Security Scanner

File integrity monitoring, malware detection, and vulnerability scanning for your WordPress installation.

Scan Types

Core Integrity Check

Compares every WordPress core file against official checksums from wordpress.org. Detects modified, missing, or added files in core directories. Files that don't match the expected hash are flagged for review.

Malware Scan

Scans all PHP files in wp-content/ for known malicious patterns including:

Obfuscated code (base64_decode, eval, gzinflate chains)
Backdoor signatures (web shells, file uploaders, command execution)
Suspicious file names and hidden files
Injected code in theme and plugin files
Database injection indicators

Vulnerability Check

Checks installed plugins and themes against known vulnerability databases. Reports CVEs, severity levels, and whether an update is available that patches the issue.

Running Scans

Navigate to VistoShield → Scanner in your WordPress admin. Choose the scan type and click Start Scan.

Scan Type	Typical Duration	Server Impact
Core Integrity	5–15 seconds	Low
Malware Scan	30 seconds – 5 minutes	Medium (file I/O)
Vulnerability Check	5–10 seconds	Low (API call)
Full Scan (all three)	1–6 minutes	Medium

Scan Findings

Each finding includes:

Severity — Critical, High, Medium, Low, or Info
File path — Relative to the WordPress root
Description — What was detected and why it matters
Action — Quarantine, restore original, or dismiss

Quarantine

Suspicious files can be quarantined with a single click. Quarantined files are:

Moved to wp-content/vistoshield-quarantine/
Renamed with a .quarantined extension to prevent execution
Logged with the original path, timestamp, and detection reason

You can restore quarantined files from the Quarantine tab if a detection was a false positive.

Important: Quarantining a plugin or theme file may break functionality. Always review findings before quarantining and keep backups.

Baseline

The scanner can create a baseline snapshot of your entire installation. After establishing a baseline:

New files are detected as additions
Modified files show a diff of what changed
Deleted files are reported as removals

Create a baseline after a clean installation or after verifying your site is clean. Update the baseline after legitimate changes (plugin updates, theme customizations).

Scheduled Scans

Enable automatic scanning on a schedule from VistoShield → Scanner → Settings:

Setting	Options	Default
Auto Scan	Enabled / Disabled	Disabled
Frequency	Daily / Weekly / Monthly	Daily
Scan Type	Full / Core Only / Malware Only	Full
Email Report	Always / On Findings / Never	On Findings

Settings

Exclude paths — Skip specific directories (e.g., cache folders, upload directories)
Max file size — Skip files larger than this limit (default: 5 MB)
Scan depth — Maximum directory nesting depth (default: 10)
Custom patterns — Add your own regex patterns to the malware scanner