Hardening guide for WordPress 3.0 for hosted web sites

Important note: Make sure your hosting provider is using the most up-to-date build of WordPress.

1. Request from your hosting provider access through SSH.
2. Login to the hosted server using SSH.
3. Edit using VI the file ~/html/wp-config.php and write down the data of the following values:
• DB_NAME
• DB_USER
• DB_PASSWORD
4. Create using VI the file ~/config.php with the following content:
<?php
define('DB_NAME', 'm6gf42s');
define('DB_USER', 'blgusr');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password2');
define('AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
?>
Note 1: Make sure there are no spaces, newlines, or other strings before an opening '< ?php' tag or after a closing '?>' tag.
Note 2: Replace “blgusr” with the MySQL account to access the database.
Note 3: Replace “password2” with the MySQL account password.
Note 4: Replace “m6gf42s” with the WordPress database name.
Note 5: In-order to generate random values for the AUTH_KEY, SECURE_AUTH_KEY, LOGGED_IN_KEY and NONCE_KEY, use the web site bellow:
http://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/
5. Edit using VI, the file ~/html/wp-config.php
• Add the following line:
include('/path/config.php');
Note: Replace /path/ with the full path to the config.php file.
• Remove the following sections:
define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere');
define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere');
define('AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
6. Remove default content:
rm -f ~/html/license.txt
rm -f ~/html/readme.html
rm -f ~/html/wp-config-sample.php
rm -f ~/html/wp-content/plugins/hello.php
7. Create using VI the file ~/html/.htaccess with the following content:
<files wp-config.php>
Order deny,allow
deny from all
</files>
<Files wp-login.php>
AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Access Control"
AuthType Basic
</Files>
8. Create using VI the file ~/html/wp-content/plugins/.htaccess with the following content:
AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Access Control"
AuthType Basic
9. Create the following folders:
mkdir -p ~/html/wp-content/cache
mkdir -p ~/html/wp-content/uploads
mkdir -p ~/html/wp-content/upgrade
10. Change the file permissions:
chmod -R 777 ~/html/wp-content/cache
chmod -R 777 ~/html/wp-content/uploads
chmod -R 777 ~/html/wp-content/upgrade
11. Download "Login Lockdown" plugin from:
http://www.bad-neighborhood.com/login-lockdown.html
12. Download "Limit Login" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/limit-login-attempts/
13. Download "WP-Secure Remove Wordpress Version" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-secure-remove-wordpress-version/
14. Download "WP Security Scan" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-security-scan/
15. Download "KB Robots.txt" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/kb-robotstxt/
16. Download "WordPress Firewall" plugin from:
http://www.seoegghead.com/software/wordpress-firewall.seo
17. Copy the "WordPress Firewall" plugin file "wordpress-firewall.php" using PSCP (or SCP) into /html/wp-content/plugins
18. Open a web browser from a client machine, and enter the URL bellow:
http://Server_FQDN/wp-login.php
19. From WordPress dashboard, click on "settings" -> make sure that "Anyone can register" is left unchecked -> put a new value inside the "Tagline" field -> click on "Save changes".
20. Click on "Save changes".
21. From WordPress dashboard, click on "Plugins" -> Add New -> choose "Upload" -> click Browse to locate the plugin -> click "Install Now" -> click "Proceed" -> click on "Activate Plugin".
Note: Install and activate all the above downloaded plugins.
22. From WordPress dashboard, click on "settings" -> click on "KB Robots.txt" -> add the following content into the Robots.txt editor field:
Disallow: /wp-*
Disallow: /wp-admin
Disallow: /wp-includes
Disallow: /wp-content/plugins
Disallow: /wp-content/cache
Disallow: /wp-content/themes
Disallow: /wp-login.php
Disallow: /wp-register.php
23. Click "Submit".
24. From the upper pane, click on "Log Out".
25. In-case the server was configured with SSL certificate, add the following line to the config.php file:
define('FORCE_SSL_LOGIN', true);

Hardening guide for WordPress 3.0

Pre-installation notes
The guide bellow is based on the previous guides:
Hardening guide for Apache 2.2.15 on RedHat 5.4 (64bit edition)
Hardening guide for MySQL 5.1.47 on RedHat 5.4 (64bit edition)
Hardening guide for PHP 5.3.2 on Apache 2.2.15 / MySQL 5.1.47 (RHEL 5.4)

