In addition to the regular feature and product patches typically released, there were a few updates of note last month that may be applicable to your site including:
Security-related Patches in September:
WordPress (the “engine” that powers your site) received an important security update in September. This update patched a data exposure issue where authenticated users could access some restricted content and a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability requiring an authenticated role that affects the nav menus. ESC! Technology Group Care Plan subscribers were patched against these vulnerabilities within a day of the patch release.
Other security patches of note to Care Plan subscribers included Events Calendar 6.15.4, PostSMTP 3.4.2, and Simple Cloudflare Turnstile** 1.33.0 & 1.33.1.
** Note that Simple Cloudflare Turnstile was renamed to Simple CAPTCHA Alternative with Cloudflare Turnstile with the release of 1.33.1
Other updates in September include:
Gravity Forms 2.9.18, Yoast 26.0, JetPack 15.0, and the behind-the-scenes plugins used to optimize the operation of your site: Hummingbird Pro 3.16.0, SmartCrawl Pro 3.14.4, and Defender 5.5.0
For sites that use it, WooCommerce 10.2.0+ was released along with improvements including Product Collection Carousel and Checkout improvements, a new Taxonomy Filter block, and in exciting news for those with online stores, there are several improvements to WooCommerce Analytics report screens. Full refunds are now correctly reflected across Revenue, Product, and Order reports, including returns, net sales, taxes, and shipping.
For more on WooCommerce 10.2.0, please visit:
https://developer.woocommerce.com/2025/09/17/woocommerce-10-2-a-faster-cart-and-more-ways-to-showcase-products/
Please note that this does not include all updates made to your site, nor does it detail every release of any one particular plugin. As always, if you have any questions or would like more specific details about any of the updates applied to your site specifically, please don’t hesitate to let me know!
Ongoing Issues, Updates & Improvements:
Calendaring Improvements: The migration away from Events Calendar and Events Calendar Pro is nearly complete. Though this migration doesn’t affect all sites with a Care Plan, moving away from Events Calendar Pro helps maintain lower Care Plan pricing across the board for all our clients.
Important Note: Clients who prefer the Events Calendar, have no need for the Events Calendar Pro features, or who opt to purchase an Events Calendar Pro license on their own will continue to use Events Calendar and will not be migrated.
Divi 5: Elegant Themes continues to enhance Divi 5 as they get closer to a public release. Several components, especially third party components, are still in development and third party plugin support continues to roll out. In my testing, there continue to be issues with several basic components. This is to be expected during this beta phase and I’ll be keeping an eye on the development of the theme framework in the months to come. Stay tuned!
Plugin Update Summary for September 2025:
WordPress 6.8.3 Security Update
For more details about this update, please visit:
https://wordpress.org/documentation/wordpress-version/version-6-8-3/
Security-Related Updates
WordPress 6.8.3
Defender 5.5.0
Post SMTP 3.4.2
Events Calendar 6.15.1.1/6.15.4/6.15.5
Simple Cloudflare Turnstile 1.33.0/1.33.1
hCaptcha for WP 4.17.0
List Category Posts 0.92.0
Standard Plugins
SmartCrawl Pro 3.14.3/3.14.4
Smush Pro 3.21.1
Gravity Forms 2.9.17/2.9.17.1/2.9.18
WP Forms 1.9.8.1
Sugar Calendar 3.8.2/3.9.0
Events Calendar 6.15.1.1/6.15.4
Yoast 25.9/26.0
JetPack 15.0/15.0.2
Spellbook 3.0.14/3.0.15
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) 6.5.1
Post SMTP 3.4.2/3.5.0
TablePress 3.2.3
Publish Press Permissions 4.5.0
Share on Mastodon 0.19.4
Slider Revolution 6.7.37
WP All Export 1.4.12
List Category Posts 0.92.0
Advanced Ads 2.0.12
WP Optimize 4.3.0
Font Awesome 5.1.2
Responsive LightboxGallery 2.5.3
Widget Options 4.1.2
Google Analytics for WordPress 9.8.0
Constant Contact for WP 2.13.0
Themes
Divi Supreme Pro 4.9.97.37
Divi Booster 4.10
Divi Modules Pro 1.2.9.4
Supreme Maps Pro 1.8.2
WooCommerce-Related
WooCommerce 10.2.0/10.2.1/10.2.2
Woo Smart Coupons 9.55.0
Flexible Shipping 6.4.0
Woo Shipping 1.8.7/1.8.8/1.8.9
Woo Tax 3.0.10/3.0.11/3.1.0/3.1.1
PDF Inv & Packing List 4.7.0
Woo Product Add-Ons
Woo Stripe 9.9.0/9.9.1/9.9.2
Woo Square 5.0.0
WooPayments 9.9.0/10.0.0
Woo PayPal Payments 3.1.0
Google for WooCommerce 3.4.2/3.4.3
Site Kit by Google 1.161.0
Woo Order Status Control 1.16.1
Export Order Items Pro 2.1.35
YITH Authorize.net 1.48.0
YITH Subscription 4.15.0
YITH Dynamic Pricing 4.24.0
YITH Membership 2.25.0
YITH Gift Cards 4.28.0
YITH AJAX Filter 5.14.1/5.14.2
YITH Product Slider 1.48.0
YITH Category Accordion 2.23.0
YITH Sequential Ord Numb 1.49.0