If your website has BackupBuddy installed please update the plugin to version 8.7.5 immediately
A dangerous security vulnerability was recently discovered in the BackupBuddy plugin. Older versions of the plugin could allow hackers to access your WordPress backend and view sensitive information, including passwords. The vulnerability specifically applies to versions 8.5.8.0 through 8.7.4.1 of the plugin but all versions should be updated to 8.7.5.
iThemes, the plugin’s developer, announced the vulnerability on the evening of Tuesday September 6th, 2022. They say the vulnerability is being actively exploited and the earliest hack found so far started on August 27th, 2022. Even if you no longer have an active subscription you can still download the latest version of the plugin from the iThemes website.
To check if your website may have been hacked, search the access logs on your server for text including “local-destination-id” and “/etc/passwd” and see if your wp-config.php file has had any HTTP 2xx responses. You can read more from the plugin developers here.
BackupBuddy is one of the best, most dependable WordPress backup plugins available. The plugin makes it possible to automatically create all kinds of backups of your website that can be sent to secure, remote locations. If your website is ever hacked you’ll need a secure backup made before the hack to restore from. Without one it’s incredibly difficult to ever get your website secure again. That’s why I use BackupBuddy to make sure I always have a wide variety of backups ready to go at any time just in case.
If you need any help with backups, security or anything else to do with your website please let me know.