Installation and configuration phase
1. Login to the server using Root account.
2. Create a new account for uploading files using SSH:
groupadd sshaccount
useradd -g sshaccount -d /home/sshaccount -m sshaccount
3. Run the commands bellow to switch to the SSH account:
su sshaccount
4. Run the command bellow to generate SSH keys:
ssh-keygen
Note: Leave deafult values for the ssh-keygen.
5. Copy the SSH keys:
cp /home/sshaccount/.ssh/id_rsa.pub /home/sshaccount/.ssh/authorized_keys
6. Change permissions for the SSH keys:
chmod 755 /home/sshaccount/.ssh
chmod 644 /home/sshaccount/.ssh/*
7. Exit the SSH account shell and return to the Root account:
exit
8. Run the command bellow to login to the MySQL:
/usr/bin/mysql -uroot -pnew-password
Note: Replace the string “new-password” with the actual password for the root account.
9. Run the following commands from the MySQL prompt:
CREATE USER 'blgusr'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password2';
SET PASSWORD FOR 'blgusr'@'localhost' = OLD_PASSWORD('password2');
CREATE DATABASE m6gf42s;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON m6gf42s.* TO "blgusr"@"localhost" IDENTIFIED BY "password2";
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit
Note 1: Replace “blgusr” with your own MySQL account to access the database.
Note 2: Replace “password2” with complex password (at least 14 characters).
Note 3: Replace “m6gf42s” with your own WordPress database name.
10. Download WordPress 3.0 from:
http://wordpress.org/download
11. Copy the WordPress 3.0 source files using PSCP (or SCP) into /www
12. Move to /www
cd /www
13. Extract the wordpress-3.0.zip file:
unzip wordpress-3.0.zip
14. Remove WordPress source file:
rm -f /www/wordpress-3.0.zip
15. Create using VI the file /www/config.php with the following content:
<?php
define('DB_NAME', 'm6gf42s');
define('DB_USER', 'blgusr');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password2');
define('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1');
$table_prefix = 'm6gf42s_';
define('AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('FS_METHOD', 'direct');
define('FS_CHMOD_DIR', 0777);
define('FS_CHMOD_FILE', 0777);
define('FTP_BASE', '/www/wordpress/');
define('FTP_CONTENT_DIR', '/www/wordpress/wp-content/');
define('FTP_PLUGIN_DIR ', '/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/');
define('FTP_PUBKEY', '/home/sshaccount/.ssh/id_rsa.pub');
define('FTP_PRIKEY', '/home/sshaccount/.ssh/id_rsa');
define('FTP_USER', 'sshaccount');
define('FTP_HOST', '127.0.0.1:22');
?>
Note 1: Make sure there are no spaces, newlines, or other strings before an opening '< ?php' tag or after a closing '?>' tag.
Note 2: Replace “blgusr” with your own MySQL account to access the database.
Note 3: Replace “password2” with complex password (at least 14 characters).
Note 4: Replace “m6gf42s” with your own WordPress database name.
Note 5: In-order to generate random values for the AUTH_KEY, SECURE_AUTH_KEY, LOGGED_IN_KEY and NONCE_KEY, use the web site bellow:
http://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/
16. Copy the wp-config.php file:
cp /www/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php /www/wordpress/wp-config.php
17. Edit using VI, the file /www/wordpress/wp-config.php
Add the following line:
include('/www/config.php');
Remove the following sections:
define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere');
define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere');
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
$table_prefix = 'wp_';
define('AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
18. Remove default content:
rm -f /www/wordpress/license.txt
rm -f /www/wordpress/readme.html
rm -f /www/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php
rm -f /www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/hello.php
19. Edit using VI the file /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf
Replace the value of the string, from:
DocumentRoot "/www"
To:
DocumentRoot "/www/wordpress"
Replace the value of the string, from:
LimitRequestBody 10000
To:
LimitRequestBody 200000
20. Restart the Apache service.
21. Open a web browser from a client machine, and enter the URL bellow:
http://Server_FQDN/wp-admin/install.php
22. Specify the following information:
• Site Title
• Username - replace the default "admin"
• Password
• E-mail
23. Click on “Install WordPress” button, and close the web browser.
24. Create using VI the file /www/wordpress/.htaccess with the following content:
<files wp-config.php>
Order deny,allow
deny from all
</files>
<Files wp-login.php>
AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Access Control"
AuthType Basic
Order deny,allow
Deny from All
Allow from 1.1.1.0
</Files>

