities can be tricky, and you may need multiple security patches to fix them.
Why is vulnerability scanning important?
Even though there are fixes for these vulnerabilities, most companies still fall victim to them due to their lack of awareness of them. If exploited, these vulnerabilities can turn into large-scale security breaches that can lead to financial loss or significant data leakage in affected companies.
Therefore, the most important thing in establishing a secure environment is to always be aware of vulnerabilities, after which you can decide how you prefer to mitigate them.
With an appropriate vulnerability scanner , you can quickly discover and fix web vulnerabilities as they are detected, which gives you a solid advantage to get ahead of attackers in the fight against vulnerabilities.
WP Hacked Help offers one of those top wordpress vulnerability scanners online, packed with a variety of cool and robust features, sure to put you on top of the vulnerability game.
Find a Best WordPress Security Scanner?
Once the importance of a web vulnerability scanner is clear; The next step is to select the most suitable one for the company. Considering the number of options available today, this stage can seem somewhat complex at times. However, there are some criteria you can use to streamline the selection process.
# 1 Cutting edge technology
Your web vulnerability scanner should give you a total view of your resources on the web. This can only be done by integrating state-of-the-art technology designed to detect even the most modern threats. That is why you must ensure that the solution you choose; allows you to carry out a complete mapping of your pages hosted on web servers.
One of the latest trends in digital security is to integrate artificial intelligence- based functions into the tools ; more specifically in Machine Learning technology .
This type of resource is ideal for quickly simulating malicious code injections; and to link suspicious patterns for threat detection. So selecting a scanner that integrates this technology can be a good start.
# 2 Usability
Since each of the members of your company must participate actively to guarantee the security of the systems, it is very important that you find a solution that adapts to all users, whatever their level of technical knowledge: business manager, CIO, etc. This means that your solution must offer you:
- Accessibility: Provide a simple installation.
- Simplicity: An intuitive interface and a centralized panel.
- Process automation: The solution must be able to prevent security teams from performing repetitive tasks.
# 3 False positive rates
Before purchasing a web vulnerability scanner, be sure to find out about its false positive rate. If the solution incorrectly reports problems that are not real (that is, false alarms); it may flood your system with bad data.
This will cause security teams to do manual checks, thus wasting a lot of time.
# 4 Metrics
Reporting is a critical feature of any web vulnerability scanner because it helps guide remediation efforts.
Incomplete reports cannot help you achieve your security goals. That is why your solution must provide you with flexible and comprehensive reports.
Such reports allow you to receive appropriate information about the security status of the network, trend analysis, and detailed information on discovered vulnerabilities as well as filtering and classification options to obtain views.
Now you know where to start when choosing your vulnerability scanner. If you still can’t decide, we recommend you take a look at the powerful WP Hacked Help scanner. A tool capable of meeting the above criteria and exceeding expectations.
Our Criteria For Finding Best WordPress Vulnerability Scanners
Types of vulnerabilities scanned:
- Web application vulnerabilities: SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), insecure direct object references (IDOR), etc.
- Plugin and theme vulnerabilities: Outdated or insecure plugins/themes can harbor vulnerabilities.
- Server and configuration vulnerabilities: Outdated software, insecure configurations, etc.
- File system vulnerabilities: Permission issues, malware scanning, etc.
2. Scanning methods:
- Static scanning: Analyzes code for potential vulnerabilities without actually running the application.
- Dynamic scanning: Simulates real-world attacks to identify vulnerabilities in action.
- Hybrid scanning: Combines static and dynamic scanning for a comprehensive approach.
3. Scanning features:
- False positive rate: How accurate is the scanner in identifying real vulnerabilities?
- Depth of scan: Does it scan all areas of a WordPress website, including plugins, themes, and server configurations?
- Reporting and remediation: Does the scanner provide clear reports with actionable recommendations for fixing vulnerabilities?
- Ease of use: Is the scanner easy to install and use, even for non-technical users?
4. Additional considerations:
- Price: Free vs. paid scanners, and what features are included in each tier.
- Support: Does the scanner offer good customer support in case of problems?
- Integration with other security tools: Can the scanner be integrated with other security tools you use?
