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Vulnerabilities in Outdated Content Management Systems : An Analysis of the Largest WordPress Websites.

The rapid growth of the internet over the past two decades has been accompaniedby a significant increase in cyberattacks, including ones targeting websites. Among thevast number of websites, approximately 50% are built using popular Content ManagementSystems (CMS) such as WordPress, Shopify, and Wix. Furthermore, websites created usingCMS platforms may be more attractive targets for attackers due to common frameworksand shared vulnerabilities. This study examines the prevalence of security vulnerabilitiesin the category "Vulnerable and Outdated Components" in these CMS-created websiteswith a focus on the WordPress CMS. From scanning one million of the largest websites,version information of WordPress and related extensions is collected and matched againstexploits in publicly available databases (exploit databases). The study finds that approxi-mately 65% of the WordPress websites are up-to-date, and that approximately 1.1% of thelargest websites running WordPress are susceptible to severe vulnerabilities to the Word-Press Core, and more to plugin vulnerabilities. The study also finds that 70% of all severepublic exploits both recently and historically spawn from 3 categories, including cross-sitescripting attacks, cross-site request forgery, and SQL injection. Based on the results gath-ered, a well-designed demonstration showcasing two vulnerabilities is develo

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-202569
Date January 2023
CreatorsEkstam Ljusegren, Hannes
PublisherLinköpings universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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