How to Prevent Brute Force Attacks on Your WordPress Website

Brute force attacks are among the most common security threats targeting WordPress websites. These automated attacks bombard your login page with thousands of password combinations, attempting to gain unauthorized access to your site. The good news? With the right security measures in place, you can effectively block these attacks and keep your website safe.

This guide focuses on practical, actionable steps to prevent brute force attacks on your WordPress site. Whether you’re managing a personal blog or an enterprise website, implementing these security strategies will significantly strengthen your defenses against these credential-based attacks.

What is a Brute Force Attack?

A brute force attack is a cyberattack where automated bots systematically try thousands of username and password combinations to gain unauthorized access to your WordPress site. Think of it as a digital intruder trying every possible key until one unlocks your door — except these attacks happen at speeds of thousands of attempts per minute.

Attackers use automated scripts and botnets that:

• Run 24/7 targeting WordPress login pages (/wp-login.php, /wp-admin/).
• Test common passwords like “password123,” “admin,” or leaked credentials from data breaches.
• Route attacks through multiple IP addresses to evade detection.
• Exploit WordPress features like XML-RPC to amplify attack efficiency.

Even unsuccessful brute force attacks can harm your website. Thousands of login attempts consume server resources, causing performance degradation or crashes that frustrate legitimate visitors. Excessive attack traffic may trigger automatic suspension from your hosting provider, taking your site offline entirely. Most critically, successful attacks grant attackers full control to steal sensitive data, install malware, distribute spam, or completely deface your site. Attackers employ several distinct techniques to compromise WordPress credentials:

• Dictionary Attacks: Use lists of common passwords and words.
• Hybrid Attacks: Combine dictionary words with number/symbol variations (password123, p@ssw0rd).
• Credential Spraying: Test one common password across many usernames to evade account lockouts.

All these attack methods share one common goal: exploiting weak credentials to gain unauthorized access.

Why WordPress Sites Are Targeted

WordPress powers 43% of all websites globally, making it an attractive target for automated attacks. The scale of this threat became evident in April 2013 when a massive coordinated botnet campaign using over 90,000 IP addresses simultaneously targeted WordPress sites worldwide. This historic attack demonstrated that brute force threats aren’t random—they’re organized, large-scale operations.

WordPress sites face elevated brute force attack risks due to several factors:

• Standardized Login URLs: Every WordPress site uses /wp-login.php or /wp-admin/ — attackers know exactly where to target.
• No Default Login Limits: WordPress allows unlimited login attempts without any built-in lockout mechanism.
• Predictable Usernames: Many sites still use “admin” or expose usernames through author pages and API endpoints.
• XML-RPC Exposure: This legacy feature can be exploited to test hundreds of passwords in a single request.
• Massive Attack Surface: With hundreds of millions of WordPress installations worldwide, even low-success-rate attacks yield thousands of compromised sites.
• Economy of Scale: Attackers use the same tools and credential lists across millions of targets, making WordPress-specific attacks highly profitable with minimal effort.

Did You Know? In April 2013, a coordinated botnet of over 90,000 IP addresses launched one of the largest brute force campaigns on record, prompting an official security alert from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This attack demonstrated the organized, large-scale nature of brute force threats targeting WordPress.

How to Prevent Brute Force Attacks on Your WordPress Website

Protecting your WordPress site from brute force attacks requires a multi-layered approach. The following strategies work together to create comprehensive defense. Start with strong passwords and two-factor authentication, then add login limiting and firewall protection for maximum security.

Enforce Strong, Unique Passwords

Password strength represents the foundational defense against brute force attacks. Weak passwords enable dictionary and hybrid attacks; strong passwords force attackers toward computationally impractical exhaustive approaches.

Strong Password Characteristics:

• Length: Minimum 14-16 characters; each additional character exponentially increases crack time.
• Complexity: Combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special symbols.
• Randomness: Avoid dictionary words, personal information, common substitution patterns, or keyboard sequences.
• Uniqueness: Never reuse passwords across different services; credential stuffing attacks exploit password reuse.

Implementation Approach: Rather than relying on users to create and remember strong passwords, implement password management best practices:

• Password Generators: Use cryptographically secure random password generators to create credentials.
• Password Managers: Deploy password management solutions (LastPass, 1Password, Bitwarden) to store and auto-fill complex credentials.
• Password Policies: Enforce minimum password requirements through WordPress settings or security plugins.
• Regular Rotation: Implement periodic password changes for high-privilege accounts, particularly after staff departures or security incidents.

Quick Tip: Use a password manager like LastPass, 1Password, or Bitwarden to generate and store complex passwords you’ll never need to remember.

Implement Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication transforms authentication from single-credential verification to multi-factor verification requiring both something you know (password) and something you have (authentication device).

