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World desk5 min

WordPress Hacking Statistics and Security Data for 2026: What the Numbers Actually Count

Wordfence and Patchstack report useful WordPress security data, but their figures count different things—not a global total of hacked sites.
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There is no reliable global count or rate in these sources for how many WordPress sites get hacked. The available figures measure different things: vulnerabilities disclosed, firewall requests blocked, exploitation observed in a provider’s data, and malware found among a provider’s customers. None is a census of successfully compromised WordPress sites. The statistics below keep those measures separate so they can be useful without overstating what they prove.

How to read WordPress hacking statistics

A vulnerability is a software flaw; its disclosure does not mean it was exploited. An attack blocked by a firewall is an attempt, not evidence that an account or site was compromised. An observed exploit means a provider saw exploitation in its own data, while a malware detection means malicious code was identified within the population that provider monitors. These measures have different scopes and cannot be added together.

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WordPress.org says WordPress powers more than 43% of the web, according to its security page accessed October 7, 2026. That describes platform prevalence—not the proportion of hacked websites that use WordPress, or the probability that a WordPress site will be compromised. WordPress.org’s security overview

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Wordfence Q4 2025 statistics

Wordfence’s report, published February 3, 2026, draws on its own vulnerability database and security-product telemetry. Its firewall, attack, and malware figures describe Wordfence’s monitored activity and customer population, not all WordPress sites. Wordfence’s Q4 2025 Threat Intelligence Report

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Period and source Reported figure What it counts—and what it does not
Q4 2025; Wordfence, report published February 3, 2026 2,213 vulnerabilities added Additions to the Wordfence Intelligence database; not 2,213 hacked sites. Wordfence classified 131 as high threat and 100 as common and dangerous.
End of Q4 2025; Wordfence, report published February 3, 2026 905 vulnerabilities remained unpatched Reported vulnerabilities in Wordfence’s database at that time; not a count of exposed or compromised sites.
Q4 2025; Wordfence, report published February 3, 2026 9.1 billion WAF attacks blocked Firewall events blocked in Wordfence’s telemetry; not unique attacks across the entire WordPress web.
Q4 2025; Wordfence, report published February 3, 2026 13.8 billion brute-force attacks blocked Blocked requests in Wordfence’s telemetry, 28.0% lower than the prior quarter; not unique attackers or confirmed account takeovers.
Q4 2025; Wordfence, report published February 3, 2026 467,000 sites with malware detected Sites in the population Wordfence protects; not all infected WordPress sites worldwide.

Patchstack’s 2025 WordPress security data

Patchstack’s 2026 report counts vulnerabilities in its WordPress ecosystem dataset and applies its own classifications. Its figures are not directly interchangeable with Wordfence’s database or telemetry. Patchstack’s State of WordPress Security in 2026

Period and source Reported figure Definition and scope
2025; Patchstack, reported in its 2026 report 11,334 new vulnerabilities New vulnerabilities Patchstack found in the WordPress ecosystem in its dataset; 42% more than in 2024.
2025; Patchstack, reported in its 2026 report 4,124, or 36% of the total Vulnerabilities Patchstack classified as actual threats serious enough to require its RapidMitigate rules.
2025; Patchstack, reported in its 2026 report 1,966, or 17% of the total Vulnerabilities Patchstack classified as high severity.
2025 disclosure-timeline analysis; Patchstack, reported in its 2026 report 46% Vulnerabilities that did not receive a developer fix by public disclosure, according to Patchstack’s analysis.

How quickly can WordPress vulnerabilities be exploited?

Patchstack reported a weighted median of five hours from disclosure to first observed exploitation for heavily exploited vulnerabilities in its prioritized subset of 2025 flaws. In that same analysis, approximately half of the high-impact flaws were exploited within 24 hours. These are provider-specific observations about a selected group—not a prediction that every vulnerability will be exploited on that schedule. They do show why waiting for a convenient maintenance window can be risky when a relevant fix is available.

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What are the most common WordPress vulnerabilities?

The figures here do not provide a defensible ranking of the most common vulnerability types across all WordPress sites. They count vulnerabilities under different provider databases and classifications rather than measuring how often each flaw affects a live installation. The useful takeaway is to track advisories for the exact versions of WordPress core, plugins, and themes in use, and to prioritize fixes identified as actively exploited or high impact.

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A documented case: exploited WordPress core flaws in July 2026

In a July 2026 advisory, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security said CVE-2026-60137 and CVE-2026-63030 were being exploited in the wild and reported that CISA added both to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on July 21, 2026. The advisory listed WordPress 7.0 before 7.0.2, 6.9 before 6.9.5, and 6.8 before 6.8.6 as affected versions. These are historical remediation thresholds from that advisory, not a statement of the current supported or safest release. Check the installed version and current WordPress release and security notices before deciding whether a site is protected. Canadian Centre for Cyber Security advisory AV26-723

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How WordPress security work and support affect site owners

WordPress.org describes a security process spanning core, plugins, and themes, including code review, trusted committers for core development, fixes with test cases, and bugfix releases. It says only the latest WordPress version is officially supported, although fixes have historically been backported to older releases as a courtesy. Do not treat that past practice as a guarantee that an older installation will receive every security fix. WordPress.org’s security overview

In August 2026, the WordPress security team described a Core Security Initiative focused on a tighter, more automated release process, addressing the backlog of reports, and using AI-assisted scanning to find vulnerabilities before exploitation. The team’s disclosure guidance asks researchers to prioritize meaningful security impact, especially high-severity issues exploitable without authentication or by low-privileged users. WordPress Security Team updates

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WordPress security checklist for site owners

  1. Keep software current. Apply current WordPress core, plugin, and theme updates. Remove extensions and themes that are no longer needed, and check that active software is maintained.
  2. Protect privileged logins with MFA. WordPress core does not include two-factor authentication. The administrator handbook advises enabling 2FA for all administrator accounts through a suitable plugin or identity provider. A compatible FIDO2/WebAuthn hardware key is one option where the chosen integration supports it; plan for account recovery as well. WordPress’s brute-force and administrator security guidance
  3. Use layered detection and prevention. Consider a firewall and malware scanner that cover the site’s actual software and relevant vulnerability classes. A tool’s block count alone does not establish how many compromises it prevented.
  4. Monitor and prepare to respond. Review security alerts and unexpected site or file changes. Keep usable backups and a recovery plan so a suspected compromise can be investigated and the site restored.
  5. Evaluate tools against your needs. Compare coverage, speed of rules and signatures, detection and cleanup, login protection, alert quality, performance and compatibility, hosting controls, and free-versus-paid limits. The cited sources do not provide a neutral, side-by-side product test, so they do not establish a universal best tool.

How many WordPress sites get hacked?

The cited sources do not establish a universal global number or percentage of WordPress sites successfully hacked. Wordfence’s 467,000 malware detections apply to its protected population in Q4 2025; its blocked-attack totals are firewall telemetry. Patchstack’s 2025 figures count vulnerabilities in its ecosystem dataset, and its exploitation timing applies to a prioritized subset. These are useful security indicators, but none supplies the denominator and consistent definition needed for a global compromise rate.

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That is also why a literal “35+ hacking statistics” list would be misleading here: the available evidence supports distinct data points, not 35 comparable global hacking rates. Treat each figure as a measure with a publisher, period, and definition—not as a count of hacked websites.

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