WordPress has recently released the new 5.3.1 version on 12th December 2019. The update is mainly focused on implementing new security and maintenance measures. The new WordPress 5.3.1 update is a short-term measure to fix certain emergent issues until the release of the 5.4 version which comprises of many major changes to the system. For sites that support background updates, WordPress has already started the process of updating to the 5.3.1 version.

New Security And Maintenance Fixes In WordPress 5.3.1

The previous version of WordPress including the 5.3 version was affected by several vulnerabilities and an attacker could easily exploit these exposed drawbacks. The update addresses these issues and has made new changes for the purposes of greater security. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) also highly recommends that WordPress users install the new update to ensure the security of their websites.

Security Updates

The WordPress community has reported several faults and vulnerabilities in the existing versions. Therefore four new updates have been issued to take care of these bugs. These fixes will be applied to all the WordPress version ranging from 3.7 to 5.3.

We have listed the updates hereafter.

1. According to the new WordPress update, any user with false access permission could make a post sticky via the REST API.
2. Next, they have addressed an issue where cross-site scripting (XSS) could be stored in different links.
3. They have also hardened wp_kses_bad_protocol() to ensure that it is aware of the named colon attribute.
4. Finally, they have tried to resolve an issue with a stored XSS vulnerability where it’s using block editor content in the WordPress 5.3.1 update.

Maintenance Updates

The new update focuses on the maintenance and fixing of bugs that have been identified since the release of the 5.3 version.

A few of the changes which will be implemented on updating to the WordPress 5.3.1 version are:

• The changes on Administration end such that the form fields and buttons now have the same height, which shall result in a more consistent admin UI. This problem was highlighted especially after the 5.3 updates and had to be resolved.
• They have also fixed Edge scrolling issues and intermittent JavaScript issues and added customizer option to show/hide author bio, replaced the JS-based smooth scroll with CSS and fixed Instagram embed CSS. The Twenty-Twenty theme update comes packaged with an option for showing or hiding the post author bio.
• A few other changes like removing support for the CollegeHumor oEmbed provider, updating the sodium_compat library, and making sure admin verification emails use the user’s locale instead of the site’s locale have been implemented in the latest update.

How to install the WordPress 5.3.1 update?

The process is quite simple and straightforward. You can visit your Dashboard,  then go to Updates and click Update Now. You will have to follow these steps only if you have sites that do not support automatic background updates option.

Finally, make the most of this new update until the release of WordPress 5.4

A total of 46 amendments and enhancements are made to ensure that the wordpress development companies have a smooth ride with the new WordPress version. It is suggested that the users should quickly get to updating the version as this might help you make your website less vulnerable and less of a target for hackers to get in.