Mass Exploitation Campaign Targets Outdated WordPress Plugins
Summary
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A widespread campaign is exploiting outdated WordPress plugins GutenKit and Hunk Companion, targeting critical vulnerabilities to achieve remote code execution (RCE). The campaign, which began on October 8, 2025, exploited three critical-severity flaws in the plugins, affecting over 48,000 installs. Attackers use malicious plugins hosted on GitHub to maintain persistence, steal data, and execute commands on compromised sites. Wordfence has blocked nearly 8.8 million exploitation attempts. The vulnerabilities were patched in October and December 2024, but many sites remain unpatched.
Timeline
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24.10.2025 22:28 2 articles · 3d ago
Mass Exploitation Campaign Targets Outdated WordPress Plugins
The campaign affected over 40,000 active installations of GutenKit and 8,000 active installations of Hunk Companion. Wordfence discovered the vulnerabilities via its bug bounty program on September 25 and October 3, 2024. Wordfence has blocked nearly 8.8 million exploitation attempts. The vulnerabilities allow threat actors to hijack targeted sites by uploading PHP files and executing malicious code on the server.
Show sources
- Hackers launch mass attacks exploiting outdated WordPress plugins — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 24.10.2025 22:28
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
Information Snippets
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The campaign targeted three critical vulnerabilities: CVE-2024-9234, CVE-2024-9707, and CVE-2024-11972.
First reported: 24.10.2025 22:282 sources, 2 articlesShow sources
- Hackers launch mass attacks exploiting outdated WordPress plugins — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 24.10.2025 22:28
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
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CVE-2024-9234 is an unauthenticated REST-endpoint flaw in GutenKit, affecting versions 2.1.0 and earlier.
First reported: 24.10.2025 22:282 sources, 2 articlesShow sources
- Hackers launch mass attacks exploiting outdated WordPress plugins — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 24.10.2025 22:28
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
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CVE-2024-9707 and CVE-2024-11972 are missing-authorization vulnerabilities in Hunk Companion, affecting versions 1.8.4 and older, and 1.8.5 and older, respectively.
First reported: 24.10.2025 22:282 sources, 2 articlesShow sources
- Hackers launch mass attacks exploiting outdated WordPress plugins — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 24.10.2025 22:28
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
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The vulnerabilities allow attackers to install arbitrary plugins, leading to RCE.
First reported: 24.10.2025 22:282 sources, 2 articlesShow sources
- Hackers launch mass attacks exploiting outdated WordPress plugins — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 24.10.2025 22:28
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
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The campaign involved 8.7 million attack attempts over two days.
First reported: 24.10.2025 22:282 sources, 2 articlesShow sources
- Hackers launch mass attacks exploiting outdated WordPress plugins — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 24.10.2025 22:28
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
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Attackers use a malicious plugin hosted on GitHub to maintain persistence and execute commands.
First reported: 24.10.2025 22:282 sources, 2 articlesShow sources
- Hackers launch mass attacks exploiting outdated WordPress plugins — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 24.10.2025 22:28
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
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Indicators of compromise include specific request paths and directory entries.
First reported: 24.10.2025 22:281 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Hackers launch mass attacks exploiting outdated WordPress plugins — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 24.10.2025 22:28
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The vulnerabilities affect over 40,000 active installations of GutenKit and 8,000 active installations of Hunk Companion.
First reported: 27.10.2025 12:151 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
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Wordfence discovered the vulnerabilities via its bug bounty program on September 25 and October 3, 2024.
First reported: 27.10.2025 12:151 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
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Wordfence has blocked nearly 8.8 million exploitation attempts.
First reported: 27.10.2025 12:151 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
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The vulnerabilities allow threat actors to hijack targeted sites by uploading PHP files and executing malicious code on the server.
First reported: 27.10.2025 12:151 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Critical WordPress Plugin Bugs Exploited En Masse — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 27.10.2025 12:15
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