Check the md5 checksum of WordPress Core files against WordPress’ checksums API, using this standalone PHP file. I chose to use a standalone PHP script to check the md5sum of WordPress Core files against the API so you’re not dependent on a possibly hacked WordPress installation. This kind of guarantees the result can be trusted, as opposed to using a WordPress plugin. I think this is a better integrity check of WordPress Core files.
Quiet WordPress 4.7 RC2 available
Helen Hou-Sandi writes on Make WordPress Core that there is a quiet RC2 now available – it is a fair number of commits (50+), so please take a look through those and test as you can.
Joomla! (< 3.6.4) Account Creation/Elevated Privileges write-up and exploit
Yesterday, Melvin Lammerts wrote an article on the account creation with elevated privileges vulnerability in Joomla! < 3.6.4. And included a PoC exploit. This Joomla! vulnerability makes it easy for an attacker to create an user account, even when user registration is turned off. Yikes!
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Enable NTFS long paths in Windows Server 2016 by Group Policy
Windows Server 2016 was finally released last week, meaning we can finally lift the idiotic 260 characters limitation for NTFS paths. In this post I’ll show you how to configure the Enable Win32 long paths setting for the NTFS file system, through Group Policy (a GPO).
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Clear PHP opcode caches before WordPress Updates: ease the updating process
In various hosting environments, WordPress core-, plugin- and theme updates sometimes fail because of enabled opcode caches. Popular PHP opcode caches are OPcache, WinCache and APC. This little WordPress Must Use Plugin tries to flush opcode caches. Making your live a bit easier when updating WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes.
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The WinCache effect: Save with object caching
WinCache, or the Windows Cache Extension for PHP, is a PHP accelerator that is used to significantly increase the speed of PHP applications running on Windows Server IIS. Besides increasing the speed of PHP applications, WinCache decreases CPU usage making it a win win situation extension. I’ve described how to run PHP with WinCache on IIS in an earlier post.
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Benchmarking WordPress, simple load & speed testing with ApacheBench
WordPress load testing with ApacheBench. ab is a small benchmark utility that comes with Apache. It’s a really simple HTTP load generating tool, ideal for a simple WordPress load & speed test. How fast does your WordPress site respond? How many HTTP requests per second can your server handle? These are questions on which ab can shed some light.
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Measure WordPress loading time and queries
How to measure WordPress’ loading time and executed database queries? During an HTTP request, WordPress executes a lot of queries on your MySQL database. Not just the database queries take time, also loading and executing PHP takes time. How do you measure this?
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Intrusion Detection with Windows Event ID’s
Found via cyber-ir.com: This paper is the best I have ever read on how to build IOC’s with Windows Event ID’s. I highly recommend you to read it, it contains very useful information and some very interesting behavioural examples of attacker activity. If you are looking to enhance your detection in your core network this is the document!
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Tips to speed up WordPress, serve gzip comressed static HTML files
Who said WordPress is slow on Windows Server IIS? Gzip compress and serve WP-Super-Cache or Cache Enabler static HTML files, to supercharge your WordPress blog. Here is how to serve gzip compressed HTML files through Windows Server IIS: create smaller, compressed, static HTML files, that are downloaded faster. This works with WP-Super-Cache and Cache Enabler on IIS!
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How to optimize your WordPress hosting – 9+ practical tips
Isn’t it true that, when you (start to) develop WordPress websites for clients, and you host them yourself, you find yourself in a situation where you need to know a lot about “stuff” other than WordPress development? In this optimizing WordPress hosting post, I provide 9+ practical tips for you, to improve WordPress hosting performance. Especially useful if you plan to develop and host WordPress websites yourself.
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Top 51 Most Visited Posts on Sysadmins of the North
Here are the Top 51 Most Visited Posts on Sysadmins of the North. It is a dynamic, ever changing list. This list of high rated and interesting posts is compiled using Jetpack’s statistics and a nifty shortcode function by WebDevStudios.com. Have a look at them, you might have missed an interesting one!
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WordPress advisory: Akal premium theme XSS vulnerability & abandonded
Over the course of one week I had the opportunity to audit two hacked WordPress websites. I could quickly discover two vulnerabilities: a Cross Site Scripting, or XSS, in a premium WordPress theme Akal
, and a SQL injection Denial-of-Service in a later to be disclosed plugin. This post describes the Akal theme XSS vulnerability.
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5 Extra ways to clean up disk space in Windows Server
Disk cleanup in Windows Server 2012 (R2) using DISM is one of the most popular posts here on Saotn.org. It’s also valid for Windows Server 2016. So apparently, disk space usage is an issue on Windows Server. And that made me wonder: what more ways to clean up disk space in Windows Server are there?
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Samsung’s smart camera. A tale of IoT & network security
Pen Test Partners writes about IoT and security in the Samsung smart camera SNH-6410BN. They discovered eleven (11) issues, chained together to gain root access. Got r00t?
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