23 Free Strong WordPress Security Scanners: Safeguard Your Site from Vulnerabilities, Misconfigurations, and Risky Plugins!
WordPress is a versatile and widely-used content management system (CMS) that powers over 75 million websites worldwide, making it a popular choice for businesses, bloggers, and e-commerce platforms alike.
Its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options through themes and plugins have contributed to its immense popularity. However, with great power comes great responsibility, especially regarding security.
Hazem Abbas
Why You Need to Check Your WordPress Security
Despite its popularity, WordPress websites remain a prime target for cybercriminals.
Statistics indicate that about 90,000 WordPress sites are hacked daily.
The vulnerabilities arise from outdated plugins, themes, and WordPress versions, exposing websites to various security risks.
Here are some compelling reasons to regularly check your WordPress security:
- Data Loss: A successful attack can lead to the loss of valuable data, including customer information and sensitive content.
- Financial Impact: Recovering from a security breach can be costly, involving expenses for data recovery, website restoration, and potential loss of business.
- Reputation Damage: A hacked website can tarnish your reputation, leading to lost trust from customers and clients.
- Compliance Risks: For businesses handling sensitive information, a breach may lead to violations of compliance regulations, resulting in legal issues and fines.
- Increased Attack Surface: As WordPress evolves, so do the threats. Keeping your site secure requires vigilance, especially with new vulnerabilities emerging constantly.
Hazem Abbas
Popular Events for WordPress Hacks
Understanding common attack vectors can help you better protect your WordPress site.
Here are some popular events and methods associated with WordPress hacks:
- Plugin Vulnerabilities: Outdated or poorly coded plugins are among the most exploited vulnerabilities, often leading to unauthorized access or data breaches.
- Brute Force Attacks: Attackers use automated tools to guess passwords and gain access to admin accounts. The more common your password, the easier it is for them to succeed.
- SQL Injection: This attack targets database-driven websites by injecting malicious SQL queries into forms or URLs, allowing attackers to manipulate or access sensitive data.
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): Attackers inject malicious scripts into web pages, which can then be executed in the browsers of unsuspecting users, potentially stealing sensitive information.
- Phishing Attacks: Cybercriminals often create fake login pages to trick users into providing their credentials.
Hazem Abbas
In the following, you will find a list of the best open-source WordPress security scanner that can help identify security issues in WordPress.
1- WPyScan
WPyScan is a Python script that allows DevOps, Security experts and Pentesters to check for WordPress security issues easily. It also can enumerate and find any vulnerability associated with version, theme and plugins installed.
Features
- FREE UNLIMITED API queries
- WordFence WordPress Vulnerability Database
- Brute Force enumeration available for almost any check
- WAF Bypass with random user agents by default
- Measures for CAPTCHA avoidance
What does WPyScan scan for?
- The version of WordPress installed and any associated vulnerabilities
- What plugins are installed and any associated vulnerabilities
- What themes are installed and any associated vulnerabilities
- Username enumeration
- Users with weak passwords via password brute forcing
- Backed up and publicly accessible wp-config.php files
- Database dumps that may be publicly accessible
- If error logs are exposed by plugins
- Media file enumeration
- If the WordPress readme file is present
- If WP-Cron is enabled
- If user registration is enabled
- Full Path Disclose
- Upload directory listing
2- wpcheck
wpcheck is a Node.js CLI tool that allows you to quickly scan WordPress sites looking for known vulnerabilities, security issues and misconfigurations. wpcheck helps you secure and maintain your WordPress against hackers.
Features
- Preinstalled rules for a quick start.
- Custom rules increase the functionality.
- Selectively ignore default and custom rules.
- Multiple WordPress scans from a bulk file.
- Detection for
- WordPress directories (
wp-content, ...). - WordPress installed in a subdirectory.
- WordPress directories (
- Changeable User-Agent string.
- Silent mode displays warnings only.
- Fix issues: WordPress security best practices.
- Beginner friendly, easy to install.
- Lightweight, cross platform framework.
- Work in progress, see todos and changelog.
3- FastAudit
FastAudit is a straightforward WordPress enumeration tool and security auditor designed to quickly identify potential security issues with just a single web request.
Inspired by the popular WPScan tool, FastAudit utilizes the WPScan Vulnerability Database to detect vulnerabilities related to plugins, themes, and WordPress versions.
Features
- enumerates wp-version/theme/users/plugins
- It uses WPScan Vulnerability Database to search for potential vulnerabilities
- utilizes shodan-API to search for additional vulnerabilities (shodan account required for this feature, may also give false positives sometimes)
- utilizes haveibeenpwned service to search if a password (in sha1) has been used/breached before (useful for developers to test their passwords).
4- Web-Hunter
WebHunter is an advanced Web Application Penetration testing tool & Wordpress name finder and brute forcer Termux & Kali Linux๐ฅ.
Features
- DNS Lookup,Reverse IP Lookup,Zone Transfer,Subnet Http Headers,Port And Host Scanner
- Whois Lookup
- Find Subdomain
- Extract Link
- Geo IP Lookup
- Admin Panel Finder
- Admin Scanner
- No Redirect
- TCP Port Scan
- Advanced Dork Finder
- SQLi/XSS/LFI Payload & Dork
- Wordpress Username Finder
- Wordpress Brute Force
5- Wapiti
Wapiti is a web application vulnerability scanner that enables users to assess the security of their applications, including WordPress sites. It performs security audits by analyzing web applications for vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), and file disclosure issues.
For WordPress security checks, Wapiti identifies potential weaknesses in themes and plugins, along with configuration errors, by scanning for known vulnerabilities.