5. Comparison of popular WordPress scanners:
- highlighting key features, pros and cons, and pricing of popular scanners like Wordfence, Sucuri, MalCare, WPScan, and others.
- Focusing on scanners that are specifically designed for WordPress and address the unique vulnerabilities of the platform.
Best WordPress Security Scanners in 2024 – [Top 20 + 40]
Here you can find the complete list of free security scanning tools to scan your WordPress site for vulnerabilities or malware.
1. WP Hacked Help – Voted The Most Trusted WordPress Security Scanner of 2023
Put yourself in the shoes of a hacker! Without technical expertise, launch a security audit and detect the vulnerabilities of your website or your web application. Thanks to the WPHackedHelp detailed reports, you will be able to know precisely your security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers, their criticality levels and how to remove malware from wordpress site. You can even replay the attacks to understand the risks involved.
With WP Hacked Help AI WordPress Security scanner, protect your site against phishing, brute force attacks & DDOS attacks
Get started with WP Hacked Help today.
It scans your website across our huge database of vulnerabilities & checks are performed to identify malware infections such as:
- WordPress Malware redirect
- Google Blacklist
- Google SERP Warnings
- Defacements
- WordPress Backdoors
- WordPress Pharma Hacks
- Japanese SEO Spam
- Malicious Redirects – WordPress malware redirect hack
- WordPress Phishing
- WordPress SQL injectionn
- WordPress Malware Removal
- Hacked WordPress Cleanup
- Google Blacklist Removal
- Google Warning Removal
2. SUCURI
Sucuri is the most popular free malware and security scanner website. A quick test can be done for Malware, Website Blacklist, injected SEO SPAM links, and wordpress site Defacements. Sucuri cleans and protects your website against online threats and works on any type of platform, including WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Drupal, php websites, etc.
3. Google Safe Browsing
It could not be another… Any self-respecting web designer will tell you that this is the first security scanner that you should run on your web page, whether it is designed with WordPress or not.
Many of the malicious codes that hackers install on their victims’ web pages have the mission of distributing their own code and infecting other sites. Google checks millions of URLs every day and if it finds out that a web page contributes, even inadvertently, to the distribution of malware, it will be flagged as unsafe.
This will have a negative effect on the SEO of your website, ruining your reputation by informing your visitors that your website is unsafe via an eye-catching warning page.
To access this tool, go to https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/search and enter the URL of your WordPress website in the ” Check site status ” field. If you also use Google Search Console, Google will warn you that your website is insecure and will show you the actions you can take to remove the message.
4. Quttera
Quttera is another website to scan for malware and vulnerabilities exploits. Scan your website for malicious files, suspicious files, potentially suspicious files, PhishTank, safe browsing (Google, Yandex), and a list of malware domains.
5. Detectify
Detectify is a SaaS-based website security scanner. It has over 100 automated security tests including OWASP, malware, and much more. Detectify provides a free 21-day trial and you must register to perform security analysis on your website.
6. SiteGuarding
SiteGuarding helps scan your domain for malware, website blacklists, injected spam, defacement, and much more. The scanner is compatible with WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento, osCommerce, Bulletin, and other platforms.
SiteGuarding also helps remove malware from your website so if your website is affected by viruses it will be helpful.
7. Web Inspector
Web Inspector scans your website and provides thread reporting including blacklist, phishing, malware, worms, back doors, Trojans, suspicious frames, suspicious connections… So go ahead and run a scan to find out if it is malicious or not.
8. Acunetix
The Acunetix website analyzes more than 500 vulnerabilities including DNS and the network infrastructure of Acunetix servers. They provide a free 14-day trial and you can register and validate a domain as explained here before the security scan.
9. Geekflare
Geekflare WordPress Security Scanner employs a WPScan vulnerability scanner and Google Safe Browsing. Analyze the security of the WordPress core, themes, plugins and the security of the Front-end JavaScript libraries using the Google Lighthouse tool.
Taking as a starting point for all the tests in this post a WordPress online store developed with WooCommerce, of all the scanners, Geekflare was the one that took the longest to perform the security exam.
