Marc Armengou

Security Hardener applies WordPress security best practices based on the <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/security/hardening/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress Advanced Administration / Security / Hardening</a> documentation and widely accepted hardening measures. It uses WordPress core functions and follows best practices without modifying core files.
<h4>Key Features</h4>
File Security: 
* Disable file editor in WordPress admin 
* Optionally disable all file modifications
XML-RPC Protection: 
* Disable XML-RPC completely 
* Remove pingback methods when XML-RPC is enabled
Pingback Protection: 
* Disable self-pingbacks 
* Remove X-Pingback header 
* Block incoming pingbacks
User Enumeration Protection: 
* Block <code>/?author=N</code> queries (returns 404) 
* Secure REST API user endpoints (require authentication) 
* Remove users from XML sitemaps 
* Prevent canonical redirects that expose usernames 
* Optionally block author feed pages (<code>/author/username/feed/</code>) 
* Optionally anonymize the author name in oEmbed responses
Login Security: 
* Generic error messages (no username/password hints) 
* Login honeypot 
* Block unsafe usernames 
* Application Passwords disabled by default 
* IP-based rate limiting with configurable thresholds 
* Security event logging
Security Headers: 
* <code>X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN</code> (clickjacking protection) 
* <code>X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff</code> (MIME sniffing protection) 
* <code>Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin</code> 
* <code>Permissions-Policy</code> (restricts geolocation, microphone, camera) 
* Optional HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) for HTTPS sites — max-age set to 1 year
Additional Hardening: 
* Hide WordPress version (meta generator tag and asset query strings) 
* Remove obsolete wp_head items (RSD, WLW manifest, shortlink, emoji scripts) 
* System Status — monitors file permissions, WP_DEBUG, user registration, PHP version, administrator accounts, and database version
<blockquote>
⚠️ Important: Always test security settings in a staging environment first. Some features may affect third-party integrations or plugins.
</blockquote>
Privacy: This plugin does not send data to external services and does not create custom database tables. It stores plugin settings and a security event log in the WordPress options table, and uses transients for temporary login attempt tracking. All data is preserved on uninstall by default and only deleted if the “Delete all data on uninstall” option is explicitly enabled.

Security Hardener

Basic hardening: secure headers, login honeypot, user enumeration blocking, generic login errors, rate limiting, and more.

reinajhon46

JR Security Hardening and Login Protection secures your WordPress installation at the application level with one-click hardening modules. Designed to be secure by default and Cloudflare compatible.
Included modules:
<ul>
<li>Disable XML-RPC — Full block (filter + hard block) to prevent brute force attacks and pingback DDoS.</li>
<li>Hide WordPress version — Removes version from generator meta and CSS/JS assets.</li>
<li>Disable file editor — Prevents theme and plugin editing from the admin panel (DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT).</li>
<li>Disable emojis — Removes WordPress emoji scripts and styles, improving performance.</li>
<li>Block user enumeration (?author= and /author/) — Dual-layer protection against username discovery.</li>
<li>Block REST enumeration (wp-json users) — Prevents enumeration via the WordPress REST API.</li>
<li>Block sensitive paths/files — Blocks access to readme.html, license.txt, .env, .git, composer.json, etc. (only what passes through WordPress).</li>
<li>Security headers — X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy, X-Frame-Options, HSTS (HTTPS only) and removal of technology-revealing headers.</li>
<li>Login protection — Rate limiting by IP and by user+IP with configurable temporary lockout.</li>
<li>IP whitelist — Excludes trusted IPs from rate limiting to avoid accidental lockouts.</li>
<li>Email notification — Receive an email when an IP is locked out due to too many failed login attempts.</li>
<li>Activity log — Security event logging in a dedicated database table with configurable retention and automatic cleanup via cron.</li>
<li>Ready-to-use server rules — Code for Apache (.htaccess) and Nginx to block static files that WordPress cannot reach.</li>
</ul>
Smart IP detection:
<ul>
<li>Native support for Cloudflare (CF-Connecting-IP).</li>
<li>Option to trust X-Forwarded-For / X-Real-IP behind trusted proxies.</li>
<li>Fallback to REMOTE_ADDR.</li>
</ul>
Clean uninstall:
When the plugin is deleted, all options, the events table and transients are removed. No data is left behind in your database.

JR Security Hardening and Login Protection

WordPress hardening and login protection: security headers, enumeration blocking, rate limiting, IP whitelist, event logging and server rules.

Security Hardener vs JR Security Hardening and Login Protection