7 Website Security Vulnerabilities + Simple Fixes

The internet can often feel like the Wild West—a vast frontier filled with opportunities but also teeming with hidden dangers. Cyber threats are everywhere, and while website security vulnerabilities might not sound as thrilling as a high-stakes showdown, it’s absolutely vital. 

Imagine leaving your front door wide open—hackers are like unwelcome visitors who can sneak in to steal sensitive data, damage your reputation, or drain your wallet. Sounds rather unpleasant, doesn’t it? This guide addresses the most common website security vulnerabilities, breaking it all down in plain English, with explanations that are easy to understand and actions you can take to keep your site safe.

What are Website Security Vulnerabilities?

Website security vulnerabilities are weaknesses or flaws in a website’s code, architecture, or implementation that can be exploited by attackers. These web vulnerabilities may allow unauthorized access by hackers to sensitive information, to manipulate data, or even to attain total control over a website. They can arise from various sources, including poor coding practices, outdated software, and human error. These include website vulnerabilities as well as web application security vulnerabilities, which specifically target the functionality of web applications and their underlying code.

Not only can dealing with these kinds of issues create loads of extra work for you and your business, but the fallout can be much more widespread: loss of sales or, worse, loss of consumer confidence. So that’s why it’s so very important to understand how to prevent, identify and fix website vulnerabilities.

Most Common Website Security Vulnerabilities

While there’s an unfortunately long list of ways your website could be vulnerable to hackers and other bad actors, most web security vulnerabilities boil down to just a common handful. So today we’re tackling the top seven most-likely issues, and, thankfully, explaining them—and how to address them—in terms that we can all understand and act on. 

First, we’ll tackle the most common website vulnerabilities in order to understand what they are and how they impact your site. Then, we’ll discuss the solutions separately, as many fixes address multiple vulnerabilities at once, making them more efficient and impactful.

1. SQL Injection

So let’s say your website has a form—as it probably does!—such as a login box or a search bar. With SQL injection, hackers trick the form into giving them access to your website’s database, where all the important information is stored. This can happen if the website doesn’t double-check what users type into these fields. Hackers might steal customer information, change data, or even erase everything.

2. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Cross-site scripting (XSS) is like someone slipping a harmful note into your website that your visitors accidentally read. These harmful notes (scripts, or malicious codes, as they are called) are a threat to site security, as they can steal personal information, mess up how your site looks, or send users to dangerous websites. The worst part? Your visitors might think it’s your fault, even though the hacker is behind it.

3. Broken Access Controls

This happens when your website doesn’t do a good job of keeping certain areas or actions off-limits to unauthorized users. For example, picture someone sneaking into a staff-only area of a store—that’s what broken access controls are like online. Hackers might use this lack of login security to view private information or make changes they shouldn’t be allowed to.

4. Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR)

Would you leave a key under the doormat where anyone could easily and predictably find it? With IDOR you’re doing just that if you give website users direct links to sensitive information (such as “www.example.com/profile1”). That’s because a hacker could guess or change those links (like to “www.example.com/profile2”) to see someone else’s sensitive information. As such, IDOR happens when websites don’t check who’s allowed to see what, and pay close attention to user roles and access and other security measures.

5. Security Misconfiguration

Security misconfiguration occurs when websites are launched with default settings, outdated software, or unnecessary features enabled, leaving the door wide open for hackers. Common examples include using default passwords, failing to apply security patches, or enabling services that aren’t needed. These oversights give attackers more opportunities to exploit vulnerabilities, gain unauthorized access, or steal sensitive information. 

6. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

CSRF is when hackers trick you into doing something you didn’t mean to do. For example, you’re already signed into your bank account, then you receive a bogus email with a link or button that’s disguised as something harmless. You innocently click on it, and it ends up transferring money from your account to the hacker, or perhaps it performs some other malicious action on the website where you’re logged in. You’ve essentially just been fooled into signing a virtual blank check.

7. Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards

This issue occurs when a website sends users to another page without checking if the destination is safe. Hackers can use this to redirect your visitors to harmful sites, like phishing pages or ones that install viruses. Think of it as though someone handed you directions to a fake address where bad things happen.

With all of these web vulnerabilities, it might seem a bit intimidating to even think about how to mitigate them. But there’s great news: we’re going to break it down into simple solutions that can quickly and easily improve your website security outlook.

Simple Fixes to Address Website Security Vulnerabilities

Now that you understand the most common website security vulnerabilities, let’s discuss some of the straightforward ways you can address them, as well as other website security tips. The bonus is that these web vulnerability solutions are easy to understand and act on, even if you don’t have a technical background. 

1. Choose a Good Hosting Provider

The first and most important step you can make in this process is choosing a solid hosting provider—it’s essentially the online home for your website, and it plays a vital role in protecting your site from the website security vulnerabilities we’ve discussed above. Not only that, but a good hosting provider will offer maximum uptime and optimized website speed, ensuring that your website performance is reliable and top notch.

How to do it:

Look for a hosting provider that provides a free SSL certificate and daily backups, as well as other important security measures, such as daily malware scans, and a server-level WAF (not sure what we’re talking about here? Don’t worry, we’ll cover it all in a minute!). Do your research, and check reviews to make sure the provider you choose has a good reputation, along with superb customer service.

2. Perform Regular Maintenance and Updates

Keeping your website’s software, plugins, and tools up to date is a no-brainer on your list for stronger web security. Developers frequently release updates to fix vulnerabilities and improve performance. By staying on top of these updates, you can protect your site from previously mentioned web vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and insecure direct object references.