In his favor, say that he presented the results of the analyzes in a clear and simple way, giving us access to other additional tests such as speed tests, lost backlinks checker, mixed content, etc.
10. Netsparker Cloud
Netsparker Cloud is an enterprise web application security scanner that scans over 25 critical vulnerabilities. Netsparker is free for open source projects otherwise you can request a test to run the scan.
11. UpGuard Web Scan
UpGuard Web Scan is an external risk assessment tool that uses publicly available information to a degree of various factors, including SSL, Clickjack attack, Cookie, DNSSEC, Headers, etc. It’s still in beta, but it’s worth a try.
12. Tinfoil Security
Tinfoil Security first audits the website against many vulnerabilities and then other known security holes. You get a report and an option to rescan once you are done with the necessary corrections. The setup will take about 5 minutes and can be scanned even if the website is secured or after a single sign-on.
13. ITHEMES SECURITY
To protect a WordPress site, iThemes Security is one of the most impressive plugins. The tool is carefully designed by the experts to allow us to deal with unwanted hacks and intruders.
Of course, the plugin is available in a free version, but it is strongly recommended to pay 80 euros per year to take advantage of the features offered by the paid plan. If you want to protect more sites, there are other more expensive options.
Remember that the paid version offers us several features to secure our WordPress site :
- A strong password application;
- Blocking bad users;
- Database backups;
- Two-factor authentication;
14. WORDFENCE SECURITY
Wordfence Security is one of the best plugins for securing a WordPress site. This powerful tool gives us many options, such as securing the connection, recovering from security incidents, etc.
It should be noted that the plugin also allows us to have a precise overview of general traffic trends and hacking attempts.
Wordfence Security is available in a free version, knowing that the paid plan costs $ 99 per year for a site. Remember that the developers of the tool continue to offer customers significant discounts for several site keys. If you buy for example more than 15 licenses, you benefit from a reduction of 25%.
15. WP FAIL2BAN
To protect the site from brute force attacks, WP fail2ban is the best plugin to choose. To accomplish its mission, the tool documents all connection attempts, knowing that the user can set up a soft or hard ban.
To use the plugin, there is no configuration to do. All you need to do is install it and you’re good to go!
Among the features offered by the plugin, we mention:
- Choose between hard or soft blocks;
- Record spam, pingbacks and users;
- Save comment logs to avoid spam emails;
- Create a shortcode that immediately blocks users;
- Etc.
Best of all, WP fail2ban is completely free. What could be better ?
16. JETPACK
Most individuals and professionals who use WordPress to create their website are familiar with Jetpack . The tool gives us access to many features to boost social media, site speed and spam protection.
When it comes to security, Jetpack’s paid plans are very powerful. The $ 99 per year version includes scanning for malware, scheduled website backups, and recovery in the event of a problem. The $ 290 per year plan gives us on-demand malware scans and real-time backups.
For a small website, the free version is more than enough.
17. SECUPRESS
Available in the free and premium versions, SecuPress is among the best plugins to secure a WordPress site .
The free plan offers users an anti-brute force connection, blocked IP addresses, and a firewall, not to mention security key protection and blocking bad bot visits.
For the paid versions, which start at $ 59 per year per site, the features offered are more and more numerous:
- Alerts and notifications;
- Two-factor authentication;
- Blocking by GeoIP;
- PHP malware scans;
- PDF reports;
18. BULLETPROOF SECURITY
As with the previous tool, BulletProof Security is available in two versions: free and paid. its one of the best wordpress security plugins in 2024
The paid plan only costs $ 69.95, knowing that it gives us a 30-day money-back guarantee and plenty of features for quarantine, email alert, anti-spam, automatic restore and Moreover.
The free plan also gives us access to many tools:
- Secure and monitor connections;
- Back up and restore databases;
- A malware Scanner;
- Anti-spam and anti-hacking tools;
- Security logs;
- Hidden plugins folders;
- The maintenance mode;
- A complete installation wizard;
19. SECURITY NINJA
From checking files to MySQL permissions to PHP settings, Security Ninja is among the best plugins you can use to secure a WordPress site.
The tool also performs a brute force scan on all passwords to remove accounts with weak passwords.