6- WordPressRevSniper
WordPressRevSniper is a specialized tool designed for in-depth research on the WordPress Revolution Slider. This precision tool empowers security researchers to uncover potential vulnerabilities in a targeted and effective manner.
With its focused approach, WPRevSniper elevates the art of security research, allowing users to explore and analyze WordPress security with finesse.
By utilizing this tool, users can enhance their understanding of vulnerabilities associated with the Revolution Slider, ultimately contributing to stronger security practices in WordPress development. It's an essential companion for ethical hackers aiming to safeguard WordPress sites.
WordPressRevSniper is created for research and educational purposes. Use it responsibly and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. The developer of this tool is not responsible for any misuse.
Features
- ๐ฏ Revolution Slider Exploration: Target and unveil potential vulnerabilities within the WordPress Revolution Slider.
- ๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ Stealthy Research: Conduct security assessments with a ninja-like approach, revealing vulnerabilities discreetly.
- ๐ WordPress Security: Bolster your WordPress security with pinpoint Revolution Slider exposure detection.
- ๐ Ethical Hacking: Integrate WordPressRevSniper into your ethical hacking toolkit as a powerful asset.
- User-Friendly: Interactive prompts make WordPressRevSniper easy to use for effective security assessments.
7- WPHunter Tool
WPHunter is a powerful WordPress vulnerability scanner designed to enhance the security of your WordPress website.
WPHunter enables users to quickly assess their siteโs vulnerabilities by detecting the WordPress version and identifying potential weaknesses in installed plugins and themes.
Additionally, the tool scans for backup files, path disclosures, and evaluates security headers.
By using WPHunter, website owners can proactively address security issues, safeguarding their sites against threats and ensuring a secure environment for their visitors.
8- WPScan
WPScan is a WordPress security scanner designed for security professionals and blog maintainers to assess the security of their WordPress websites.
9- WPSeku - Wordpress Security Scanner
WPSeku is a black box WordPress vulnerability scanner that can be used to scan remote WordPress installations to find security issues.
10- Vane
This is a Python script that enables you to scan for WordPress vulnerabilities.
11- wpfinger
wpfinger is a red-team WordPress scanning tool.
12- WPscrap
WPscrap is a Fast and stealth WordPress scanner, no api-key, no limitation. It uses the top-notch free open-source API www.wpvulnerability.net.
13- WordPress Scanner Action
This is a GitHub Action to perform various checks for WordPress sites (syntax, virus, known vulnerabilities).
14- WP-CONFIG-SCAN - Check Wrong WordPress Settings
This is a simple yet powerful shell script that Check if the WordPress site you are auditing has the typical vulnerable configuration errors, and can even list system users.
15- Vuls: VULnerability Scanner
This open-source Vulnerability scanner is written primary for Linux/FreeBSD, agent-less.
This automated detection minimizes the risk of overlooking vulnerabilities and simplifies the management process. Additionally, Vuls generates regular reports using CRON or other methods, ensuring system administrators stay informed and proactive in maintaining server security.
16- Wordpress Vulnerability Scanner
The WordPress Scanner is a PHP-based tool designed for vulnerability assessment and security auditing of WordPress installations. Focused on identifying misconfigurations, this scanner uncovers flaws in WordPress setups and provides detailed information about potential vulnerabilities.
Unlike traditional code auditing tools, it employs a "black box" approach, performing tests without access to the source code.
17- Wordpresscan
This is a free simple Wordpress scanner written in python based on the work of WPScan (Ruby version), some features are inspired by WPSeku.
18- Burp WP for Burp Suite
This open-source plugin for Burp Suite enables you to find known vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins and themes using Burp Suite proxy.
19- WordPress Vulnerability Check (wp-vulnerability-check)
WordPress Vulnerability Check (wp-vulnerability-check) is a console application to check the WPScan Vulnerability Database via API to identify the security issues of WordPress plugins installed.
20- Advanced use of WPScan (WordPress Security Scanner)
Advanced use of WPScan (WordPress Security Scanner) with other tools like nmap, nikto, owasp-zap, ids for ethnical Hackers
21- ๐ WordPress Plugin Analyzer๏ธ
This is a free and open-source WordPress plugins analyzer which is still work in progress anyway.
Features
- ๐ฅ Automatic plugin download and extraction
- ๐ Comparison of plugin versions for updates
- ๐ฌ In-depth code analysis using abstract syntax trees
- ๐ก๏ธ Multiple security checks for various vulnerability types
- ๐๏ธ Arbitrary File Deletion
- ๐ Arbitrary File Read
- ๐ค Arbitrary File Upload
- ๐ Broken Access Control
- ๐ Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- ๐ CSRF to Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
- ๐ Local File Inclusion (LFI)
- ๐ Missing Capability Checks
- ๐ญ PHP Object Injection
- ๐ Privilege Escalation
- ๐ป Remote Code Execution (RCE)
- ๐ SQL Injection
- ๐ Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
22- WP-CLI Vulnerability Scanner
WP-CLI command for checking installed plugins and themes for vulnerabilities reported on wpvulndb.com
23- Zoom
Zoom is a lightning fast wordpress vulnerability scanner equipped with subdomain & infinite username enumeration.. It doesn't support plugin & theme enumeration at the moment.
Final Note
With the increasing number of WordPress websites, the risk of cyber attacks is higher than ever. Regularly checking your WordPress security with vulnerability scanners is not just a precautionโit's a necessity.
By understanding the threats and employing the right tools, you can significantly reduce the risk of a security breach and protect your valuable data. Don't wait for an attack to happen; be proactive in securing your WordPress site today!