How to do it:

1. Create a schedule to check your CMS (such as WordPress), plugins, themes, and tools weekly, or enable automatic updates if your platform supports them. This is where those free daily backups are essential, though, because before you make any updates, always back up your website to prevent data loss or compatibility issues. 
2. For added safety, test updates in a staging environment to ensure everything works smoothly before applying them to your live site. 
3. To make web management easier and less stressful, consider using a managed hosting service that handles updates, (free!) backups, and maintenance for you, helping keep your site secure without all the extra effort on your part. 

3. Implement Input Validation

Input validation verifies that any data users enter into forms or search bars is checked and cleaned to fit the expected format, thus blocking harmful code. This security measure helps prevent hackers from injecting malicious commands, protecting your website from SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks that could compromise data or functionality.

How to do it:

1. Use easy-to-install tools or plugins that automatically clean up and check the information users enter on your site. 
2. Focus on areas like forms, search bars, and comment sections. 
3. For extra protection, set up these checks both on the user’s side (their browser) and on your website’s server, so you catch anything suspicious before it can cause harm.

4. Strengthen Access Control

Access control means deciding who can do what on your website. This includes using strong passwords, setting up roles like “admin” or “user,” and limiting what each role can access or change. These steps help keep hackers out of sensitive areas and protect your website from common vulnerabilities like unauthorized access or data leaks.

How to do it:

1. Assign user roles carefully, making sure each person only has the permissions they need. 
2. Also be sure to implement strong, unique passwords for all accounts and enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for an extra layer of security. 
3. It’s also helpful to install a plugin that keeps an activity log of your website, tracking events like login attempts, user activity, and bot visits, so you can quickly spot and address suspicious behavior.

5. Use Monitoring Tools and Scanners

Monitoring tools and scanners act as security guards for your website by watching for unusual activity or hidden threats. They can alert you to suspicious or malicious behavior, such as injected code, compromised files, or web vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers. This helps you catch problems early before they cause serious harm.

How to do it:

Look for a malware scanner tool that offers automated file scans and malware cleanups. A good tool will offer detailed reports and recommendations for resolving issues, making it easier to maintain a secure website. This can also help prevent future attacks by identifying weak points in your website’s security configuration.

6. Secure Your Connections

A secure connection encrypts data sent between your website and its users, often using HTTPS (look for the padlock symbol in the browser). The distinction between HTTPS versus HTTP is an important one: it signals this secure connection—and thus trust and confidence—to your website users. It also keeps hackers from intercepting sensitive information, adding extra protection against data theft.

How to do it:

Make sure your site uses HTTPS by installing an SSL certificate. Certain hosting providers, including SiteGround, will provide you with a free SSL certificate that can easily be implemented on your website, making HTTPS implementation as easy as the flip of a switch.

7. Improve Redirection Security

A redirect is when a user is automatically taken from one URL to another. So redirection security involves checking these links or forwards from your website to make sure they lead to safe destinations. This stops hackers from tricking your site into redirecting visitors to malicious websites.

How to do it: 

Limit the use of redirections and always verify that any destination URLs are trustworthy before implementing them. Regularly review your redirects to ensure they haven’t been altered or exploited, and consider using tools to monitor and secure your redirection paths.

8. Employ a Web Application Firewall (WAF)

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is specifically designed to protect your website from security vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, XSS, and CSRF, by safeguarding features like user forms, search fields, and API endpoints. It works by stopping harmful requests before they can cause damage, ensuring your site remains secure.

How to do it: 

Many hosting providers offer built-in WAF options, as it’s an essential security feature. While there are numerous WAF options available, including WordPress plugins and third-party services, having a server-level WAF is imperative. This type of WAF operates with large-scale data and provides real-time protection, ensuring a higher level of security.

9. Leverage a CDN

A CDN, or Content Delivery Network—as it’s called—helps protect your website by spreading traffic across multiple servers around the world. It not only improves your site’s speed but also provides an essential layer of protection against web server vulnerabilities. By distributing traffic and blocking harmful bots, a CDN prevents malicious traffic from overwhelming your server, keeps data safe with encryption, and stops potential attacks before they reach your site.

How to do it: 

Quite simply, select a hosting provider that leverages a CDN. SiteGround’s CDN, for example, helps safeguard your website by mitigating web server vulnerabilities, blocking harmful traffic, and encrypting data. Additionally, with the Always Online feature, even if your server goes down, the CDN enables a cached version of your site that remains accessible and secure.

10. Install a Reliable Security Plugin

There are many plugins out there to help address the web security vulnerabilities mentioned above. And if you’re using WordPress, the SiteGround Optimizer Plugin is particularly ideal, as it allows you to prevent many of the aforementioned web vulnerabilities but with just one plugin – easily and for free.

The SiteGround Security Optimizer Plugin provides a combination of enhanced login security, firewall settings, and activity tracking, with an all-in-one solution that fortifies your site. It safeguards key system directories, enables protection against XSS, prevents unauthorized access, hardens login security, and continuously monitors for any unusual activity. In the event of a breach, the comprehensive activity logs allow you to swiftly identify what occurred and take the necessary steps to resolve it. It’s basically a one-stop shop for securing your WordPress site.

Final Word on Website Security Vulnerabilities

In the end, website security doesn’t have to be a daunting task. By applying simple fixes to these common website security vulnerabilities, you not only protect your site but also build trust with your visitors. Take action today to lock down your site and keep those Wild Western cyber bandits at bay—after all, a little effort now can save you a lot of headaches down the road. 

Meanwhile, you can make addressing website security extra worry-free by taking advantage of SiteGround Hosting. We put our all into security measures that go above and beyond so that you can rest easy. Plus, we offer unparalleled speed and service.