Industry Leaders Unite to Strengthen WordPress Supply Chain Security
The CloudFest USA Hackathon brought together 22 WordPress security experts and developers on November 4, 2025, at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay to tackle one of the ecosystem’s pressing challenges: maintaining secure and reliable federated and independent repositories at scale. In just one intensive day, teams collaborated to build the FAIR Software Security Assistant—an open-source tool that promises to transform how hosting providers and site owners manage WordPress security.
The Challenge
The mission was ambitious yet focused: create an integration between Patchstack’s comprehensive CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) API and the FAIR (Federated and Independent Repositories) network. The goal? Build a system that could automatically label vulnerable packages and prevent the installation of those with critical security issues. Download the project brief.
This integration addresses a fundamental weakness in the WordPress ecosystem. With 96% of WordPress vulnerabilities stemming from third-party plugins and themes*, the project aimed to put crucial security information directly in the hands of those who need it most. By combining FAIR’s decentralized architecture with Patchstack’s vulnerability intelligence covering over 33,000 known vulnerabilities, the hackathon sought to create a powerful new security tool for the WordPress community.
*Source: Patchstack, 2025 mid-year WordPress vulnerability report.
Miami Teams, Miami Vibes
True to the hackathon’s South Florida location, participants organized into four teams with Miami-inspired names. Four main teams tackled distinct components—the policy engine, backend API integration, and frontend UX design—while a fourth “floating” team provided support wherever needed.
The atmosphere struck a perfect balance between focused productivity and collaborative energy. Despite the compressed timeline, participants maintained a relatively relaxed vibe, with periodic standup-style check-ins keeping everyone aligned. These regular sync points proved crucial for coordinating efforts across teams and quickly addressing any blockers.
From Challenge to Achievement
Bringing together developers, security professionals, and hosting experts from diverse backgrounds meant the teams first needed to align on the project vision and establish their workflows. With attendees at varying levels of familiarity with both FAIR and Patchstack technologies, this initial synchronization was essential but a bit time-consuming. The pressure was real—one day to build a working prototype of an ambitious security automation system. Yet, once they found their rhythm, progress accelerated rapidly. By day’s end, all teams had achieved proof-of-concept implementations:
UX Mockups: Demonstrating how security information would be presented to users in an intuitive, actionable format.
Functioning API Checks: Successfully querying Patchstack’s vulnerability database to retrieve real-time security data about WordPress packages.
Policy Engine Model: Defining actions based on vulnerability severity and allowing for both global and per-site configuration options.The policy engine emerged as a particular triumph. It was the least defined component going into the hackathon, yet it became one of the most complete deliverables—a testament to the team’s creativity and problem-solving abilities.
What We Built: The FAIR Software Security Assistant
The hackathon delivered a working prototype of an intelligent automation system that:
- Monitors FAIR repositories for new package submissions and updates
- Cross-references against Patchstack’s database for real-time vulnerability assessment
- Applies hosting-specific policies for automated approval, flagging, or blocking
- Generates compliance reports and audit trails for enterprise environments
- Integrates with hosting dashboards for seamless workflow integration
- Provides override capabilities for hosting provider manual review when needed
This tool transforms security management from a reactive scramble to a proactive, automated process—addressing the critical question many providers face: How to maintain consistent security standards in the absence of a central authority to enforce them.
Impact on the WordPress Ecosystem
This collaboration represents more than just a technical achievement. It’s a significant step toward a more secure WordPress ecosystem. The integration enables several critical security improvements:
Proactive Protection: Vulnerable packages can be blocked at installation, preventing security issues before they occur rather than cleaning up after breaches.
Real-time Alerts: Site owners receive immediate notifications when new vulnerabilities are discovered in their installed packages.
Customizable Security Policies: Hosting providers and repository maintainers can define their own security rules, enforcing consistent protocols across entire networks.
Supply Chain Transparency: Users gain visibility into the security status of their entire WordPress stack, addressing the root cause of 96% of WordPress vulnerabilities.For hosting providers adopting FAIR repositories, this tool transforms security management from a manual burden into an automated advantage. It demonstrates that federated architecture doesn’t mean sacrificing security—instead, it enables superior security controls with granular policy enforcement.
An Unexpected Bonus
Beyond the primary deliverable, the hackathon produced a valuable additional resource: a Starter GitHub Repository. Originally developed to help participants quickly set up their development environments, this repository now lives on as a permanent resource for future FAIR contributors, lowering the barrier to entry for developers interested in contributing to the project.
The Power of Strategic Collaboration
The success of this hackathon demonstrates the power of bringing together complementary strengths:
FAIR’s Innovation: Federated repository architecture with W3C DID-based cryptographic trust, eliminating single points of failure.
Patchstack’s Authority: Dominant vulnerability intelligence platform responsible for 70% of new WordPress vulnerability discoveries, with a comprehensive database of 33,000+ vulnerabilities.
Combined Impact: An automated security system that makes federated repositories not just viable, but superior to centralized alternatives.
This partnership also addressed real business needs:
- For hosting providers: Transformation of FAIR adoption from a potential risk into a competitive advantage
- For FAIR: A compelling demonstration of federated security advantages to accelerate hosting provider adoption
- For Patchstack: Positioning as an essential security intelligence layer for WordPress’s federated future
Looking Forward
The successful proof-of-concept marks the beginning, not the end, of this collaboration. FAIR and Patchstack plan to continue iterating on the hackathon’s output, with the labeling system and third-party moderation service integration slated for inclusion in future FAIR software releases.
As WordPress continues to power over 40% of the web, initiatives like this become increasingly critical. By putting security information and controls directly where they’re needed, when they’re needed, the FAIR Software Security Assistant represents a meaningful step toward a safer, more sustainable WordPress ecosystem.
The hackathon proved that when security experts, developers, and hosting professionals come together with a shared mission, remarkable things can happen—even in just one day.
Acknowledgments
The CloudFest USA 2025 Hackathon was held on November 4, 2025, at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay, bringing together security experts, hosting providers and WordPress professionals from across the industry.
Special thanks to:
- Patchstack – Exclusive Sponsor and Strategic Partner, providing essential vulnerability intelligence and security expertise
- Carrie Dils, WordPress Developer, LinkedIn Learning Instructor & FAIR TSC Co-chair – Project Lead
- Brent Toderash, Director at Modern Earth, AspirePress Project Manager & FAIR TSC Member – Project Lead
- Elliot Taylor, Head of Engineering at Patchstack – Project Lead
- Alain Schlesser, Software Engineer, WP-CLI Maintainer & Google Developer Expert – Project Mentor
- Carole Olinger – Head of CloudFest Hackathon
Participating WordPress Companies:
Thank you to the organizations that sent representatives:
Media Partners:
Special thanks to our media partners for helping spread the word:
And to all the participants who brought their expertise, energy, and enthusiasm to build something meaningful for the WordPress industry and community.