Among the features offered by the tool, we mention:
- The repair module that resolves the problems detected;
- Analysis of the WordPress core to ensure the integrity of core files;
- Search for malware and suspicious codes;
- Blocking bad IP addresses;
- Regular scans;
- Etc.
20. DEFENDER
There are more and more plugins to secure a WordPress site , and Defender is among the best that you can install.
Once the plugin is installed on WordPress, it starts checking the website for suspicious codes. Users can also opt for the Pro version to perform cloud backups with 10 GB remote storage, audit logs to monitor changes, automated security scans and blacklist monitoring.
The plugin also puts at your disposal a team of experts who will always be there to help you clean up the hacked site.
21. ASTRA WEB SECURITY
Choosing Astra Web Security means saying goodbye to malware, SQLi, XSS, comments, spam, brute force, etc. In other words, it’s a complete “security suite” that gets rid of all the other security plugins. Best of all, the interface is very easy to use!
Astra Web Security is a great security plugin. This is why it is used by many well-known brands, such as African Union, Ford, Oman Airways and Gillette.
To take advantage of all the features offered by the tool, the price starts from $ 9 per month, knowing that it is possible to take advantage of a flat-rate discount of 20% by opting for the annual package.
22. SHIELD SECURITY
If you are looking for a tool that takes on the increasing burden of securing your WordPress site, Shield Security is arguably the best plugin to choose.
Once the tool is activated, the plugin starts to protect and analyze the website. It documents all the options, which allows us to deepen the security of the site as we see fit.
23. WEBARX
The solution is available in a free version. For deeper protection, professionals can choose the Pro version for just $ 12 per site. Known for its advanced firewall, WebARX is among the best plugins for securing a WordPress site. The solution also allows us to strengthen the WordPress installation, create backups, monitor availability and security issues, receive alerts, export reports, etc.
Among the features of WebARS, we mention:
- The Managed Web Application Firewall;
- The virtual patch which fixes the vulnerabilities of plugins and themes;
- Strengthening the installation of WordPress;
- Monitoring uptime;
- Personalized security reports in PDF;
- Etc.
Basically, the plugin protects the site from plugin vulnerabilities, bot attacks, and fake traffic.
24. Scan My Server
ScanMyServer provides one of the most comprehensive reports on security test varieties such as SQL Injection, Cross-Site Scripting, PHP Code Injection, Source Disclosure, HTTP Header Injection, Blind SQL Injection, and much more. The scan report is notified by email with a summary of vulnerabilities.
25. Nessus
Vulnerability scanner that allows scan both web applications and infrastructures, includes multiple predefined scanner configurations, such as malware or compliance. It also allows us to scan IP ranges and there are plugins that can help us improve and optimize the scanner’s functions.
26. SQLmap
It is a tool developed in python and open sources that automates the process of detection and exploitation of SQL injection vulnerabilities. It has a powerful detection engine and a large number of testing functions for multiple database management systems.
27. WPScan
Black Box Vulnerability Scanner for WordPress, it has dictionaries to list plugins, themes and a large database with discovered vulnerabilities. Some of its characteristics are:
- Enumeration of users.
- Discovery of weak passwords.
- Version discovery.
- Discovery of vulnerabilities.
- Enumeration of plugins.
- Discovery of vulnerable plugins.
- Discovery of the theme used by the application.
- Directory listing.
28. Firefox + Plugins
By default, we can use Mozilla Firefox as the default browser for audits with the following plugins:
- Wappalyzer: Identification of technologies used by the web application.
- Shodan: Collection of information found on the website in the Shodan database.
- FoxyProxy Standard: Allows you to quickly modify the proxy used by the browser.
- User-Agent Switcher: It allows to change the User Agent in the requests.
- Cookie Quick Manager: Delete, modify and add cookies.
- Clear Cache: Clear all the cookies that the browser stores.
- iMacros for Firefox: Allows you to create macros to automate tasks.
- Web Developer: Multiple utilities, including the most prominent one that allows you to show hidden forms.
- Greasemonkey: Customize the way a website is displayed or behaves using javascript snippets.