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} POST
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} .wp-comments-post\.php*
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !.*Server_FQDN.* [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^$
RewriteRule (.*) ^http://%{REMOTE_ADDR}/$ [R=301,L]
Note 1: Replace 1.1.1.0 with the internal network IP address.
Note 2: Replace Server_FQDN with the server FQDN (DNS name).
25. Create using VI the file /www/wordpress/wp-admin/.htaccess with the following content:
AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName “Access Control”
AuthType Basic
<LIMIT GET POST>
order deny,allow
deny from all
Allow from 1.1.1.0
</LIMIT>
<IfModule mod_security.c>
SecFilterInheritance Off
</IfModule>
Note: Replace 1.1.1.0 with the internal network IP address.
26. Create using VI the file /www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/.htaccess with the following content:
AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Access Control"
AuthType Basic
Order deny,allow
Deny from All
Allow from 1.1.1.0
Note: Replace 1.1.1.0 with the internal network IP address.
27. Create the following folders:
mkdir -p /www/wordpress/wp-content/cache
mkdir -p /www/wordpress/wp-content/uploads
mkdir -p /www/wordpress/wp-content/upgrade
28. Change the file permissions:
chown -R root:root /www/wordpress
chown daemon:root /www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins
chmod 644 /www/config.php
chmod 644 /www/wordpress/wp-config.php
chmod 644 /www/wordpress/.htaccess
chmod 644 /www/wordpress/wp-admin/.htaccess
chmod 644 /www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/.htaccess
chmod -R 777 /www/wordpress/wp-content/cache
chmod -R 777 /www/wordpress/wp-content/uploads
chmod -R 777 /www/wordpress/wp-content/upgrade
29. Download "Login Lockdown" plugin from:
http://www.bad-neighborhood.com/login-lockdown.html
30. Download "Limit Login" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/limit-login-attempts/
31. Download "WP-Secure Remove Wordpress Version" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-secure-remove-wordpress-version/
32. Download "WP Security Scan" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-security-scan/
33. Download "KB Robots.txt" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/kb-robotstxt/
34. Download "WordPress Database Backup" plugin from:
http://austinmatzko.com/wordpress-plugins/wp-db-backup/
35. Download "WordPress Firewall" plugin from:
http://www.seoegghead.com/software/wordpress-firewall.seo
36. Copy the "WordPress Firewall" plugin file "wordpress-firewall.php" using PSCP (or SCP) into /www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins
37. Create a folder for the "WordPress Database Backup" plugin:
mkdir -p /www/wordpress/wp-content/backup-ed602
38. Set permissions for the "WordPress Database Backup" plugin:
chmod 777 /www/wordpress/wp-content/backup-ed602
39. Open a web browser from a client machine, and enter the URL bellow:
http://Server_FQDN/wp-login.php
40. From WordPress dashboard, click on "settings" -> make sure that "Anyone can register" is left unchecked -> put a new value inside the "Tagline" field -> click on "Save changes".
41. From WordPress dashboard, click on "settings" -> click on "Media" -> "Store uploads in this folder" -> specify:
wp-content/uploads
42. Click on "Save changes".
43. From WordPress dashboard, click on "Plugins" -> Add New -> choose "Upload" -> click Browse to locate the plugin -> click "Install Now" -> click "Proceed" -> click on "Activate Plugin".
Note: Install and activate all the above downloaded plugins.
44. From WordPress dashboard, click on "settings" -> click on "KB Robots.txt" -> add the following content into the Robots.txt editor field:
Disallow: /wp-*
Disallow: /wp-admin
Disallow: /wp-includes
Disallow: /wp-content/plugins
Disallow: /wp-content/cache
Disallow: /wp-content/themes
Disallow: /wp-login.php
Disallow: /wp-register.php
45. Click "Submit".
46. From the upper pane, click on "Log Out".
47. In-case the server was configured with SSL certificate, add the following line to the /www/config.php file:
define('FORCE_SSL_LOGIN', true);

Hardening guide for WordPress 2.9.2

Pre-installation notes
The guide bellow is based on the previous guides:
Hardening guide for Apache 2.2.15 on RedHat 5.4 (64bit edition)
Hardening guide for MySQL 5.1.47 on RedHat 5.4 (64bit edition)
Hardening guide for PHP 5.3.2 on Apache 2.2.15 / MySQL 5.1.47 (RHEL 5.4)

