WordPress RCE Flaw Draws Nearly 63,000 Attack Attempts in Just 24 Hours

A high-severity remote code execution vulnerability in WordPress Core versions 4.7 through 7.1.3 has been actively exploited in the wild, with 62,969 attack attempts observed within 24 hours of the patch release. The flaw stems from predictable, web-accessible staging paths used during full-package core upgrades, allowing unauthenticated attackers to execute PHP code by exploiting a race condition when the WordPress installer is temporarily exposed. Attackers are polling for vulnerable paths like 'setup-config.php' to exploit the brief window during which the staging directory is accessible, prompting urgent advice for site owners to update to version 7.1.4 and monitor for suspicious activity.

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