Patchstack – WordPress & Plugins Security vs WPVulnerability

Patchstack is a powerful tool that helps identify security vulnerabilities within your websites’ plugins, themes, and WordPress core. It is powered by the WordPress ecosystem’s most active community of ethical hackers. Patchstack is trusted by leading WordPress experts such as Pagely, Cloudways, GridPane, Plesk, and others! Patchstack is a security plugin for WordPress that finds WP core, plugin and theme vulnerabilities in your websites. The free version includes up to 48-hour early warning for new vulnerabilities found by our security research community. It also allows you to automatically update vulnerable software, manage updates remotely, and get snapshot reports on your sites’ security status. The paid version includes automatic vulnerability protection. Patchstack deploys highly targeted rules on a per-site basis, only when a specific vulnerability is detected on a site. This prevents vulnerable components from being exploited without modifying website code, or impacting site performance or functionality. Patchstack’s paid version includes access to 12,000+ individual protection rules (vPatches). Patchstack paid version also includes other preventive security features, such as 2 factor authentication, WordPress specific hardening rules, a Community IP blocklist for malicious IP addresses, advanced security settings, and custom protection rules. Post-hack cleanups vs attack prevention in WordPress security Unlike the standard approach to WordPress security (malware scanning and infection cleanups), Patchstack is focused on preventing infections in the first place. Thanks to its big WordPress security research community and partnerships with nearly one thousand plugin vendors and developers, Patchstack is regularly among the first to identify new vulnerabilities. Who is Patchstack’s WordPress security plugin for? Patchstack’s vulnerability management works extremely well for: Agencies with WordPress care/maintenance plans for their customers’ websites WooCommerce websites to protect their revenue and customers from attacks Hosting companies that want to deliver highly targeted vulnerability protection easily and at scale Website owners You don’t have to be highly technical to use it. Install the plugin, connect it with the Patchstack App, and stay safe! What features are included in the Patchstack Personal (Free) plan? Patchstack’s Personal plan is a free security service for WordPress that lets you find and manage vulnerabilities in your websites. It includes access to a central security dashboard via the Patchstack web App for more visibility and control over your sites’ security: Be the first to know about new vulnerabilities. Receive notifications if any installed plugins or themes have security issues. Detect the latest security vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins. Detect the latest security vulnerabilities in WordPress themes. Detect the latest security vulnerabilities in WordPress core. Receive real-time alerts via email if any security vulnerabilities are found. Manage core, plugin and theme updates from a single dashboard. [Optional] Enable automatic updates for vulnerable plugins only. Generate snapshot reports about the security status of your website. What features do Patchstack paid subscriptions have? Patchstack’s paid subscriptions include automatic protection for WordPress vulnerabilities, as well as other protection modules. Virtual patching to prevent vulnerable components from being exploited Advanced hardening module for added WordPress security Remote hardening settings (including .httacess, login protection and reCAPTCHA) Community IP Blocklist of known attacker IP addresses All of these features are included in the Developer and Enterprise plans. Additionally, Developer and Enterprise plan users have access to custom protection rule creation, periodical security reports and report scheduling. Personal (Free) plan users can enable these features on a per-site basis for $5 / site per month. Important Resources Patchstack website Help Center Changelog Patchstack Vulnerability Database See what our customers say about our paid plans: “An excellent and valuable service that’s backed by a company that contributes a significant number of resources and money directly back to the WordPress ecosystem.” – John Blackbourn “Patchstack is like CrowdStrike, but for websites!” – Ryan McCue, HumanMade “The service here is superb! And they are always right on it with the best solution to solve the problem or question at hand. The tool itself speaks for itself. I am very satisfied with this project and the service they offer.” – Daniel Canup “This is a security plugin everyone needs to install. The Patchstack team are incredible at what they do. We have been using them for years and have not been disappointed!” – @craniumstudio “We’ve been with Patchstack for a LONG time (even before they were Patchstack). It has always done its job seamlessly and without fail. Ongoing innovation and updates to the Patchstack product mean this plugin is a winner. 5 stars all the way.” – @guapx (*Comparisons are made by evaluating paid versions.) Sucuri vs. Patchstack Wordfence vs. Patchstack Malcare vs. Patchstack Sitelock vs. Patchstack

This plugin integrates with the WPVulnerability API to provide real-time vulnerability assessments for your WordPress core, plugins, themes, PHP version, Apache HTTPD, nginx, MariaDB, MySQL, ImageMagick, curl, memcached, Redis, and SQLite. It delivers detailed reports directly within your WordPress dashboard, helping you stay aware of potential security risks. Configure the plugin to send periodic notifications about your site’s security status, ensuring you remain informed without being overwhelmed. Designed for ease of use, it supports proactive security measures without storing or retrieving any personal data from your site. Data reliability The information provided by the information database comes from different sources that have been reviewed by third parties. There is no liability of any kind for the information. Act at your own risk. Using the plugin WP-CLI You can use the following WP-CLI commands to manage and check vulnerabilities: Core: wp wpvulnerability core Plugins: wp wpvulnerability plugins Themes: wp wpvulnerability themes PHP: wp wpvulnerability php Apache HTTPD: wp wpvulnerability apache nginx: wp wpvulnerability nginx MariaDB: wp wpvulnerability mariadb MySQL: wp wpvulnerability mysql ImageMagick: wp wpvulnerability imagemagick curl: wp wpvulnerability curl memcached: wp wpvulnerability memcached Redis: wp