What is Xmlrpc.php in WordPress and Why You Should Disable It
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 8:36 am
Creativemotions»WordPress Tips & Guides»What is Xmlrpc.php in WordPress and Why You Should Disable It
xmlrpcwordpress
WordPress has always had built-in features that allow you to interact with your website remotely. Face it, sometimes you need to log in to your website and your computer won’t be nearby. For a long time, the solution was a file called WordPress xmlrpc.php .
In recent years, however, this file has become more of a pest than a solution.
In this article, we will look at what xmlrpc.php actually is and usa phone number data it was created, and we will look at the common security issues it causes and how to fix them on your WordPress site.
Table of Contents view
What is Xmlrpc.php?
XML-RPC is a WordPress feature that allows data transmission, with HTTP acting as the transport mechanism and XML as the encoding mechanism.
Since WordPress is not a closed system and occasionally needs to communicate with other systems, we have tried to handle this functionality in this way.
For example, let's say you wanted to publish to your site from your mobile device because your computer is not nearby, you can use the remote access feature enabled by xmlrpc.php to do just that.
The main features enabled by xmlrpc.php allowed you to connect to your site via smartphone, implementing WordPress trackbacks and pingbacks from other sites, and some features associated with the Jetpack plugin.
Why was Xmlrpc.php created and how was it used?
The implementation of XMLRPC dates back to the early days of WordPress before it even became WordPress (pardon the pun).
In the early days of the Internet, when connections were incredibly slow, the process of writing and publishing on the web was much more difficult and time-consuming.
Instead of writing within the browser itself, many people wrote offline, then copied and pasted their content onto the web. However, this process was far from ideal.
The solution (at the time) was to create an offline blogging client, where you could compose content, then log into the blog to publish it.
This connection was made via XML-RPC. With the underlying XML-RPC framework in place, early apps used the same connection to allow people to access their WordPress sites from other devices.
Banner Support and assistance
XML-RPC nowadays
In 2008, with WordPress version 2.6, there was an option to enable or disable XMLRPC, but with the release of the WordPress iPhone app, XML-RPC support was enabled by default and there was no way to disable the setting. It has remained that way to this day.
The functionality of this file has significantly decreased over time and the overall file size has decreased from 83kb to 3kb, so it no longer plays as important a role as it once did.
The Future of XMLRPC WordPress
With the new WordPress API , we can expect XML-RPC to be phased out altogether.
The new WordPress API isn’t perfect, but it provides a more robust and secure solution to the problem that xmlrpc.php solved in the past.
Why You Should Disable Xmlrpc.php in WordPress
The biggest problems that arise with XML-RPC are security issues that are not directly related to XML-RPC, but rather how the file is used to perform a Brute Force attack on your WordPress site.
Sure, you can protect yourself with incredibly strong passwords and WordPress security plugins but the best way to protect yourself is to simply disable it.
There are two major weaknesses in XML-RPC that have been exploited in the past.
xmlrpcwordpress
WordPress has always had built-in features that allow you to interact with your website remotely. Face it, sometimes you need to log in to your website and your computer won’t be nearby. For a long time, the solution was a file called WordPress xmlrpc.php .
In recent years, however, this file has become more of a pest than a solution.
In this article, we will look at what xmlrpc.php actually is and usa phone number data it was created, and we will look at the common security issues it causes and how to fix them on your WordPress site.
Table of Contents view
What is Xmlrpc.php?
XML-RPC is a WordPress feature that allows data transmission, with HTTP acting as the transport mechanism and XML as the encoding mechanism.
Since WordPress is not a closed system and occasionally needs to communicate with other systems, we have tried to handle this functionality in this way.
For example, let's say you wanted to publish to your site from your mobile device because your computer is not nearby, you can use the remote access feature enabled by xmlrpc.php to do just that.
The main features enabled by xmlrpc.php allowed you to connect to your site via smartphone, implementing WordPress trackbacks and pingbacks from other sites, and some features associated with the Jetpack plugin.
Why was Xmlrpc.php created and how was it used?
The implementation of XMLRPC dates back to the early days of WordPress before it even became WordPress (pardon the pun).
In the early days of the Internet, when connections were incredibly slow, the process of writing and publishing on the web was much more difficult and time-consuming.
Instead of writing within the browser itself, many people wrote offline, then copied and pasted their content onto the web. However, this process was far from ideal.
The solution (at the time) was to create an offline blogging client, where you could compose content, then log into the blog to publish it.
This connection was made via XML-RPC. With the underlying XML-RPC framework in place, early apps used the same connection to allow people to access their WordPress sites from other devices.
Banner Support and assistance
XML-RPC nowadays
In 2008, with WordPress version 2.6, there was an option to enable or disable XMLRPC, but with the release of the WordPress iPhone app, XML-RPC support was enabled by default and there was no way to disable the setting. It has remained that way to this day.
The functionality of this file has significantly decreased over time and the overall file size has decreased from 83kb to 3kb, so it no longer plays as important a role as it once did.
The Future of XMLRPC WordPress
With the new WordPress API , we can expect XML-RPC to be phased out altogether.
The new WordPress API isn’t perfect, but it provides a more robust and secure solution to the problem that xmlrpc.php solved in the past.
Why You Should Disable Xmlrpc.php in WordPress
The biggest problems that arise with XML-RPC are security issues that are not directly related to XML-RPC, but rather how the file is used to perform a Brute Force attack on your WordPress site.
Sure, you can protect yourself with incredibly strong passwords and WordPress security plugins but the best way to protect yourself is to simply disable it.
There are two major weaknesses in XML-RPC that have been exploited in the past.