Web-Art Login Shield with reCAPTCHA vs WP fail2ban – Advanced Security

Web-Art Login Shield with reCAPTCHA protects WordPress authentication, Elementor Login widgets and Elementor Forms. It provides optional Google reCAPTCHA v2/v3, IP lockouts, Advanced login URL protection, IP blocking and REST/XML-RPC protection. It preserves WordPress core authentication logic. No ads, author telemetry or external dashboard. All modules are opt-in and disabled by default. Key Features reCAPTCHA v2/v3 selectable v2 checkbox or v3 score-based verification protection for wp-login.php, Elementor Login and Elementor Forms server-side token, action, score and hostname validation where applicable configurable v3 score threshold one active type at a time configuration verification before activation Elementor support protection for Elementor Login and Elementor Pro Forms native Elementor reCAPTCHA fields are skipped to avoid duplication v2 alignment controls login errors and lockouts remain inside the Login widget dynamic content and Elementor popup support Login Protect per-IP failed-attempt counting and temporary lockouts safe concurrent-request handling active-lockout countdown local security event log with bounded retention optional REST API, Application Password and XML-RPC protection independent operation with or without reCAPTCHA Advanced login URL optional custom login endpoint protection of default login routes while preserving required public actions logout and password-link compatibility emergency wp-config.php recovery constant IP allowlists and blocking separate reCAPTCHA allowlist and Login Protect trusted IP list permanent IP blocking for public site requests with HTTP 403 optional IP | reason notes XML-RPC hardening Optional blocking of: pingback.ping pingback.extensions.getPingbacks system.multicall Security Model Protected flows use fail-closed handling. If an enabled check cannot be completed safely, the request is rejected instead of bypassing protection. Login Protect preserves active lockouts and safely handles concurrent requests. Setting Maximum login attempts or Lockout duration to 0 disables lockout enforcement. All modules remain disabled until enabled. Recovery constants are available in wp-config.php for selected modules. External Services This plugin integrates with Google reCAPTCHA v2 and v3, services provided by Google LLC. reCAPTCHA is disabled by default. Google scripts or verification requests are used only after an administrator enables reCAPTCHA or runs a settings-page verification test. Google’s reCAPTCHA JavaScript (https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js) may load on protected wp-login.php requests, pages containing protected Elementor widgets or forms, and the settings page during a verification test. Allowlisted visitors bypass frontend loading where applicable. When reCAPTCHA runs, the visitor’s browser connects directly to Google. Google may process browser, device and interaction information and may set the necessary _GRECAPTCHA cookie under its policies. For server-side verification, the plugin sends the token, configured Secret Key and visitor IP address when available to Google’s siteverify endpoint. It does not include usernames, passwords, email addresses or form contents in that request. The plugin sends no telemetry, analytics or usage data to its author. Google policies: https://policies.google.com/privacy https://policies.google.com/terms Privacy Locally stored security data may include: IP addresses, failed-attempt counts and lockout timestamps a username or email associated with an IP lockout recent events containing an IP address, username or email, source, type and timestamp the latest reCAPTCHA configuration or transport error used for diagnostics permanent IP blocklist entries and optional notes Inactive Login Protect entries become eligible for deletion after seven days. Active lockouts remain until expiry. The event log is limited to 30 entries and 30 days. WordPress privacy tools export or erase records matched to the requested email address or associated account. Unmatched IP-only records remain subject to retention and administrator cleanup. Permanent blocklist entries remain until removed by an administrator. Plugin data can be removed during uninstall when uninstall cleanup is enabled. Legal reCAPTCHA is a trademark of Google LLC. Elementor is a trademark of Elementor Ltd. This plugin is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google LLC or Elementor Ltd.

fail2ban is one of the simplest and most effective security measures you can implement to protect your WordPress site. WP fail2ban provides the link between WordPress and fail2ban: Oct 17 20:59:54 foobar wordpress(www.example.com)[1234]: Authentication failure for admin from 192.168.0.1 Oct 17 21:00:00 foobar wordpress(www.example.com)[2345]: Accepted password for admin from 192.168.0.1 WPf2b comes with three fail2ban filters: wordpress-hard.conf, wordpress-soft.conf, and wordpress-extra.conf. These are designed to allow a split between immediate banning (hard) and the traditional more graceful approach (soft), with extra rules for custom configurations. Features Failed Login Attempts The very first feature of WPf2b: logging failed login attempts so the IP can be banned. Just as useful today as it was then. Block User Enumeration One of the most common precursors to a password-guessing brute force attack is user enumeration. WPf2b can block it, stopping the attack before it starts. Block username logins Sometimes it’s not possible to block user enumeration (for example, if your theme provides Author profiles). WPf2b can require users to login with their email address instead of their username. Blocking Users Anther of the older WPf2b features: the login process can be aborted for specified usernames. Say a bot collected your site’s usernames before you blocked user enumeration. Once you’ve changed all the usernames, add the old ones to the list; anything using them will trigger a “hard” fail. Empty Username Login Attempts Some bots will try to login without a username; harmless, but annoying. These attempts are logged as a “soft” fail so the more persistent bots will be banned. Spam WPf2b will log a spammer’s IP address as a “hard” fail when their comment is marked as spam; the Premium version will also log the IP when Akismet discards “obvious” spam. Attempted Comments Some spam bots try to comment on everything, even things that aren’t there. WPf2b detects these and logs them as a “hard” fail. Pingbacks Pingbacks are a great feature, but they can be abused to attack the rest of the WWW. Rather than disable them completely, WPf2b effectively rate-limits potential attackers by logging the IP address as a “soft” fail. Block XML‑RPC Requests [Premium] The only reason most sites need XML‑RPC (other than Pingbacks) is for Jetpack; WPf2b Premium can block XML‑RPC while allowing Jetpack and/or Pingbacks. Block Countries [Premium] Sometimes you just need a bigger hammer – if you’re seeing nothing but attacks from some countries, block them! Cloudflare and Proxy Servers WPf2b will work with Cloudflare, and the Premium version will automatically update the list of Cloudflare IP addresses. You can also configure your own list of trusted proxies. syslog Dashboard Widget Ever wondered what’s being logged? The dashboard widget shows the last 5 messages; the Premium version keeps a full history to help you analyse and prevent attacks. Site Health Check WPf2b will (try to) check that your fail2ban configuration is sane and that the filters are up to date; out-of-date filters are the primary cause of WPf2b not working as well as it can. When did you last run the Site Health tool? mu-plugins Support WPf2b can easily be configured as a “must-use plugin” – see Configuration. API to Extend WPf2b If your plugin can detect behaviour which should be blocked, why reinvent the wheel? Event Hooks [Premium] Need to do something special when WPf2b detects a particular event? There’s a hook for that. Premium Web Application Firewall (WAF) Akismet support. Block XML‑RPC while allowing Jetpack and/or Pingbacks. Block Countries. Auto-update Cloudflare IPs. Event log. Event hooks.