WordPress 4.2.2 - A Critical Security Release Worth Checking Out

Keeping your WordPress up to date is more important than ever

Powering around 25% of the entire web, WordPress has undoubtedly garnered a gigantic user base. Thus, it can be said that it is the most popular Content Management System till date that is highly versatile and scalable to support web development for any niche business. The platform is loaded with a slew of incredibly useful tools that make it a much sought after choice, not only for users but also for developers.

With the incessantly increasing popularity of this open source platform, there are several hackers and prying eyes eager to fleece its popularity. However, WP developers always strive to make the tool as much secure as possible by frequently releasing bug fixes and security updates. This is why, it is more than imperative to use an updated version of the platform to ensure the security of your website data.

Fortunately, keeping your WP site well up to date is a child's play nowadays. One just need to allow his CMS to automatically update to the latest version and the job can be accomplished with a flair.

Recently, the WordPress has unveiled 4.2.2 version – a vital security update that will protect your site from felling prey to the constant scrutiny from unauthentic users. This is not it. While serving various crucial security updates, the latest version also offers fixes to several less important bugs.

Let's unleash all the bug fixes included in the WordPress 4.2.2.

Security Issues Resolved

1 - Improved Genericons Package :

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In the previous version, there was a critical security issue related to the Genericons icon font package. This package includes an extraneous HTML file that is found to be vulnerable to XSS attack (which is Cross-site Scripting attack). Since, this package is implemented in numerous famous plugins and themes, it was vitally important to fix the bug. The security team of WP has finally updated all the themes and plugins available on the official wordpress.org website by eradicating the unwanted HTML file.

Furthermore, the WP 4.2.2 aggressively scours wp-content directory to make it certain that the corrupted HTML file is not available throughout the setup. This further secures the usage of Genericons package.

2 - Crucial Cross-site scripting vulnerability :

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The Crucial Cross-site scripting vulnerability has adversely impacted the WP 4.2 and earlier versions. As a consequence of this issue, it could allow anonymous users to attain access to a website. This issue has been comprehensively fixed in this latest version update.

General Bugs are also fixed

1. oEmbed issue has been fixed.

2. Now, Emoji can run flawlessly on the Internet Explorer 9 and 10.

3. Earlier, the process to check the UTF-8 encoding used to consume a lot memory space. This has been optimized in the recent release.

4. It will analyze the encoding when the strings will be send to MySQL.

5. With this version, you will not be enforced to use the incorrect URLs.

6. The in_get_term_children() has been amended to deliver enhanced performance for detecting loops.

7. Your WP 4.2.2 will not change the wrong index.

8. You can execute the queries in dbname.tablename format.

With these invaluable updates, it is recommended to upgrade your website to WordPress 4.2.2 and embrace better functionalities and features accompanied with superior security.

How Automatic Updates can be helpful?

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Whether it is a minor enhancement or a critical fix to an issue, it is advisable to keep your website well updated with the up-to-the-minute WordPress version. WP offers an easy way to ensure that you are using the latest version with the automatic update process. However, this process only supports minor updates, so for any major update (like from 4.1 to 4.2) you will need to accomplish it manually.

Note: While conducting manual updates, make sure that you have taken the complete backup of your website. This will help you not lose your data in case any mishap occurs while running an update.

The Automatic Update facilitates an extremely safe way to keep your site up to date without leaving any loopholes. It remarkably implements the latest security fixes and make your site more secure from the vulnerabilities.

It will not break your website rather augment its functionalities with advanced features and resolved issues. Moreover, it is absolutely easy to use and delivers outstanding performance. However, there is a slight risk associated with it. Therefore, it is better to configure the auto backup schedule so that you will always have a recent backup of your site.

Since, the latest version of the WP platform that is WordPress 4.2.2 has come up with a list of useful and crucial bug fixes, including security patches, it is worth updating your site to the new version. You may choose to use the Automatic Updates function in your website to ensure that your business is running on a secure and the latest version of the platform.