Unveiling Techniques: Hackers Extracting Administrative Emails in WordPress – Identifying 5 Approaches and Self-Defense Strategies
In the digital world, securing your WordPress site is of utmost importance. One area that requires particular attention is the protection of admin email addresses, a common target for hackers. Here's a breakdown of how hackers mine admin emails and the measures you can take to prevent it.
How Hackers Mine Admin Emails
Hackers employ several methods to uncover admin email addresses in WordPress sites:
- Public Author Archive Pages: By default, WordPress exposes author archive pages (e.g., ) that may reveal the admin username. Once the admin username is known, hackers attempt to find the corresponding email, sometimes by analyzing publicly available posts or comments tied to that username.
- Enumerating Usernames via REST API or URL Manipulation: Attackers can query WordPress’s REST API or try different URL parameters to list users, exposing admin usernames and their associated emails if not properly secured.
- Brute Forcing or Guessing Common Username/Email Combinations: Using common patterns like "admin," "administrator," or the site domain name to extrapolate possible admin emails.
Preventing Admin Email Mining
Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to protect your site:
- Limit or Disable Author Archives and User Enumeration: Use plugins or custom code to disable author archives and block REST API endpoints that expose user data. For example, restricting access to URLs.
- Restrict WordPress Admin Page Access by IP: Limiting access to or login pages only to trusted IP addresses can reduce exposure to automated scanning or brute-force attempts.
- Use Security Plugins that Prevent User Enumeration: Several WordPress security plugins include features to block REST API user enumeration and hide usernames.
- Customize or Hide the Admin Email in Public-Facing Locations: Avoid displaying the admin email openly on the site or in metadata.
- Use Strong, Unique Admin Usernames and Emails: Avoid default or predictable usernames and emails to make guessing harder.
- Employ Additional Authentication Layers: Use two-factor authentication and other login hardening methods.
By implementing these measures, you can effectively mitigate the risk of hackers mining admin email addresses from your WordPress site. Stay vigilant, and enjoy a more secure online presence.
[1] Hackers can use the forgot password feature to find out whether an email is associated with an admin account.
[2] Gravatar uses an MD5 hash of the email to generate the avatar, and hackers can reverse this hash to find the original email address.
[3] Regular security audits using tools like Wordfence or Sucuri can help identify vulnerabilities and suspicious activities.
[4] Hackers can find usernames by adding /?author=1 or /?author=2 at the end of your domain URL.
[5] XML-RPC allows multiple login attempts to be sent through a single request, which can be exploited by hackers to mine admin email addresses.
[6] WordPress powers over 40% of the web.
[7] Hackers often seek admin email addresses in WordPress sites to attempt brute force attacks, phishing schemes, or password resets.
[8] WordPress assigns a numerical ID to each user, starting with the administrator as user ID 1.
[9] Captcha plugins can block bots from abusing the reset form.
[10] Disabling XML-RPC altogether can help prevent email mining (adding a line of code to .htaccess file or Disable XML-RPC plugin).
[11] Disabling the author archive feature can help prevent username enumeration.
[12] Configuring the password reset email to not disclose whether an account with that email exists can help secure it (custom code or security plugins).
[13] Hackers can send a request to the API endpoint /wp-json/wp/v2/users/ to get usernames and email addresses.
[14] If the form returns a message stating "An email has been sent to the account," the hacker knows the email is valid.
[15] Using a unique admin email address is important for security.
[16] Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to the WordPress admin account (plugins like Google Authenticator or Wordfence).
[17] The WordPress REST API can be exploited by hackers to extract sensitive information like admin email addresses.
[18] Restricting access to the REST API to authenticated users can help secure it.
[19] Using a Gravatar privacy plugin like Simple Local Avatars can help prevent email mining through comments and Gravatars.
[20] Limiting the number of password reset requests an IP address can make can help secure the password reset feature (WP Limit Login Attempts plugin).
[21] WordPress comments and Gravatars can be used by hackers to mine admin email addresses.
[22] Hackers often test email addresses using the password reset feature.
- Hackers might exploit the WordPress forgotten password feature to determine if an email is linked to an admin account.
- By reversing the MD5 hash used by Gravatar, hackers could potentially find the original email address associated with a user's avatar.
