I Scanned My Own WordPress Blog for Vulnerabilities: Here Is What the Free Tools Found
I wanted to answer a fairly simple question: how much can you actually learn about a WordPress site's security without paying for an expensive security platform?
So I approached my WordPress blog like a small security audit.
I wasn't trying to break into the site or run aggressive exploits. The goal was much more practical: use free, legitimate tools to see what an ordinary site owner can discover about outdated software, exposed information, plugins, themes, configuration issues, and other common security problems.
The results were more useful than I expected.
The biggest lesson was that a "clean" scan does not necessarily mean a WordPress site is secure. Free scanners are good at finding certain visible problems, but they cannot see everything happening inside the hosting account or application.
What I Checked
For the test, I focused on four areas:
- WordPress core
- Plugins and themes
- Publicly visible configuration
- Common security and hardening issues
I used free or free-to-use checks from WPScan, WordPress Site Health, and browser-based security scanners. I also compared the results against WordPress's own security guidance.
WordPress itself recommends keeping the core software, plugins, and themes updated because outdated components remain one of the most common security risks.
The idea wasn't to collect a huge list of theoretical vulnerabilities.
I wanted to know:
What would a normal site owner actually find?
First Surprise: The Scanner Knows More Than You Think
The first useful result came from checking the site's publicly detectable WordPress information.
A scanner can often identify clues about:
- WordPress version
- Installed plugins
- Themes
- Plugin versions
- Potentially vulnerable components
- Publicly exposed configuration
- Common WordPress endpoints
That information matters because attackers don't necessarily need access to your dashboard to start researching your site.
If a website publicly reveals that it is running an outdated plugin with a known vulnerability, the attacker already has a useful starting point.
WPScan maintains a vulnerability database covering WordPress core, plugins, and themes and uses that information in its scanner.
WPScan Was the Most Interesting Free Check
WPScan is probably the tool I would recommend first to a technically comfortable WordPress site owner.
It has a free online scanning option, and the CLI scanner is available for security research and testing. Its free researcher API access is currently capped at 25 API requests per day.
The important thing is understanding what the result means.
If WPScan reports:
"Plugin X has a vulnerability"
that does not automatically mean:
"Your website has been hacked."
It means the installed component matches information in a vulnerability database and deserves investigation.
The next question is always:
Is the vulnerable version actually installed, and has it been patched?
That distinction prevents a lot of unnecessary panic.
Outdated Plugins Are Still the Big One
This was probably the least surprising finding.
WordPress sites often accumulate plugins over time.
A plugin gets installed for a specific feature, the site changes direction, and eventually nobody remembers why the plugin is still there.
That creates unnecessary exposure.
WordPress's own hardening documentation recommends keeping plugins updated and deleting plugins that are no longer being used.
This sounds basic, but it is one of those security tasks that gets ignored because nothing appears broken.
The site keeps working.
The plugin sits there.
Then a vulnerability is disclosed.
Suddenly that forgotten plugin becomes a problem.
Unused Plugins Are Still a Risk
One of the easiest improvements I found was simply asking:
Do I actually need this plugin?
If the answer is no, remove it.
Disabling an unused plugin is better than actively running it, but deleting software that is not required reduces the amount of code that needs to be maintained.
The same thinking applies to themes.
If you have three old themes sitting in the dashboard because you might use them someday, there is usually little reason to keep all of them installed.
WordPress specifically recommends maintaining actively updated themes and plugins.
The Free Scan Doesn't See Everything
This is where security scanners can create a false sense of confidence.
A public scanner can inspect what is visible from outside.
It cannot necessarily tell you:
- Whether a malicious PHP file is hidden inside hosting storage
- Whether an administrator account has been compromised
- Whether credentials have been stolen
- Whether another site on shared hosting is compromised
- Whether a database contains malicious changes
- Whether a scheduled task is doing something suspicious
- Whether a legitimate plugin has been modified
In other words:
A vulnerability scan is not the same thing as a malware investigation.
That distinction is important.
A website can pass a basic external scan and still have a serious problem internally.
WordPress Site Health Is Surprisingly Useful
The second tool I checked was the built-in Site Health feature inside WordPress.
It is not an advanced penetration-testing system.
But for a normal website owner, it is a good starting point.
WordPress Site Health checks things such as:
- Software updates
- PHP and related software
- Configuration
- General site health
- Security-related conditions
WordPress recommends keeping the site, plugins, and themes up to date and provides Site Health specifically to help administrators identify problems.
The advantage is that you do not have to install another security plugin just to perform the first check.
Open:
WordPress Dashboard → Tools → Site Health
and read the recommendations.
Some of the warnings may look minor.
Don't automatically dismiss them.
What About WordPress Version Exposure?
There is a common idea that hiding the WordPress version makes a site secure.
It doesn't.
Security through obscurity should not be your primary defense. WordPress itself makes this point in its hardening documentation.
If the software is outdated, hiding its version does not patch the vulnerability.
The better approach is:
Keep the software updated first.
Information hiding can be an additional layer, but it should never replace actual security controls.
I Also Looked at the Login Surface
WordPress login pages attract automated traffic.
That doesn't mean every site needs to panic about /wp-login.php.
The important question is whether authentication is properly protected.
WordPress recommends strong passwords and also recommends two-step authentication as an additional layer of protection.
For a small blog, the basic checklist is straightforward:
Strong password + unique credentials + 2FA + limited administrator accounts
That combination is far more useful than simply trying to hide the login URL.
