WordPress 5.7.1 has just been released. While it is not a major release (the next major release is scheduled for July 2021 when WordPress 5.8 launches), it nevertheless contains 26 bug and 2 security fixes. As such, it is deemed as a security release and should be applied to all your WordPress sites immediately.
The 2 Security Fixes
The 2 security fixes issued are meant to patch existing vulnerabilities found in all versions of WordPress from 4.7 to 5.7. More specially:
- One of the security fix patches a XML external entity injection (XXE) vulnerability affecting PHP 8.
- The other security fix prevents data exposure within the REST API.
What You Need to Do
If yours is a relatively new website, chances are your website has been set to automatically keep WordPress up to date with maintenance and security releases. WordPress has after all been supporting automatic background updates since WordPress 3.7, which was released way back in 24 October 2013. As such, it is likely that this update has already been automatically applied on your site.
That said, there is always the possibility the update may have not been deployed, as intended, on your website. For example, the automatic background update could have failed because of a variety of reasons, including server script time out, file permission errors or exhausted PHP memory limit. Or perhaps, the automatic update feature may have been disabled either manually, by editing the wp-config file or through use of a plugin. It is thus advisable to log into your website to physically check that the update has been deployed. If it is, no further action is needed. If it is not, do immediately click the update button to perform a manual update.
Learnings From The Above
Whether it’s the WordPress core, themes or plugins, updates can sometimes contain security patches. As such, it is important to keep your WordPress website constantly updated. And if you are our web design client, you can use our website maintenance service to keep your site up to date and functioning as it should.