wpvulnerability redis SQLite: wp wpvulnerability sqlite To configure the plugin you can use: Hide component: wp wpvulnerability config hide [on|off] Notification email: wp wpvulnerability config email (comma separatted) Notification period: wp wpvulnerability config period Log retention: wp wpvulnerability config log-retention (in days) Cache duration: wp wpvulnerability config cache (in hours) All commands support the --format option to specify the output format: --format=table: Displays the results in a table format (default). --format=json: Displays the results in JSON format. Need help? wp wpvulnerability --help: Displays help information for WPVulnerability commands. wp wpvulnerability [command] --help: Displays help information for a WPVulnerability command. REST API The WPVulnerability plugin provides several REST API endpoints to fetch vulnerability information for different components of your WordPress site. Core: /wpvulnerability/v1/core Plugins: /wpvulnerability/v1/plugins Themes: /wpvulnerability/v1/themes PHP: /wpvulnerability/v1/php Apache HTTPD: /wpvulnerability/v1/apache nginx: /wpvulnerability/v1/nginx MariaDB: /wpvulnerability/v1/mariadb MySQL: /wpvulnerability/v1/mysql ImageMagick: /wpvulnerability/v1/imagemagick curl: /wpvulnerability/v1/curl memcached: /wpvulnerability/v1/memcached Redis: /wpvulnerability/v1/redis SQLite: /wpvulnerability/v1/sqlite The WPVulnerability REST API uses Application Passwords for authentication. You need to include a valid Application Password in the Authorization header of your requests. Example Request with Authentication curl -X GET https://example.com/wp-json/wpvulnerability/v1/plugins -u username:application_password Replace username with your WordPress username and application_password with your Application Password. Extra Configurations “From:” mail (since: 3.2.2) If, for some reason, you need the emails sent by the plugin to have a From different from the site administrator, you can change it from the wp-config.php by adding a constant: define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_MAIL', '[email protected]' ); If the constant is active, it will be visible in the configuration screen. Force hiding checks (since: 4.1.0) If you want to always hide a specific component, you can define a constant in wp-config.php. When set to true, the option will be checked automatically in the settings screen and the related analysis will be skipped. Example: define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_APACHE', true ); Available constants: WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_CORE, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_PLUGINS, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_THEMES, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_PHP, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_APACHE, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_NGINX, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_MARIADB, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_MYSQL, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_IMAGEMAGICK, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_CURL, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_MEMCACHED, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_REDIS, WPVULNERABILITY_HIDE_SQLITE. Cache duration (since: 4.1.0) By default, data from the API is cached for 12 hours. To change this, define WPVULNERABILITY_CACHE_HOURS in wp-config.php with one of 1, 6, 12 or 24. This value overrides the setting screen and WP-CLI command. define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_CACHE_HOURS', 24 ); Log rotation (since: 4.2.0) WPVulnerability stores the most recent API responses so you can review recent calls from the new log tab. Define WPVULNERABILITY_LOG_RETENTION_DAYS in wp-config.php to control how many days of entries are preserved. Supported values are 0, 1, 7, 14 or 28; using 0 disables logging entirely. define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_LOG_RETENTION_DAYS', 14 ); When the constant is present its value is enforced in the settings UI and through WP-CLI, ensuring consistent log rotation across environments. Security configuration (since: 4.3.0) WPVulnerability uses a hybrid detection approach for server software (ImageMagick, Redis, Memcached, SQLite): PHP extensions first (most secure), then shell commands as fallback (most accurate). You can control this behavior using security configuration constants in wp-config.php. Global disable of shell commands: define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_DISABLE_SHELL_EXEC', true ); Completely disables shell command usage. Falls back to PHP extensions only. Use for maximum security when accuracy loss is acceptable. Security mode (standard/strict/disabled): define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_SECURITY_MODE', 'strict' ); standard – Hybrid detection: PHP extensions first, shell commands fallback (default, best accuracy) strict – PHP extensions only, no shell commands (high security, lower accuracy) disabled – No software detection at all (maximum security) Component whitelist: define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_SHELL_EXEC_WHITELIST', 'imagemagick,redis' ); Allows shell commands only for specified components. Available components: imagemagick, redis, memcached, sqlite. Use for granular control. Examples: Maximum security (no shell commands): define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_SECURITY_MODE', 'strict' ); Only allow ImageMagick shell detection: define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_SHELL_EXEC_WHITELIST', 'imagemagick' ); Complete disable: define( 'WPVULNERABILITY_DISABLE_SHELL_EXEC', true ); All shell commands are hardcoded and validated – no user input is involved. Commands are logged for security auditing. Compatibility WordPress: 4.7 – 7.1 PHP: 7.0 – 8.5 WP-CLI: 2.3.0 – 2.12.0 Security This plugin adheres to the following security measures and review protocols for each version: WordPress Plugin Handbook WordPress Plugin Security WordPress APIs Security WordPress Coding Standards Plugin Check (PCP) Privacy This plugin or the WordPress Vulnerability Database API does not collect any information about your site, your identity, the plugins, themes or content the site has. Vulnerabilities A security vulnerability was found and fixed in version 4.2.2.1. All previous versions (3.3.0 – 4.2.1) are affected. Please update to version 4.2.2.1 or later. Found a security vulnerability? Please report it to us privately at ROBOTSTXT. Contributors You can contribute to this plugin at the WPVulnerability repository.