kimipooh

WordPress redirects /?author=(number) to /author/(userID) if the author id exists. This is the security vulnerability because an internet user might be able to know all User ID and the user name in a website using WordPress.
If you can control the configuration of a web server, you had better use the rewrite rule (Search as “Block Author URLs”) for reducing the system load of WordPress.
The plugin prevents the security vulnerability regarding the author archive redirection.
Detailed Behavior 
1. It isn’t applied in the admin dashboard. 
2. If “author” query in URL (QUERY_STRING) exists, displays 404 error. 
3. If “/author/” in REQUEST_URI involves, redirects to the top page. 
4. Apply to the “redirect_canonical” hook, too.

Disable Author Archive Redirection

The plugin disables the author archive redirection.

freemp

A simple, lightweight WordPress plugin to completely disable author archives/pages (regardless of whether the corresponding author really exists) and make the web server return status code 404 (‘Not Found’) instead. Related links will also be either disabled or completely removed.
The plugin does not require any configuration. Once activated, it will start doing its job.

Disable Author Archives

Works!

Disable Author Archives completely removes author archives and makes the web server return status code 404 ('Not Found') instead.

Disable Author Archive Redirection vs Disable Author Archives