How 2FA Defeats Brute Force: Even if attackers successfully guess or steal a password through brute force methods, they cannot authenticate without the second factor—typically a time-based one-time password (TOTP) generated by an authentication app or hardware token. Here are some handpicked plugins to consider for enabling two-factor authentication on your WordPress website:

1. WP 2FA: Feature-rich plugin offering multiple authentication methods including TOTP apps, email codes, and backup codes. Provides user-friendly setup wizards and enforcement policies.
   
2. Two-Factor: Official WordPress.org plugin maintained by the WordPress security team. Lightweight implementation supporting multiple providers including TOTP, email, and backup codes.
3. Wordfence Login Security: Free 2FA implementation from the widely-used Wordfence security plugin. Integrates seamlessly with popular authenticator apps.

Quick Tip: Enable 2FA for all administrator accounts, and ideally enforce it across all user roles to eliminate credential-based compromise risks entirely. While 2FA adds authentication friction, this minor inconvenience provides substantial security benefits. Configure backup authentication methods to prevent lockouts when primary 2FA devices are unavailable.

Limit Login Attempts

Brute force attacks require thousands or millions of authentication attempts. Restricting the number of permitted failed attempts within defined timeframes renders these attacks impractical.

After a specified number of consecutive failed login attempts (commonly 3-5 attempts), temporarily block further authentication attempts from the offending source. Block duration typically ranges from 15 minutes to several hours, with increasing durations for repeated violations. Here are some of the plugins to help you with limiting the login attempts:

1. Limit Login Attempts Reloaded: Lightweight, purpose-built plugin focused exclusively on login attempt restriction. Highly configurable with separate controls for different attempt patterns and lockout durations.
   
2. Loginizer: Comprehensive security plugin incorporating login attempt limiting alongside brute force protection features like CAPTCHA integration and two-factor authentication.
3. Login Lockdown & Protection: Records detailed information about failed authentication attempts including IP addresses, attempted usernames, and timestamps for security monitoring.

Deploy IP-Based Access Controls

IP filtering restricts which sources can access your login pages by blocking malicious IP addresses or allowing only trusted ones. You can automatically block IPs after failed login attempts (blacklisting) or restrict admin access exclusively to predefined IP addresses (allowlisting). Geographic blocking can also reduce attacks by restricting access from countries where you don’t operate.

However, IP-based controls have limitations — attackers use VPNs and proxies to evade blocks, and dynamic IP addresses make allowlisting challenging for remote administrators. Combine IP controls with other security layers for best results.

Sucuri, Wordfence and All-In-One Security (AIOS) offer IP blocking features, monitoring traffic and banning threats in real-time.

Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Web Application Firewalls provide enterprise-grade protection by filtering malicious traffic before it reaches your WordPress installation. Cloud-based WAFs operate at the DNS level, intercepting attack requests before they consume server resources. They leverage global threat intelligence to identify and block known malicious actors, restrict request frequency through rate limiting, distinguish legitimate users from automated bots, and block exploitation attempts targeting known vulnerabilities.

Leading WAF solutions include Cloudflare (industry-leading CDN with integrated WAF and free tier available), Sucuri Security (purpose-built WordPress protection with cloud-based WAF) and Wordfence (application-level firewall running directly on WordPress).

Additional Hardening Techniques

Beyond primary defense mechanisms, several supplementary security measures further reduce brute force attack success probability:

CAPTCHA Integration: Add CAPTCHA challenges (Google reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Cloudflare Turnstile) to login forms. While potentially impacting user experience, CAPTCHAs effectively distinguish human users from automated attack scripts.

Custom Login URLs: Plugins like WPS Hide Login or Rename wp-login.php allow changing the default /wp-login.php URL to a custom path. While providing minimal protection against targeted attacks, this approach eliminates opportunistic automated scans targeting default WordPress installations.

Disable XML-RPC: Unless specifically required for legitimate integrations (mobile apps, remote publishing tools), disable XML-RPC entirely through security plugins or .htaccess rules. This eliminates amplified brute force attack vectors.

Login Page Protection: Implement HTTP basic authentication for the /wp-admin directory through hosting control panels. This adds a second authentication layer but requires careful configuration to avoid breaking WordPress AJAX functionality.

Session Management: Configure automatic logout periods for inactive sessions, particularly for administrator accounts. This limits the window during which compromised credentials remain valid.  Periodically shuffling salts is also an effective security mechanism.

Account Monitoring: Regularly audit user accounts, removing inactive users and ensuring all accounts maintain appropriate permission levels. Former employees, contractors, or unused accounts represent security liabilities.

Also, it is worthwhile to review official WordPress Security Documentation on brute force. The WordPress core development team maintains authoritative security guidance reflecting current best practices and recommended configurations. The WordPress Advanced Administration Security documentation provides technical implementation details, code examples, and official recommendations for brute force attack prevention directly from the WordPress project maintainers.

How to Detect Brute Force Attacks on WordPress?

