I am seeing some reports of some issues with older versions of WordPress. Apparently there is a large hack going around that is affecting WordPress scripts that are not up-to-date. The latest version of WordPress is version 2.8.4. If you are not using WordPress 2.8.4, it is highly recommended that you upgrade.

For more information on this hack, see this WordPress blog post.

We always try to stress the importance of keeping scripts up-to-date and this hack underlines the importance of this. If you don’t believe that keeping your script’s up-to-date is a good idea, then I encourage you to read the following post directly from the WordPress Developers:

http://wordpress.org/development/2009/09/keep-wordpress-secure

Steven

I have seen a few issues where users have had trouble upgrading Fantastico based scripts. This is likely due to a low amount of disk space on your account. Fantastico will require some temporary disk space in order to perform the script update on your account. If you don’t have enough disk space available, then Fantastico may run out of space while performing the upgrade.

A quick way to check this is to check your Disk Space Usage. This is available in your control panel on the left-side under the Stats heading. It will look something like:

If the bar is RED then you will definitely want to contact support and have them update the script for you. If the bar is YELLOW then you may still want to contact support and have them do this upgrade.

Fantastico will create a backup of your script before it does an upgrade. It needs enough disk space to create this backup, store the final backup, and have enough disk space available to perform the upgrade. If you believe your disk space is too low for all of this, then please contact support before attempting an upgrade so that we can investigate this and perform the upgrade for you.

Thanks
Steven

We have begun the process of sending out notices to our users concerning outdated Fantastico installed scripts.

The subjects of these messages will be:

[AMS] Outdated Fantastico Installs

If you receive one of these messages, please review the information.

The notices are sent out to be just that, notices. Please do not reply to the message because your message will go nowhere. If you have further questions regarding the information in the message please submit a support ticket at:

http://www.amshelp.com

If you do not receive a message but still want to inquire about possible outdated Fantastico installed scripts on your account, please open a support ticket and we can have that information provided for you.

Steven

I did a quick check of the servers and I found several outdated scripts that have been installed through Fantastico by users. I suspect that a lot of these are instances where users may have wanted to try out a script, but then forgot about the install and just left it. The problem with this is that these scripts remain active on your account even if you aren’t using them. If you installed Drupal to test it out, but never removed the installation, then you may have a very old version of Drupal setting on your account. These scripts have new vulnerabilities and exploits discovered in them all the time and the key to avoiding issues is to keep the script up-to-date. If the Drupal install is not being kept up-to-date, then it could make you vulnerable to a hack or other malicious activity on your account.

The plain and simple version of all of this is to delete any unused scripts off of your account and keep any used scripts up-to-date.

Following this advise will help to keep your account up and running and avoid any potential hackings and website defacements.

I am going to be working on a notification system where we can e-mail you about outdated Fantastico scripts that are installed on your account. Look for a notice either later this week or sometime early next week concerning your outdated Fantastico script installations.

Now would be a good time to insure that your contact information with us is up-to-date. You can update your contact information either in your control panel or by visiting:

http://www.amshelp.com

Steven

Seems to be a lot of WordPress updates lately. But keeping your scripts up-to-date is always a good idea.

WordPress has released version 2.8.4 which fixes some security issues. All users are encouraged to upgrade.

I just tried the automatic upgrade from within the WordPress dashboard and it seems to have worked flawlessly. If you have this option available to you, then you might try it. Not sure how well this would work with a Fantastico installed WordPress, anyone want to try it? Let us know how it works for you. If you do upgrade a Fantastico installed WordPress then you won’t be able to upgrade WordPress from within Fantastico in the future.

WordPress 2.8.4 Release Statement

Steven