29. SiteLock
SiteLock is another popular website security solution that offers DDoS protection, malware scans, and more. It comes with all the necessary features that you need to secure your website.
It’s one of the fastest website scanning solutions out there that automatically finds, fixes, and prevents vulnerabilities, giving you the peace of mind you deserve.
On a daily basis, SiteLock scans your WordPress themes, plugins, and files for potential vulnerabilities that can cause a website blacklist or poor visitor experience.
If malware is found on your website, SiteLock automatically fixes it and notifies you about it. Based on the detailed analysis report, you can take immediate action to protect your site.
With your web application firewall, you can differentiate human traffic from bot traffic and protect your website from bots and attacks by blocking them before they reach your site.
30. StackPath
StackPath is primarily known as a content delivery network (CDN) that allows you to deliver your website from anywhere in the world at lightning speed. But StackPath also offers total security for your site, it is actually the world’s first secure edge platform.
StackPath offers DDoS protection for the entire platform. Its advanced architecture identifies and redirects DDoS attacks to strategic sinkholes, all StackPath offerings have Layer 3 and 4 DDoS protection, and the protection is geographically distributed.
The StackPath network is also designed to defend against new threats as they emerge, providing network-level encryption, network scanning, as well as defense against malware. But security is not a secondary StackPath plugin, it is a top priority.
31. Qualys SSL Labs, Qualys FreeScan
SSL Labs is one of the most used tools to search for SSL web servers. Provides in-depth analysis of HTTPS URLs including expiration day, overall rating, Encryption, SSL5/TLS version, Handshake simulation, protocol details, BEAST, and much more. If you are running a secure website (HTTPS), you shouldn’t wait any longer to do a quick test.
FreeScan is a test web page for OWASP Top Risks and malware, against the SCP security benchmark and more. You must register a free account to perform this scan.
32. WPSEC
WPSEC’s online scanner scans your website for malicious code and known vulnerabilities. It performs a deep scan of your website and compares the core of your WordPress and informs you if it finds any vulnerable plugins or themes.
WPSEC maintains an index of vulnerabilities in its database and checks your website for security holes. detect your WordPress version, installed plugins and robots.txt files.
WPSEC shows you the results simply and effectively, but if you create a free account you will have options such as push notifications and email alerts, periodic scans of your websites and advanced scans.
33. Isitwp
The Isitwp online scanning tool checks a WordPress website for malware and hacks at the same time as it performs a full domain check.
Isitwp Security Scanner uses the Sucuri engine and Google Safe Browsing in addition to other malware lists to make sure your domain is free of malware.
In addition to checking our vulnerabilities, it will provide us with instructions to strengthen the security of our WordPress.
34. Hackertarget
WordPress Security Scan of Hacker Target makes a comprehensive test trying to detect the version of the WordPress core theme in use, plugins, the names of the first two users of WordPress and more.
Like all other scanners, it also uses Google Safe Browsing to check that a website is not on Google’s blacklist.
In the paid version of WordPress Security Scan we can select between 5 types of scan, being able to choose between:
- Passive website analysis.
- List of installed plugins and themes (the 200 most popular).
- List of all plugins (out of 18000)
- List all topics (out of 2600)
- List all users (top 50)
At the end of the analysis, this scanner provides us with a detailed report on the status of the website with a description of each item analyzed.
35. Asafa Web
AsafaWeb provides fast location analysis results, custom errors, Stack trace, Hash Dos Patch, EMLAH log, HTTP Only Cookies, Secure Cookies, Clickjacking, and much more.
36. Wprecon.com
This is another one of the most basic WordPress security scanners. Wprecon scans directory indexing, backlinks, JavaScripts, iframes, and malware through the Virus Total portal.
Also, check if the WordPress core or plugins need updates and if the page is blacklisted by Google using Google Safe Browsing .
As expected the results are presented in a clear format with a brief explanation of each scanned item.
37. Virustotal
Finally, we cannot forget about VirusTotal. This online scanner, in addition to allowing us to scan a file for viruses, can check the URL of your website in dozens of malware databases and present a detailed report.
Also, it performs a web page header scan for malware and unwanted redirects.