Even with preventive measures in place, it’s crucial to recognize when your site is under attack so you can respond quickly. Brute force attacks leave distinct traces that alert site administrators to suspicious activity.

Common Warning Signs

• Unusual Server Performance: Your website becomes noticeably slower or experiences periodic crashes without explanation. Thousands of simultaneous login attempts consume server resources, causing performance degradation even if attacks are unsuccessful.
• Spike in Failed Login Attempts: Your security plugin or server logs show hundreds or thousands of failed login attempts within a short timeframe. Look for patterns like sequential attempts from the same IP address or distributed attempts from multiple IPs targeting the same username.
• Hosting Provider Alerts: You receive notifications from your web host about excessive resource usage, bandwidth consumption, or suspicious traffic patterns. Some hosts automatically suspend accounts experiencing severe attack traffic to protect server stability.
• Multiple Lockouts: If you have login limiting enabled, you’ll see numerous IP addresses being locked out repeatedly. Your security plugin’s dashboard may show dozens or hundreds of blocked login attempts.
• Server Log Anomalies: Reviewing your access logs (typically found in your hosting control panel) reveals unusual patterns: repeated POST requests to /wp-login.php or /wp-admin/ from unfamiliar IP addresses, often at rates of hundreds per minute.

Where to Check for Attack Evidence

• Security Plugin Dashboards: Wordfence, Sucuri, iThemes Security, and similar plugins provide real-time attack monitoring with detailed statistics on blocked login attempts, banned IPs, and attack patterns.
• Server Access Logs: Check your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk) for access logs showing all requests to your site, including failed login attempts.
• WordPress Activity Logs: Plugins like WP Activity Log or Simple History track all login attempts, user actions, and security events.
• Email Notifications: Configure your security plugins to send immediate alerts when login attempt thresholds are exceeded or IPs are blocked.

Quick Tip: Enable email notifications in your security plugins to receive instant alerts about suspicious login activity. This allows you to respond to attacks in real-time rather than discovering them after the fact.

What to Do If You’re Currently Under Attack

Discovering your WordPress site is under active brute force attack requires immediate action. Follow these emergency response steps to minimize damage and stop the attack.

Immediate Response Steps

1. Enable Attack Mitigation Mode: If you use Cloudflare, activate “I’m Under Attack” mode from your dashboard. This adds a JavaScript challenge before visitors can access your site, effectively blocking automated bots while allowing legitimate users through.
2. Strengthen Login Attempt Limits: Immediately reduce the allowed failed login attempts to 3 and set aggressive lockout durations (4+ hours). If you haven’t installed a login limiter plugin yet, do so immediately  — even during an active attack, this will block future attempts.
3. Block Attacking IP Addresses: Review your security plugin logs and manually block the most aggressive IP addresses. If attacks come from specific countries where you have no legitimate users, implement geographic blocking.
4. Temporarily Restrict wp-admin Access: Add password protection to your /wp-admin directory through your hosting control panel (.htaccess authentication). This creates an additional barrier that bots cannot bypass.
5. Disable XML-RPC Immediately: If you haven’t already, disable XML-RPC through your security plugin or by adding the following lines of code to your .htaccess file:

   <Files xmlrpc.php>
   Order Deny,Allow
   Deny from all
   </Files>

6. Contact Your Hosting Provider: Notify your host about the attack. They may be able to implement server-level blocking or provide additional resources to handle the traffic surge.

Post-Attack Audit

Here is a quick checklist of things to do once the attack subsides:

• Review all user accounts for unauthorized additions or privilege escalations.
• Change passwords for all administrator accounts.
• Run a full malware scan using Malcure Malware Scanner.
• Check file integrity to ensure no files were modified.
• Review and strengthen security measures to prevent future attacks.
• Implement any missing prevention strategies from the sections above.

If you suspect the attack may have succeeded, run a comprehensive malware scan immediately using Malcure Malware Scanner. Successful brute force attacks grant attackers administrative access, enabling them to install backdoors, inject malicious code into core files, or deploy sophisticated malware designed to evade basic security scans.

Malcure’s WordPress malware scanner provides deep malware detection that identifies hidden threats, suspicious code injections, and backdoor vulnerabilities other scanners often overlook. Early detection is critical — the longer malware remains undetected, the more damage it causes to your site’s reputation, SEO rankings, and visitor trust.

Pro Tip: Malcure Advanced Edition includes one-click repair and removal features, allowing you to clean infected files without manual intervention.

Frequently Asked Questions About WordPress Brute Force Attacks

The Bottom Line: Prevention Is Your Best Defense

WordPress security requires ongoing attention, not one-time configuration. Regularly monitor your security plugin dashboards for suspicious activity, keep WordPress core and plugins updated, and periodically audit user accounts. The time invested in proactive security measures is minimal compared to the potential consequences of a successful breach  — data theft, malware distribution, reputation damage, or complete site compromise. Implement these defenses today to keep your WordPress site safe from brute force attacks.