Recently, our team uncovered a particularly sneaky piece of malware tucked away in a place many WordPress users don’t even know exists: the mu-plugins folder. In fact, back in March, we saw a similar trend with hidden malware in this very directory, as detailed in our post Hidden Malware Strikes Again: MU-Plugins Under Attack. This […]
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Product Update – New Backups Platform
Sucuri is pleased to announce the completion of a product upgrade with our new Backups platform. For those already subscribed to our Backups platform, you will begin to see (over the next week or so), a new destination for where to access your new Backups. For those who have never purchased our Backups before, you […]
WordPress Redirect Malware Hidden in Google Tag Manager Code
Last month, a customer contacted us after noticing their WordPress website was unexpectedly redirecting to a spam domain. The redirection occurred approximately 4-5 seconds after a user landed on the site. Upon closer inspection of the site’s source code we found a suspicious Google Tag Manager loading. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen GTM […]
Stealthy PHP Malware Uses ZIP Archive to Redirect WordPress Visitors
Last month, a customer contacted us, concerned about persistent and inexplicable redirects on their WordPress website. Our investigation quickly unearthed a sophisticated piece of malware deeply embedded within their site’s core files. This wasn’t just a simple redirect; it was a complex operation designed for search engine poisoning and unauthorized content injection. What Did We […]
Attackers Inject Code into WordPress Theme to Redirect Visitors
In a recent article we discussed some of the reasons sites are frequently attacked. That article covered browser redirects, and we’ll explore an example of such a case here. Website themes are a common attack vector for many reasons. The theme is guaranteed to load on every page, that is the core design of any […]
Fake Spam Plugin Uses Victim’s Domain Name to Evade Detection
During our investigation of an SEO spam infection (spam content designed to manipulate search engine results), we discovered a nicely crafted plugin that named itself after the infected domain, helping it evade detection. While this tactic was simple, it easily blended in with other legitimate plugins, making it harder to spot during the troubleshooting process. […]
Vulnerability & Patch Roundup — June 2025
Vulnerability reports and responsible disclosures are essential for website security awareness and education. Automated attacks targeting known software vulnerabilities are one of the leading causes of website compromises. To help educate website owners about potential threats to their environments, we’ve compiled a list of important security updates and vulnerability patches for the WordPress ecosystem this […]
Stealthy WordPress Malware Drops Windows Trojan via PHP Backdoor
Last month, we encountered a particularly interesting and complex malware case that stood out from the usual infections we see in compromised WordPress websites. At first glance, the site looked clean, no visible signs of defacement, no malicious redirects, and nothing suspicious in the plugin list. But beneath the surface, a hidden infection chain was […]
The Case of Hidden Spam Pages
Spammy posts and pages being placed on WordPress websites is one of the most common infections that we come across. The reason being is that the attack is very low-level in terms of sophistication: All that is required of the attacker is to brute force their way into the wp-admin panel; from there they just […]
Malicious WordPress Plugin Creates Hidden Admin User Backdoor
I recently wrote about a case where a malicious plugin was used to steal admin credentials. Here we will examine yet another malicious plugin that creates a malicious admin user right in the website. Examining the malware While examining the site, we noticed a plugin located at wp-content/plugins labeled php-ini.php. This is strange since directories […]
