The WordPress development team has released an interim update to version 2.8.5.
Classified as a “hardening release,” this series of updates is focused on improving several areas of security concern, and is therefore recommended for anyone running WordPress on their site.
According to the WordPress Blog, the biggest changes in this release are:
- A fix for the Trackback Denial-of-Service attack that is currently being seen.
- Removal of areas within the code where php code in variables was evaluated.
- Switched the file upload functionality to be whitelisted for all users including Admins.
- Retiring of the two importers of Tag data from old plugins.
If you are running WordPress and haven’t upgraded, please take the time and do so as soon as you can!
WordPress 2.9 is just around the corner, and beta testing is due to begin almost any day now. The final release of 2.9 is due out later this year, so keep an eye out here for news and availability.