{"id":2039,"date":"2007-01-29T20:51:17","date_gmt":"2007-01-29T15:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T15:55:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T10:25:29","slug":"security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/","title":{"rendered":"Hide WordPress Version: How to Remove It (and Why Updating Matters More)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Back in 2007, I was chatting with several WordPress bloggers who were putting off a security upgrade because, they said, nobody knew which version they were running. I told them everyone knows your WordPress version: it&#8217;s printed right in the page source. That&#8217;s still true. Here&#8217;s how to <strong>hide WordPress version<\/strong> details in 2026, and why it&#8217;s only a small part of keeping your site safe.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-64690\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/hide-wordpress-version-1024x538.webp\" alt=\"Hide WordPress version\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/hide-wordpress-version-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/hide-wordpress-version-300x158.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/hide-wordpress-version-150x79.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/hide-wordpress-version-768x403.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/hide-wordpress-version.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> Add <code>remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator');<\/code> and <code>add_filter('the_generator', '__return_empty_string');<\/code> to your theme&#8217;s functions.php (or a code snippets plugin) to remove the version from your page head and RSS feeds. Many security plugins do this with one checkbox. The best protection, though, is keeping WordPress, themes and plugins updated.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6adb065e3bf60\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6adb065e3bf60\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#Where_WordPress_shows_its_version\" >Where WordPress shows its version<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#How_to_hide_WordPress_version_numbers\" >How to hide WordPress version numbers<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#1_Remove_the_generator_tag_and_feed_version\" >1. Remove the generator tag and feed version<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#2_Remove_version_numbers_from_scripts_and_styles\" >2. Remove version numbers from scripts and styles<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#3_Block_readmehtml\" >3. Block readme.html<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#4_Use_a_security_plugin\" >4. Use a security plugin<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#Why_updating_matters_more\" >Why updating matters more<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#Is_hiding_the_WordPress_version_worth_it\" >Is hiding the WordPress version worth it?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#Will_hiding_the_version_break_my_site\" >Will hiding the version break my site?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/01\/security-update-everyone-knows-your-wordpress-version\/#Can_people_still_tell_my_site_uses_WordPress\" >Can people still tell my site uses WordPress?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Where_WordPress_shows_its_version\"><\/span>Where WordPress shows its version<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>generator meta tag<\/strong> in your page&#8217;s HTML head.<\/li>\n<li>Your <strong>RSS feeds<\/strong> (generator tag).<\/li>\n<li><strong>?ver=<\/strong> query strings on core scripts and stylesheets.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>readme.html<\/strong> file in your WordPress root folder.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_hide_WordPress_version_numbers\"><\/span>How to hide WordPress version numbers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Remove_the_generator_tag_and_feed_version\"><\/span>1. Remove the generator tag and feed version<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<pre><code>remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator');\nadd_filter('the_generator', '__return_empty_string');<\/code><\/pre>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Remove_version_numbers_from_scripts_and_styles\"><\/span>2. Remove version numbers from scripts and styles<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<pre><code>function qot_remove_ver($src) {\n  if (strpos($src, 'ver=' . get_bloginfo('version'))) {\n    $src = remove_query_arg('ver', $src);\n  }\n  return $src;\n}\nadd_filter('style_loader_src', 'qot_remove_ver', 9999);\nadd_filter('script_loader_src', 'qot_remove_ver', 9999);<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>This only strips the core version; plugin versions remain, which helps caching.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Block_readmehtml\"><\/span>3. Block readme.html<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Delete readme.html after each update, or block it in .htaccess. Some security plugins handle this.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Use_a_security_plugin\"><\/span>4. Use a security plugin<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Wordfence, Solid Security and similar plugins can hide the version along with other hardening options.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_updating_matters_more\"><\/span>Why updating matters more<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Hiding your version is security through obscurity. Automated attack tools usually try known exploits on every site regardless of version. What actually protects you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Turn on automatic updates for WordPress core and trusted plugins.<\/li>\n<li>Remove unused themes and plugins.<\/li>\n<li>Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication.<\/li>\n<li>Keep regular off-site backups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Google has long warned site owners running old versions; see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/10\/google-warns-old-wordpress-versions\/\">Google warns bloggers hosting old WordPress versions<\/a>. Locked out? Here&#8217;s the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/03\/how-to-use-emergency-wordpress-password-reset-script\/\">emergency WordPress password reset script<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_hiding_the_WordPress_version_worth_it\"><\/span>Is hiding the WordPress version worth it?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s a quick extra step but won&#8217;t stop attacks on its own. Updating is far more important.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Will_hiding_the_version_break_my_site\"><\/span>Will hiding the version break my site?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>No. The generator tag isn&#8217;t needed for anything to work.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Can_people_still_tell_my_site_uses_WordPress\"><\/span>Can people still tell my site uses WordPress?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Yes, from folder names like \/wp-content\/. Hiding the version only hides which release you use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back in 2007, I was chatting with several WordPress bloggers who were putting off a security upgrade because, they said,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":64690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-2039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogging","category-security","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2039"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64695,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039\/revisions\/64695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}