Disable WP REST API vs REST XML-RPC Data Checker

Does one thing: Completely disables the WordPress REST API for visitors who are not logged into WordPress. No configuration required. Important: This plugin completely disables the WP REST API for visitors who are NOT logged in to WordPress. So not recommended if your site needs the WP REST API for any non-logged users. 👉 The fast, simple way to prevent abuse of your site’s REST/JSON API 👉 Protects your site’s REST data from all non-logged users and bots 👉 Uses only 4KB of code, so super lightweight, fast, and effective 🛠️ Pro version available! Check out REST Pro Tools » Features Disable REST/JSON for visitors (not logged in) Disables REST header in HTTP response for all users Disables REST links in HTML head for all users 100% plug-and-play, set-it-and-forget solution How does it work? This plugin completely disables the WP REST API unless the user is logged into WordPress. For logged-in (authenticated) users, WP REST API works normally For logged-out (unauthenticated) users, WP REST API is disabled What happens if logged-out visitor makes a JSON/REST request? They will get only a simple message: rest_login_required: REST API restricted to authenticated users. This message may customized via the filter hook, disable_wp_rest_api_error. Check out this post for an example of how to do it. Pro Version 🛠️ Check out the Pro version, REST Pro Tools, loaded with many awesome features: One-click disable all routes One-click disable all /users routes Disable any specific user routes based on role Whitelist any user IDs Whitelist any IP addresses Customize the REST error message Customize the REST response code Always require or force SSL/TLS Disable all JSONP shenanigans One-click disable any REST API headers Add any post meta (custom field) to REST API Add any user meta (custom field) to REST API Add routes for site profile and author profile Add routes for featured images and post categories Add routes for post taxonomies and terms At-a-glance check status of REST API The free version does only one thing: disables REST API for unauthenticated users. The PRO version can do that and much more! Take full control of the REST API with REST Pro Tools » Privacy This plugin does not collect or store any user data. It does not set any cookies, and it does not connect to any third-party locations. Thus, this plugin does not affect user privacy in any way. If anything it improves user privacy, as it protects potentially sensitive information from being displayed/accessed via REST API. Disable WP REST API is developed and maintained by Jeff Starr, 15-year WordPress developer and book author. Support development of this plugin I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can make a donation or purchase one of my books: The Tao of WordPress Digging into WordPress .htaccess made easy WordPress Themes In Depth Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins: BBQ Pro – Blazing fast WordPress firewall Blackhole Pro – Automatically block bad bots Banhammer Pro – Monitor traffic and ban the bad guys GA Google Analytics Pro – Connect WordPress to Google Analytics Head Meta Pro – Ultimate Meta Tags for WordPress REST Pro Tools – Awesome tools for managing the WP REST API Simple Ajax Chat Pro – Unlimited chat rooms USP Pro – Unlimited front-end forms Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thank you! 🙂

JSON REST API and XML-RPC API are powerful ways to remotely interact with WordPress. If you don’t have external applications that need to communicate with your WordPress instance using JSON REST API or XML-RPC API you should disable access to them for external requests. In the standard WordPress installation JSON REST API and XML-RPC API are enabled by default. In particular the REST API is turned on also for unlogged users. This means that your WordPress instance is potentially leaking data, for example anyone could be able to: copy easily your published contents natively with the REST API (and not with a web crawler); get the list of all users (with their ID, nickname and name); retrieve other information that you didn’t want to be public (such as an unlisted published page or a saved media not yet used). Even if you could do the stuff by writing your own code using native filters, this plugin aims to help you to control JSON REST API and XML-RPC API accesses from the administration panel or programmatically by a simple API filter. Basic Features Disable REST API interface for unlogged users. Disable JSONP support on REST API. Add Basic Authentication to REST API. Remove REST tags, REST Link HTTP header and REST Really Simple Discovery (RSD) informations. Setup trusted users, IP/Networks and endpoints for unlogged users REST requests. Change REST endpoint prefix. Disable XML-RPC API interface. Remove to the Really Simple Discovery (RDS) informations. Remove X-Pingback HTTP header. Setup trusted users, IP/Networks and methods for XML-RPC requests. Show user’s access informations in users list administration screen. Usage Once the plugin is installed you can control settings in the following ways: Using the Settings->REST XML-RPC Data Checker administration screen. Programmatically, by using rest_xmlrpc_data_checker_settings filter (see below). API Hooks rest_xmlrpc_data_checker_settings Filters plugin settings values. apply_filters( 'rest_xmlrpc_data_checker_settings', array $settings ) rest_xmlrpc_data_checker_admin_settings Filter allowing to display or not the plugin settings page in the administration. apply_filters( 'rest_xmlrpc_data_checker_admin_settings', boolean $display ) rest_xmlrpc_data_checker_rest_error Filter JSON REST authentication error after plugin checks. apply_filters( 'rest_xmlrpc_data_checker_rest_error', WP_Error|boolean $result ) xmlrpc_before_insert_post Filter XML-RPC post data to be inserted via XML-RPC before to insert post into database. apply_filters( 'xmlrpc_before_insert_post', array|IXR_Error $content_struct, WP_User $user )