14 DAY TRIAL // The latest major version of the popular blogging platform WordPress was released just a month ago but developers are still fixing bugs and have launched two minor-version updates since then. Wordpress 2.8.2 comes less than two weeks after 2.8.1 and fixes a vulnerability that could be exploited to redirect users from the admin section to another site. Both updates bring just bug fixes with the next major version, WordPress 2.9, coming in the next months.
An XSS vulnerability in the previous versions left comment authors’ URLs susceptible to abuse, possibly redirecting the administrator to a malicious URL. A problem with the feed widget breaking UTF-8 titles was also fixed. Wordpress 2.8.1 brought much more fixes, 52 bugs in total, some critical, like the automatic update accidentally deleting files when recovering from a failed update. Some plugins were behaving in ways that could prove dangerous so extra security measures have been taken to protect against this sort of problems.
Other fixes include reduced memory usage when loading the dashboard, a workaround allowing certain themes that use non-standard methods to be compatible with WordPress 2.8, as well a problem with the rich text editor failing to load properly.
The previous major release, WordPress 2.8, was mostly an evolutionary one, with much of the work going under the hood. The latest major version is faster than ever, with significant improvements on how it handles style and scripting. The admin page also saw some tweaks though nothing on the scale of previous releases, bringing better theme management meaning that it allows users to install a new theme with one click and browse the theme directory from inside the admin panel.
Development on 2.9 is already underway, with a proposed feature list coming this month. The main focus for the future release will be better media management and merging Wordpress and MU, a spinoff version of the main development branch.
Wordpress 2.8.2 is available for download here.