Installation and configuration phase
1. Login to the server using Root account.
2. Create a new account for uploading files using SSH:
groupadd sshaccount
useradd -g sshaccount -d /home/sshaccount -m sshaccount
3. Run the commands bellow to switch to the SSH account:
su sshaccount
4. Run the command bellow to generate SSH keys:
ssh-keygen
Note: Leave deafult values for the ssh-keygen.
5. Copy the SSH keys:
cp /home/sshaccount/.ssh/id_rsa.pub /home/sshaccount/.ssh/authorized_keys
6. Change permissions for the SSH keys:
chmod 755 /home/sshaccount/.ssh
chmod 644 /home/sshaccount/.ssh/*
7. Exit the SSH account shell and return to the Root account:
exit
8. Run the command bellow to login to the MySQL:
/usr/bin/mysql -uroot -pnew-password
Note: Replace the string “new-password” with the actual password for the root account.
9. Run the following commands from the MySQL prompt:
CREATE USER 'blgusr'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password2';
SET PASSWORD FOR 'blgusr'@'localhost' = OLD_PASSWORD('password2');
CREATE DATABASE m6gf42s;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON m6gf42s.* TO "blgusr"@"localhost" IDENTIFIED BY "password2";
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit
Note 1: Replace “blgusr” with your own MySQL account to access the database.
Note 2: Replace “password2” with complex password (at least 14 characters).
Note 3: Replace “m6gf42s” with your own WordPress database name.
10. Download WordPress 2.9.2 from:
http://wordpress.org/download
11. Copy the WordPress 2.9.2 source files using PSCP (or SCP) into /www
12. Move to /www
cd /www
13. Extract the wordpress-2.9.2.tar.gz file:
tar -zxvf wordpress-2.9.2.tar.gz
14. Remove WordPress source file:
rm -f /www/wordpress-2.9.2.tar.gz
15. Create using VI the file /www/config.php with the following content:
<?php
define('DB_NAME', 'm6gf42s');
define('DB_USER', 'blgusr');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password2');
define('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1');
$table_prefix = 'm6gf42s_';
define('AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('FS_METHOD', 'direct');
define('FS_CHMOD_DIR', 0777);
define('FS_CHMOD_FILE', 0777);
define('FTP_BASE', '/www/wordpress/');
define('FTP_CONTENT_DIR', '/www/wordpress/wp-content/');
define('FTP_PLUGIN_DIR ', '/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/');
define('FTP_PUBKEY', '/home/sshaccount/.ssh/id_rsa.pub');
define('FTP_PRIKEY', '/home/sshaccount/.ssh/id_rsa');
define('FTP_USER', 'sshaccount');
define('FTP_HOST', '127.0.0.1:22');
?>
Note 1: Make sure there are no spaces, newlines, or other strings before an opening '< ?php' tag or after a closing '?>' tag.
Note 2: Replace “blgusr” with your own MySQL account to access the database.
Note 3: Replace “password2” with complex password (at least 14 characters).
Note 4: Replace “m6gf42s” with your own WordPress database name.
Note 5: In-order to generate random values for the AUTH_KEY, SECURE_AUTH_KEY, LOGGED_IN_KEY and NONCE_KEY, use the web site bellow:
http://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/
16. Copy the wp-config.php file:
cp /www/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php /www/wordpress/wp-config.php
17. Edit using VI, the file /www/wordpress/wp-config.php
Add the following line:
include('/www/config.php');
Remove the following sections:
define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere');
define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere');
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
$table_prefix = 'wp_';
define('AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
18. Remove default content:
rm -f /www/wordpress/license.txt
rm -f /www/wordpress/readme.html
rm -f /www/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php
rm -f /www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/hello.php
19. Edit using VI the file /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf
Replace the value of the string, from:
DocumentRoot "/www"
To:
DocumentRoot "/www/wordpress"
Replace the value of the string, from:
LimitRequestBody 10000
To:
LimitRequestBody 200000
20. Restart the Apache service.
21. Open a web browser from a client machine, and enter the URL bellow:
http://Server_FQDN/wp-admin/install.php
22. Specify the following information:
• Blog Title
• E-Mail
23. Click on “Install WordPress” button, and close the web browser.
24. Run the command bellow to login to the MySQL:
/usr/bin/mysql -uroot -pnew-password
Note: Replace the string “new-password” with the actual password for the root account.
25. Run the following commands from the MySQL prompt:
use m6gf42s;
UPDATE m6gf42s_users SET user_login='johnd' WHERE user_login='admin';
UPDATE m6gf42s_users SET user_pass=MD5('password3') WHERE user_login='johnd';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit
Note 1: Replace “m6gf42s” with your own WordPress database name.
Note 1: Replace “johnd” with your own new WordPress admin.
Note 2: Replace “password3” with complex password (at least 14 characters).
26. Edit using VI, the file /www/wordpress/wp-includes/http.php and replace the following line from:
'timeout' => apply_filters( 'http_request_timeout', 5),
To:
'timeout' => apply_filters( 'http_request_timeout', 30),
27. Create using VI the file /www/wordpress/.htaccess with the following content:
<files wp-config.php>
Order deny,allow
deny from all
</files>
<Files wp-login.php>
AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Access Control"
AuthType Basic
Order deny,allow
Deny from All
Allow from 1.1.1.0
</Files>

