WordPress 5.5 Will Introduce Auto-Updates for Themes and Plugins – Search Engine Journal

WordPress 5.5 Will Introduce Auto-Updates for Themes and Plugins – Search Engine Journal

The upcoming WordPress 5.5 update will expand the content management system’s auto-updating capabilities to themes and plugins.

Currently, auto-updating is only available for the WordPress CMS core. Soon, when a stable version of WordPress 5.5 rolls out to everyone, themes and plugins can be set to update automatically as well.

Presumably, the auto-update functionality is being extended to themes and plugins in an effort to prevent site hacks.

Just a couple of weeks ago we published a story about 8 popular WordPress plugins being exploited by hackers. In each instance, hackers were able to gain control of a site by exploiting a vulnerability in the plugin.

Vulnerabilities, such as those, can be easily patched with a quick update. The problem is that many site owners install plugins and themes and then forget to update them.

When 5.5 rolls out, site owners can theoretically install plugins, forget about them, and still be safe because the plugins will be updated automatically…