The Plugin List Tells a Story
One thing I found surprisingly useful was simply looking at the plugin inventory.
A WordPress security review should ask:
Why is every plugin installed?
If you cannot answer that question, investigate it.
Every plugin adds code.
More code means more things that need updates, compatibility testing, and security maintenance.
That doesn't mean "install as few plugins as possible" is a universal security rule.
A well-maintained plugin from a reputable developer can be perfectly reasonable.
The problem is unmaintained software that nobody is watching.
What Free Tools Did Not Find
This may be the most important part of the test.
The free tools were useful, but they did not provide a complete picture.
They were much better at identifying known and externally observable problems than determining whether the entire site was trustworthy.
For example, a public scan cannot replace checking:
- Hosting account security
- File integrity
- Database activity
- User accounts
- Server logs
- Backups
- SSH/FTP access
- API credentials
- Cloud services
- DNS configuration
WordPress recommends thinking about security as risk reduction rather than trying to achieve a perfectly secure system.
That is the right way to look at these tools.
The Most Useful Free WordPress Security Stack
For a small blog, I would start with this:
| Tool | Best Use |
|---|---|
| WordPress Site Health | Basic site checks |
| WPScan | Known WordPress/plugin/theme vulnerabilities |
| WordPress update screen | Software maintenance |
| Hosting dashboard | Server and account settings |
| Backup system | Recovery |
| 2FA | Account protection |
| Security plugin/WAF | Ongoing monitoring and filtering |
WPScan itself offers a free online scan, while its database provides vulnerability information for WordPress core, plugins, and themes.
The important part is not installing every security product available.
It is covering the basics consistently.
What I Would Fix First
If a free scan produces a long list of warnings, don't start randomly changing settings.
Work through the highest-value items first.
1. Update WordPress
Run the latest supported version.
2. Update Plugins and Themes
Especially anything associated with known vulnerabilities.
3. Remove Unused Software
Delete plugins and themes you genuinely do not need.
4. Protect Administrator Accounts
Use strong, unique credentials and two-factor authentication.
5. Check Backups
A backup you have never tested is not much of a recovery strategy.
6. Review User Accounts
Remove old administrators and accounts that no longer need access.
7. Add a WAF or Security Layer
For sites that receive meaningful traffic, a properly configured firewall can add another layer between attackers and WordPress.
WordPress's hardening guidance discusses both WordPress-level firewalls and web application firewalls as possible layers of protection.
One Thing I Would Not Do
I would not start running random exploit scripts against a production WordPress site just because a scanner reports a vulnerability.
There is a difference between:
Finding a vulnerability
and
Exploiting a vulnerability.
For your own website, controlled security testing can be appropriate, but aggressive testing can still damage a production database, interrupt services, or create a bigger problem than the original vulnerability.
For most bloggers, identifying the vulnerable component and updating or removing it is the safer first response.
What the Free Tools Are Actually Good At
After going through the checks, I would summarize the free-tool experience like this:
Excellent for:
- Finding outdated components
- Identifying known vulnerabilities
- Checking basic configuration
- Finding obvious security warnings
- Building a maintenance checklist
Not enough for:
- Full malware analysis
- Deep server investigation
- Incident response
- Advanced penetration testing
- Complete file-integrity analysis
- Enterprise security monitoring
That distinction is worth remembering.
A free scanner can tell you:
"Look here."
It cannot always tell you:
"Your entire website is safe."
The Bigger Lesson
The interesting thing about WordPress security is that the biggest improvements are often not complicated.
They are boring.
Keep everything updated.
Remove things you don't use.
Protect administrator accounts.
Use backups.
Limit access.
Monitor the site.
Review security warnings.
WordPress's own security documentation emphasizes these basic controls because security is ultimately about reducing unnecessary exposure and limiting the damage if something goes wrong.
The sophisticated tools matter.
But they work much better when the fundamentals are already in place.
Final Verdict
If you run a WordPress blog and have never performed a security check, start with the free tools before spending money on an expensive security service.
Run Site Health.
Check your plugins and themes.
Run a reputable WordPress vulnerability scan such as WPScan.
Fix anything outdated or vulnerable.
Then look at the areas external scanners cannot see: accounts, hosting, backups, file integrity, logs, and access controls.
The biggest surprise isn't that free tools can find vulnerabilities.
They can.
The bigger surprise is how much basic information a site can expose without the owner realizing it.
And that leads to the most useful takeaway from the whole exercise:
WordPress security isn't about finding one magical scanner that says "safe." It's about continuously reducing the number of things that can go wrong.
A free scan is a good starting point.
It should never be the finish line.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can free tools really find WordPress vulnerabilities?
Yes. Tools such as WPScan can identify known vulnerabilities affecting WordPress core, plugins, and themes. But a free scan only covers part of the security picture.
Is WPScan completely free?
The WPScan CLI scanner is free to use, while vulnerability-database API access has usage and licensing conditions. WPScan currently provides up to 25 API requests per day for non-commercial researcher use.
Does a clean WordPress scan mean my website is safe?
No. External scanners cannot see everything inside your hosting environment. A clean result means the scanner did not identify the problems it was designed to detect—not that the site has zero security risk.
What should I do if a scanner finds a vulnerable plugin?
First confirm the installed version and the vulnerability details. Then update the plugin to a fixed version if one exists. If you do not need the plugin, remove it. For serious or unclear findings, investigate before making changes to production.