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} POST
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} .wp-comments-post\.php*
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !.*Server_FQDN.* [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^$
RewriteRule (.*) ^http://%{REMOTE_ADDR}/$ [R=301,L]
Note 1: Replace 1.1.1.0 with the internal network IP address.
Note 2: Replace Server_FQDN with the server FQDN (DNS name).
28. Create using VI the file /www/wordpress/wp-admin/.htaccess with the following content:
AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName “Access Control”
AuthType Basic
<LIMIT GET POST>
order deny,allow
deny from all
Allow from 1.1.1.0
</LIMIT>
<IfModule mod_security.c>
SecFilterInheritance Off
</IfModule>
Note: Replace 1.1.1.0 with the internal network IP address.
29. Create using VI the file /www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/.htaccess with the following content:
AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Access Control"
AuthType Basic
Order deny,allow
Deny from All
Allow from 1.1.1.0
Note: Replace 1.1.1.0 with the internal network IP address.
30. Create the following folders:
mkdir -p /www/wordpress/wp-content/cache
mkdir -p /www/wordpress/wp-content/uploads
mkdir -p /www/wordpress/wp-content/upgrade
31. Change the file permissions:
chown -R root:root /www/wordpress
chown daemon:root /www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins
chmod 644 /www/config.php
chmod 644 /www/wordpress/wp-config.php
chmod 644 /www/wordpress/.htaccess
chmod 644 /www/wordpress/wp-admin/.htaccess
chmod 644 /www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/.htaccess
chmod -R 777 /www/wordpress/wp-content/cache
chmod -R 777 /www/wordpress/wp-content/uploads
chmod -R 777 /www/wordpress/wp-content/upgrade
32. Download "Login Lockdown" plugin from:
http://www.bad-neighborhood.com/login-lockdown.html
33. Download "WP-Secure Remove Wordpress Version" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-secure-remove-wordpress-version/
34. Download "WP Security Scan" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-security-scan/
35. Download "KB Robots.txt" plugin from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/kb-robotstxt/
36. Download "WordPress Database Backup" plugin from:
http://austinmatzko.com/wordpress-plugins/wp-db-backup/
37. Download "WordPress Firewall" plugin from:
http://www.seoegghead.com/software/wordpress-firewall.seo
38. Copy the "WordPress Firewall" plugin file "wordpress-firewall.php" using PSCP (or SCP) into /www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins
39. Create a folder for the "WordPress Database Backup" plugin:
mkdir -p /www/wordpress/wp-content/backup-ed602
40. Set permissions for the "WordPress Database Backup" plugin:
chmod 777 /www/wordpress/wp-content/backup-ed602
41. Open a web browser from a client machine, and enter the URL bellow:
http://Server_FQDN/wp-login.php
42. From WordPress dashboard, click on "settings" -> make sure that "Anyone can register" is left unchecked -> click on "Save changes".
43. From WordPress dashboard, click on "settings" -> click on "Miscellaneous" -> "Store uploads in this folder" -> specify:
wp-content/uploads
44. Click on "Save changes".
45. From WordPress dashboard, click on "Plugins" -> Add New -> choose "Upload" -> click Browse to locate the plugin -> click "Install Now" -> click "Proceed" -> click on "Activate Plugin".
Note: Install and activate all the above downloaded plugins.
46. From WordPress dashboard, click on "settings" -> click on "KB Robots.txt" -> add the following content into the Robots.txt editor field:
Disallow: /wp-*
Disallow: /wp-admin
Disallow: /wp-includes
Disallow: /wp-content/plugins
Disallow: /wp-content/cache
Disallow: /wp-content/themes
Disallow: /wp-login.php
Disallow: /wp-register.php
47. Click "Submit".
48. From the upper pane, click on "Log Out".
49. In-case the server was configured with SSL certificate, add the following line to the /www/config.php file:
define('FORCE_SSL_LOGIN', true);

