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:
Updates & Improvements, and Ongoing Issues:
1) WordPress Security Updates with version 7.0.4 & 7.0.4: In early August, WordPress released two patches a week apart, each to plug a number of security issues discovered in WordPress 7.0+
These updates patched several stored cross-site scripting (XSS), CSS injection, server-side request forgery (SSRF), and email verification flaws. Both patches were installed on our WordPress Care Plan client sites less than 24 hours after release. For more details on the updates as well as the specific flaws patched, you may visit the following links:
https://wordpress.org/documentation/wordpress-version/version-7-0-3/
https://wordpress.org/documentation/wordpress-version/version-7-0-4/
2) WordPress 7.1 was also released in August! Dubbed “Mary Lou,” to honor pioneering jazz pianist, arranger, and composer Mary Lou Williams, WordPress 7.1 brought with it the ability to apply Responsive Styles within the site editor, it applies consistent navigation with an “always on” Admin bar that now moves with you across editors, it offers a new dedicated workflow for editing images, Inline Notes with mentions and rich text for better formatting, improved image compression, resizing, and thumbnail generation, plus native support for AVIF, HEIC, and HDR gain maps, customizable responsive breakpoints, organization via tabs, custom icons, playlists in the block editor and more.
While not all these new features will be beneficial to Care Plan clients who are typically using a different editor than the standard block editor, I expect many of these changes will be made available or adopted by other visual editors as time goes on. For more on WordPress 7.1, please visit: https://wordpress.org/news/2026/08/mary-lou/
3) Ongoing Divi 5 Update Information: Though new client sites are being configured with Divi 5, existing client sites will remain on Divi 4 for now as I begin migrating to the final release on selected sites to determine if any compatibility issues arise. I am finding the interface changes are significant enough and enough compatibility issues remain that I’m “playing it safe” and slowing down the roll-out for now. Stay tuned for more updates!
Security-related Patches in the month of July:
- Big surprise: Elementor security patches were released in August!
(My digs at Elementor aside, my goal is to get all Care Plan clients who may be using Elementor on to other, more secure, editors as quickly as possible) - Gravity Forms included security hardening patches in 3.0.3
- Routine feature and Usability updates were made with the release of Defender Pro 6.2.0 and Wordfence 9.0.0
- Security patches of note were applied to Advanced Custom Fields, Gravity SMTP, Woo Stripe and the maintenance plugins used by our Care Plans: Dashboard, Hummingbird, SmartCrawl, Smush, and Hustle.
All security patches and affected plugins, including some listed in the overview below, are generally installed via your Care Plan within 12-48 hours of an update becoming available depending upon the severity of the patch.
Plugin Update Summary for August 2026:
WordPress Core
7.0.3 (security patch) & 7.1
Security-Related Updates
WordPress 7.0.3 / 7.0.4
Defender Pro 6.2.0
Divi 5.0 Final 5.11.1
Elementor 4.2.3
Essential Addons for Elementor 6.7.3
Ultimate Addons for Elementor 2.9.4
Woo Product Add-Ons 8.4.1
Woo Stripe 10.8.5
YITH Membership 2.33.1
Gravity Forms 3.0.3
Hummingbird Pro 3.21.2
SmartCrawl Pro 3.16.3
Smush Pro 4.3.0
Hustle Pro 7.8.14.2
WPMU DEV 5.0.2
UpdraftPlus 1.26.7
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) 6.8.7
Secure Custom Fields (SCF) 6.9.4/6.9.5
Gravity SMTP 2.3.3
Google Analytics for WordPress 11.1.3
FancyBox 3.4.0
Feeds for YouTube 2.8.0/2.8.1/2.8.3
Standard Plugins
SmartCrawl Pro 3.16.3/3.16.4
Hummingbird Pro 3.21.0/3.21.1/3.21.2
Smush Pro 4.3.0/4.3.1/4.3.2
Hustle Pro 7.8.14.2
WPMU DEV Dashboard 5.0.1/5.0.2
Gravity Forms 3.0.1
GP Advanced Calculations 2.0.5
GP File Upload 1.5.14
GP Populate Anything 2.1.74/2.1.75
GP Read Only 1.9.30
GF Advanced Post Creation 1.6.2
GF Polls 4.4.1
Post SMTP 4.0.0/4.0.1
Gravity SMTP 2.3.2/2.3.3
Spellbook 3.0.29
Contact Form 7 6.1.7
Conditional Fields for CF 7
Sugar Calendar 3.13.0
Yoast 28.2/28.3
JetPack 16.1/16.1.1/16.1.2
Akismet 5.7.1/5.7.2
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) 6.8.7/6.8.8/6.8.9
Secure Custom Fields (SCF) 6.9.4/6.9.5
TablePress 3.3.4
Soliloquy 2.7.5
Envira Gallery 1.16.0/1.16.1/1.16.2
NextGen Gallery 4.3.0/4.4.0
Advanced Ads 2.0.26
UpdraftPlus 1.26.7
Smart Slider 3 Pro 3.5.1.39
Strong Testimonials 3.3.6
RSS Retriever Lite 1.2.3
Google Analytics for WordPress 11.1.3
CookieYes 3.5.4/3.5.5
Publish Press Permissions 4.8.3
MC4WP 4.14.0
Feeds for YouTube 2.8.0/2.8.1/2.8.2/2.8.3
Strong Testimonials 3.3.5
FancyBox 3.4.0/3.4.1/3.4.2
Simple Sitemap 3.6.2/3.6.3/3.7.0
Themes and Related Plugins
Divi 5.0 Final 5.11.0
Divi Booster 5.8/5.8.1
WPBakery 9.0.1
Elementor 4.2.2/4.2.3
Astra (Elementor Theme) 4.13.9/4.13.10
Essential Addons for Elementor 6.7.3/6.8.0/6.8.1
Ultimate Addons for Elementor 2.9.3/2.9.4
SeedProd Pro 6.20.9
Desktop Mode (OpenStation) 1.0.0/1.0.1/1.1.0
WooCommerce-Related
WooCommerce 11.0/11.0.1
Woo Smart Coupons 9.82.0
Woo Product Add-Ons 8.4.1
Woo Variation Swatches 3.1.18
Flexible Shipping 6.11.0/6.12.0/6.12.1
Woo Shipping 2.3.13/2.3.14/2.3.15
Woo Tax 3.6.11/3.6.12/3.6.13
PDF Inv & Packing List 5.16.0/5.16.1
Woo Order Status Mgr 1.15.9
Woo URL Coupons 2.16.4
Woo Stripe 10.8.5/10.9.0/10.9.1
Woo Square 5.4.3
WooPayments 11.0.0/11.0.1
Woo PayPal Payments 4.1.2
Conditional Shipping 3.7.0
Google for WooCommerce 3.9.0/3.9.1
Tickera 3.6.0.3
YITH Authorize.net 1.57.0 / 1.58.0
YITH Subscription 4.26.0
YITH Dynamic Pricing 4.33.0
YITH Membership 2.33.1/2.34.0
YITH Gift Cards 4.37.0
YITH AJAX Filter 5.23.0
YITH Product Slider 1.56.0/1.57.0
YITH Category Accordion 2.32.0
YITH Sequential Ord Numb 1.58.0
YITH Anti-Fraud 2.15.0