WordPress blogs falling prey to worm

A worm is circulating that can post malware and spam to some WordPress blogs using outdated versions of the blogging software, according to a post by Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress.

The worm can be tough to catch, as Mullenweg explains: "it registers a user, uses a security bug (fixed earlier in the year) to allow evaluated code to be executed through the permalink structure, makes itself an admin, then uses JavaScript to hide itself when you look at users page, attempts to clean up after itself, then goes quiet so you never notice while it inserts hidden spam and malware into your old posts."

The vulnerability allowing the attack was discovered August 11, at which point WordPress encouraged users to upgrade to version 2.8.4. However, many people have yet to upgrade, and reports online indicate the worm is making dubious progress by the hour.

The worm does not affect the current version 2.8.4 and the one prior to it. And it only affects people who host their own WordPress blog. Blogs hosted on WordPress.com are unaffected.

Users can find upgrade links and instructions here. WordPress has also posted an FAQ for people who think their blog has been hacked.

[SwissJay]

Man, sounds like the little robot-spy dude on Transformers :)

[JoeF2]

I have seen quite a significant number of trackback spam using this hole. Such sites are blocked on sight at my blog now.

[zmjman08]

If people are stupid or lazy enough not to upgrade their software, then it serves them right.

[stubbyns]

that's the spirit ....

[Lerianis3]

Got to agree, but the real thing is why Wordpress doesn't do this AUTOMATICALLY! It seems that would be a wise investment in time and energy.

[unknown unknown]

@Lerianis3 They do have section in the admin panel that is suppose to download and install wordpress updates, but for the life of me I can not make it work with my hosting. I end up doing it manually via SFTP.

[MichaelBubbo]

zmjman, it isn't only because people are "stupid or lazy" -- many WordPress self-hosted blogs are utilizing outdated plugins or custom scripts that make their blog go haywire whenever they upgrade to the latest WordPress version.

I just wrote an article on my blog (http://www.michaelbubbo.com) as well as on Posterous (http://bubbo.posterous.com) explaining this very situation.

In a perfect world, no one would use custom themes or scripts and every plugin author would be able to work full-time on their code. Although, in a perfect world, maybe there wouldn't be malicious worms and spam attacking random blogs.

Thanks for spreading the word, Jennifer. It is important that everyone take action ASAP.

[gggg sssss]

say what? And wordpress is NOT microsoft software. WHo knew.that linux software could be compromised.