Hardening guide for PHP 5.3.2 on Apache 2.2.15 / MySQL 5.1.47 (RHEL 5.4)

Pre-installation notes
The guide bellow is based on the previous guides:
Hardening guide for Apache 2.2.15 on RedHat 5.4 (64bit edition)
Hardening guide for MySQL 5.1.47 on RedHat 5.4 (64bit edition)

Installation and configuration phase
1. Login to the server using Root account.
2. Before compiling the PHP environment, install the following RPM from the RHEL 5.4 (64bit) DVD source folder:
rpm -ivh kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.el5.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh glibc-headers-2.5-42.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh glibc-devel-2.5-42.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh gmp-4.1.4-10.el5.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh libgomp-4.4.0-6.el5.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh gcc-4.1.2-46.el5.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh libxml2-2.6.26-2.1.2.8.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh zlib-devel-1.2.3-3.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh libxml2-devel-2.6.26-2.1.2.8.x86_64.rpm
3. Download MySQL development RPM from:
http://download.softagency.net/MySQL/Downloads/MySQL-5.1/
4. Download PHP 5.3.2 source files from:
http://php.net/downloads.php
5. Copy the MySQL development RPM using PSCP (or SCP) into /tmp
6. Copy the PHP 5.3.2 source files using PSCP (or SCP) into /tmp
7. Move to /tmp
cd /tmp
8. Install the MySQL development RPM:
rpm -ivh MySQL-devel-community-5.1.47-1.rhel5.x86_64.rpm
9. Remove MySQL development RPM:
rm -f MySQL-devel-community-5.1.47-1.rhel5.x86_64.rpm
10. Extract the php-5.3.2.tar.gz file:
tar -zxvf php-5.3.2.tar.gz
11. Move to the PHP source folder:
cd /tmp/php-5.3.2
Run the commands bellow to compile the PHP environment:
./configure --with-mysql=/var/lib/mysql --with-libdir=lib64 --prefix=/usr/local/apache2 --with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs --with-openssl --with-zlib

make

make install
12. Edit using VI, the file /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf
Make sure the following string exists at the end of the LoadModule section:
LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so
Add the following string, to the end of the AddType section:
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
Replace the line from:
DirectoryIndex index.html
To:
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm
13. Copy the PHP.ini file
cp /tmp/php-5.3.2/php.ini-development /etc/php.ini
14. Change the permissions on the php.ini file:
chmod 640 /etc/php.ini
15. Edit using VI, the file /etc/php.ini and replace the following values:
From:
mysql.default_host =
To:
mysql.default_host = 127.0.0.1:3306

From:
allow_url_fopen = On
To:
allow_url_fopen = Off

From:
expose_php = On
To:
expose_php = Off

From:
memory_limit = 128M
To:
memory_limit = 8M

From:
;open_basedir =
To:
open_basedir = "/www"

From:
post_max_size = 8M
To:
post_max_size = 2M

From:
upload_max_filesize = 2M
To:
upload_max_filesize = 1M

From:
disable_functions =
To:
disable_functions = fpassthru,crack_check,crack_closedict,crack_getlastmessage,crack_opendict, psockopen,php_ini_scanned_files,shell_exec,chown,hell-exec,dl,ctrl_dir,phpini,tmp,safe_mode,systemroot,server_software, get_current_user,HTTP_HOST,ini_restore,popen,pclose,exec,suExec,passthru,proc_open,proc_nice,proc_terminate, proc_get_status,proc_close,pfsockopen,leak,apache_child_terminate,posix_kill,posix_mkfifo,posix_setpgid, posix_setsid,posix_setuid,escapeshellcmd,escapeshellarg,posix_ctermid,posix_getcwd,posix_getegid,posix_geteuid,posix_getgid,posix_getgrgid, posix_getgrnam,posix_getgroups,posix_getlogin,posix_getpgid,posix_getpgrp,posix_getpid, posix_getppid,posix_getpwnam,posix_getpwuid,posix_getrlimit,system,posix_getsid,posix_getuid,posix_isatty, posix_setegid,posix_seteuid,posix_setgid,posix_times,posix_ttyname,posix_uname,posix_access,posix_get_last_error,posix_mknod, posix_strerror,posix_initgroups,posix_setsidposix_setuid

