Balada Injector Compromises Over 17,000 WordPress Sites

More than 17,000 WordPress websites have fallen victim to the Balada Injector malware. The latest campaign, which occurred in September, specifically targeted popular premium themes, namely tagDiv Newspaper and tagDiv Newsmag.

The attacks primarily centered on a vulnerability within the tagDiv Composer, tracked as CVE-2023-3169, allowing remote execution of PHP code. Malicious actors took advantage of this loophole to distribute the Balada Injector malware, leading to substantial disruption across compromised websites.

The Balada Injector operation focused on redirecting unsuspecting website visitors to deceptive tech support pages and fraudulent lottery win pages. Various push notification scams were also used.

The scale of the attack is particularly concerning. Cybersecurity researcher Sucuri estimates that the number of compromised WordPress websites in September alone exceeded 17,000. The potential target pool was even larger, comprising approximately 155,000 websites using the tagDiv Newspaper and tagDiv Newsmag premium themes. This number does not include websites who have pirated these themes.

Contrary to initial assumptions, the Balada Injector campaign is not a recent phenomenon. Dr. Web first identified its presence in December 2022, with some experts suggesting its existence as early as 2017. However, despite being alerted to these vulnerabilities several months ago and releasing a patch, tagDiv faced challenges as users failed to update the themes on time.

To mitigate the risks, tagDiv recommends an immediate upgrade to the earliest secure version of tagDiv Composer, specifically version 4.2. Additionally, the installation of a reliable security plugin like Wordfence, coupled with a comprehensive website scan, is imperative. Resetting all website passwords is advised as a further precautionary step. These actions collectively serve as a robust defense mechanism against potential breaches.

This incident serves as a reminder that while the core framework of WordPress is generally deemed secure, the susceptibility primarily lies within plugins and themes, as evidenced by the vulnerability in the tagDiv offerings.

Consequently, website administrators are strongly encouraged to exercise caution by exclusively sourcing plugins from reputable developers and regularly updating them to mitigate potential security risks.