Github Based WordPress Vulnerability Scanners
38. Wphunter
WPHunter is A WordPress Vulnerability Scanner that you can use this tool on your wordpress website to check the security of your website by finding the vulnerability in your website.
39. WordPresscan
A simple WordPress scanner written in python based on the work of WPScan (Ruby version), some features are inspired by WPSeku.
40. WPpscan
WPScan is a black box WordPress vulnerability scanner.
Also Check out: https://github.com/topics/wordpress-security-scanner
41. Titan Anti-spam & Security
42. Cerber Security, Anti-spam & Malware Scan
43. JetPack
WordPress Security Scanners Online Free < Download >
? Frequently asked Questions
Why secure a website or a web application?
Cyber attacks keep increasing and are more and more powerful, affecting random sites, SaaS software, and web applications. Companies of all sizes are therefore exposed to these cyber risks threatening competitiveness, brand image and compliance.
How to secure a website or a web application?
We often think of anti-virus or firewalls when we want to protect ourselves from hacking. But how do you secure a website? WPHackedHelp offers the first automated cybersecurity tool capable of responding to cyber risks on a daily basis, by detecting security vulnerabilities and fixing them before hackers exploit them.
How to correct a security flaw identified by the WPHackedHelp audit?
Countermeasures, appropriate fixes and recommendations are provided in detail in each report. The user of the WPHackedHelp, without cybersecurity skills, is able to apply them with ease. The correction is then automatically detected by the robot which transfers it to the list of “corrected”.
Can I audit a site (URL, IP, Address) that does not belong to me?
Use of WPHackedHelp is subject to prior verification. Only the owner or manager of the website is authorized to audit it. This procedure can be carried out: by telephone, by the transfer of a witness file, or by signed written certificate (for consultants, web agencies or Managed Service Provider for example).
Can I audit a site in production or with a high audience?
WPHackedHelp Security scanner was designed to detect the vulnerabilities of a site in production or with a large audience. All attack simulations, even within the framework of gray box pentests (with authentication) are carried out without compromising the integrity or availability of the website. Internet users can access it during the audit.
What types of vulnerabilities are detected by us?
WP Hacked Help detects all types of vulnerabilities that could affect the security, availability, integrity or compliance of your site. Not limited to the propagation of malicious files, defacing, database vacuuming, history or cookie theft, all cyber risks are proactively countered on a daily basis. Flaw detection is not limited to the top 10 OWASP or CVE . Every day, cybersecurity experts improve the robot with new hacking techniques to stay operational.
More Web Vulnerability Tools
The vulnerability management and analysis tools serve to have a clear vision of all the systems that may be affected by one or multiple vulnerabilities, which should be solved since they could be a possible vector for a malicious attacker who wants to compromise the assets of a company.
A general vulnerability analysis tool’s process consists of identifying vulnerabilities, assessing their criticality, and correcting them to make information systems more secure.
Let’s start with the list of Kali web vulnerability analysis tools:
- BBQSQL
- BED
- cisco-auditing-tool
- cisco-global-exploiter
- cisco-ocs
- cisco-torch
- copy-router-config
- Doona
- DotDotPwn
- HexorBase
- jSQL Injection
- Lynis
- Nmap
- ohrwurm
- openvas
- Oscanner
- Powerfuzzer
- sfuzz
- SidGuesser
- SIPArmyKnife
- sqlmap
- Sqlninja
- sqlsus
- THC-IPV6
- tnscmd10g
- unix-privesc-check
- Yersinia
Conclusion
One of the essential elements for security is to monitor the website so that a notification is received every time it is down or has been hacked. While the above tools will help you scan a website on demand, it may be best to schedule it for an automatic security scan.
These WordPress security scanners and tools perform the initial tasks to discover malware and vulnerabilities. For a more exhaustive analysis and detailed recommendations to remove malware, you can see our guide on How to Fix Your Hacked WordPress Site?
Hope the above list helps you to perform security analysis on your website. Share with your friends if you found this article useful.
If you want more information about the WPHackedHelp security scanner, do not hesitate to contact us. At WPHackedHelp we specialize in providing you with the best advice to help you improve your processes and your service delivery.