WordPress.org Forces Password Resets Due To Compromised Plugins

WordPress.org has just posted the following on its blog:

“Earlier today the WordPress team noticed suspicious commits to several popular plugins (AddThis, WPtouch, and W3 Total Cache) containing cleverly disguised backdoors. We determined the commits were not from the authors, rolled them back, pushed updates to the plugins, and shut down access to the plugin repository while we looked for anything else unsavory.”

According to founder Matt Mullenweg, WordPress .org has decided to reset all WordPress.org, bbPress.org and BuddyPress.org passwords, because of suspicious activity surrounding popular plugins AddThis, WPTouch and W3 Total Cache.

WordPress.org users who try to log in to WordPress.org forums, use trac, or who try to commit to a plugin or theme will receive the following message, “On June 21, 2011, we reset all passwords, so you’ll need to request a new one if you haven’t already.” Mullenweg tells me that the password change will affect the couple of million people who login into WordPress.org.

Mullenweg tells me that WordPress.org itself was not hacked, but that some plugins author accounts were and that the hacks have the potential to affect anyone who downloads these plugins from WordPress.org. “There are 15k plugins so happens sometimes,” Mullenweg said. “We haven’t pissed off LulzSec yet. :)”