From:
;include_path = ".:/php/includes"
To:
include_path = "/usr/local/lib/php;/usr/local/apache2/include/php"

From:
display_errors = On
To:
display_errors = Off

From:
display_startup_errors = On
To:
display_startup_errors = Off

16. Run the commands bellow to restart the Apache service:
/usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl stop
/usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start
17. Remove the PHP source and test files:
rm -rf /tmp/php-5.3.2
rm -f /tmp/php-5.3.2.tar.gz
rm -rf /usr/local/apache2/lib/php/test
rm -rf /usr/local/lib/php/test
18. Uninstall the following RPM:
rpm -e libxml2-devel-2.6.26-2.1.2.8
rpm -e gcc-4.1.2-46.el5
rpm -e libgomp-4.4.0-6.el5
rpm -e gmp-4.1.4-10.el5
rpm -e glibc-devel-2.5-42
rpm -e glibc-headers-2.5-42
rpm -e kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.el5

Hardening guide for MySQL 5.1.47 on RedHat 5.4 (64bit edition)

1. Login to the server using Root account.
2. Create a new account:
groupadd mysql
useradd -d /dev/null -g mysql -s /bin/false mysql
3. Download MySQL server and client RPM from:
http://download.softagency.net/MySQL/Downloads/MySQL-5.1/
4. Copy the MySQL 5.1.47 source files using PSCP (or SCP) into /tmp
5. Move to /tmp
cd /tmp
6. Install the MySQL packages:
rpm -ivh MySQL-server-community-5.1.47-1.rhel5.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh MySQL-client-community-5.1.47-1.rhel5.x86_64.rpm
7. Delete the MySQL source files:
rm -f /tmp/MySQL-server-community-5.1.47-1.rhel5.x86_64.rpm
rm -f /tmp/MySQL-client-community-5.1.47-1.rhel5.x86_64.rpm
8. Run the commands bellow to set ownership and permissions:
chown -R root /usr/bin/mysql*
chown -R mysql:root /var/lib/mysql
chmod -R go-rwx /var/lib/mysql
mkdir -p /var/log/mysql
chown -R mysql:root /var/log/mysql
9. Run the command bellow to copy the main configuration file:
cp /usr/share/mysql/my-medium.cnf /etc/my.cnf
10. Run the commands bellow to remove default folder:
rm -rf /var/lib/mysql/test
rm -f /usr/share/mysql/*.cnf
11. Run the command bellow to set ownership and permissions for my.cnf file:
chown root /etc/my.cnf
chmod 644 /etc/my.cnf
12. Edit using VI, the file /etc/my.cnf
Add the strings bellow under the [mysqld] section
pid-file = /var/lib/mysql/mysqld.pid
log = /var/log/mysql/mysql.log
bind-address = 127.0.0.1
Add the section bellow:
[safe_mysqld]
err-log = /var/log/mysql/mysql.err
13. Run the command bellow to restart the target server:
reboot
14. Login to the server using Root account.
15. Run the commands bellow to set password for the MySQL root user:
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h hostname password 'new-password'
Note 1: Specify complex password (at least 14 characters) and document it.
Note 2: Replace “hostname” with the server FQDN (DNS name)
16. Run the command bellow to login to the MySQL:
/usr/bin/mysql -uroot -pnew-password
Note: Replace the string “new-password” with the actual password for the root account.
17. Run the following commands from the MySQL prompt:
use mysql;
DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE user = '';
DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE user = 'root' AND host = '%';
DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE User='root' AND Host!='localhost';
DROP DATABASE test;
DELETE FROM mysql.db WHERE Db='test' OR Db='test\\_%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit
18. Run the command bellow to stop the MySQL service:
/etc/init.d/mysql stop
19. Run the command bellow to start the MySQL service:
/etc/init.d/mysql start