Prevent XSS Vulnerability vs Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL)

This plugin helps safeguard your website against two common types of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities: Reflected XSS: This happens when harmful scripts are hidden in a website’s URL. If a user clicks a link with such a script, it can run in their browser, potentially stealing their data or taking control of their system. Self-XSS: This occurs when a user’s own input on your website is displayed back to them in an unsafe way, allowing malicious scripts to run in their browser. This plugin provides several layers of protection: Blocking: When active, the plugin checks URLs for specific characters. If it finds any of these characters in the URL, it redirects the user to prevent a potential XSS attack. You can customize which characters to block or allow. Opening Round Bracket ( Closing Round Bracket ) Less than Sign Opening Square Bracket [ Closing Square Bracket ] Opening Curly Bracket { Pipe or Vertical Bar | Closing Curly Bracket } Encoding: For an extra layer of security, the plugin encodes certain characters found in URL parameters. This stops harmful code from running, even if it’s present in the URL. You can also choose to exclude specific parameters from being encoded. Exclamation Mark ! Double Quotation " Single Quotation ' Opening Round Bracket ( Closing Round Bracket ) Asterisk Sign * Less than Sign Grave Accent “` Cap Sign ^ Opening Square Bracket [ Closing Square Bracket ] Opening Curly Bracket { Pipe or Vertical Bar | Closing Curly Bracket } Escaping HTML in $_GET: This plugin automatically makes HTML characters safe within the $_GET variable. This is vital if your website pulls data from URLs and displays it as part of your web page. It helps prevent malicious scripts from being injected through user-provided input. Important Notes: After activating the plugin, thoroughly test your website forms, especially if you use WooCommerce. Make sure the plugin doesn’t interfere with your shopping cart and checkout processes. We welcome bug reports for this plugin on GitHub: https://github.com/samiahmedsiddiqui/prevent-xss-vulnerability/issues. Please remember that GitHub is for bug reports only, not general support. By using this plugin and following these recommendations, you can significantly improve your website’s defense against XSS attacks.

Easily improve site security with WordPress Hardening, Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Login Protection, Vulnerability Detection and SSL certificate. Really simple, Effective and Performant WordPress Security Really Simple Security is the most lightweight and easy-to-use security plugin for WordPress. It secures your WordPress website with SSL certificate generation, including proper 301 https redirection and SSL enforcement, scanning for possible vulnerabilities, Login Protection and implementing essential WordPress hardening features. We believe that security should have the absolute minimum effect on website performance, user experience and maintainability. Therefore, Really Simple Security is: Lightweight: Every security feature is developed with a modular approach and with performance in mind. Disabled features won’t load any redundant code. Easy-to-use: 1-minute configuration with short onboarding setup. Security Features Easy SSL Migration Migrates your website to HTTPS and enforces SSL in just one click. 301 redirect via PHP or .htaccess Secure cookies Let’s Encrypt: Install an SSL Certificate if your hosting provider supports manual installation. Server Health Check: Your server configuration is every bit as important for your website security. WordPress Hardening Tweak your configuration and keep WordPress fortified and safe by tackling potential weaknesses. Prevent code execution in the uploads folder Prevent login feedback and disable user enumeration Disable XML-RPC Disable directory browsing Username restrictions (block ‘admin’ and public names) and much more.. Vulnerability Detection Get notified when plugins, themes or WP core contain vulnerabilities and need appropriate action. Login Protection Allow or enforce Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for specific user roles. Users receive a two-factor code via Email. Improve Security with Really Simple Security Pro Protect your site with all essential security features by upgrading to Really Simple Security Pro. Advanced SSL enforcement Mixed Content Scan & Fixer. Detect files that are requested over HTTP and fix them to HTTPS, both Front- and Back-end. Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security and configure your site for the HSTS Preload list. Firewall Really Simple Security Pro includes a performant and efficient WordPress firewall, to stop bots, crawlers and bad actors with IP and username blocks. 404 blocking – Blocks crawlers as they trigger unusual numbers of 404 errors. Region blocking – Only allow/block access to your site from specific regions. Automated and customisable Firewall rules. IP blocklist and allowlist. Security Headers Security headers protect your site visitors against the risk of clickjacking, cross-site-forgery attacks, stealing login credentials and malware. Independent of your Server Configuration, works on Apache, LiteSpeed, NGINX, etc. Protect your website visitors with X-XSS Protection, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, a Referrer Policy and CORS headers. Automatically generate your WordPress-tailored Content Security Policy. Vulnerability Measures When a vulnerability is detected in a plugin, theme or WordPress core you will get notified accordingly. With Vulnerability Measures, you can configure simple but effective measures to make sure that a critical vulnerability won’t remain unattended. Force update: An update process will be tried multiple times until it can be assumed development of a theme or plugin is abandoned. You will be notified during these steps. Quarantine: When a plugin or theme can’t be updated to solve a vulnerability, Really Simple Security can quarantine the plugin. Advanced Site Hardening Choose a custom login URL Automated File Permissions check and fixer Rename and randomize your database prefix Change the debug.log file location to a non-public folder Disable application passwords Control admin creation Disable HTTP methods, reducing HTTP requests Login Protection Secure your website’s login process and user accounts with powerful security measures. Two-Step verification (Email login) 2FA (two factor authentication) with TOTP Passwordless login with passkey login Enforce strong passwords and frequent password change Limit Login Attempts With Limit Login Attempts you can configure a threshold to temporarily or permanently block IP addresses or (non-existing) usernames. You can also throw a CAPTCHA after a failed login (hCaptcha or Google reCaptcha) Access Control Restrict access to your site for specific regions. Add specific IP addresses or IP ranges to the Blocklist or Allowlist. Useful Links Documentation Security Definitions Translate Really Simple Security Issues & pull requests Feature requests Love Really Simple Security? If you want to support the continuing development of this plugin, please consider buying Really Simple Security Pro, which includes some excellent security features and premium support. About Really Simple Plugins Our mission is to make complex WordPress requirements really easy. Really Simple Security is developed by Really Simple Plugins. For generating SSL certificates, Really Simple Security uses the le acme2 PHP Let’s Encrypt client library, thanks to ‘fbett’ for providing it. Vulnerability Detection uses WP Vulnerability, an open-source initiative by Javier Casares. Want to join as a collaborator? We’re on GitHub as well!