WordPress 7.0.4 security release

atomicthistle

WordPress 7.0.4 is out, security fix only.

https://wordpress.org/news/2026/08/wordpress-7-0-4-release/

Since last year we have auto-updates off, after one site became a white page over a weekend.

Our developer says: that a security release should still go on the same day. So it is done by hand now.

Do you really leave auto-updates on for this or do you click through them yourself?

marquezblog

Minor updates are on by default for a reason. Turning them off is the bigger risk! What broke, core or a plugin?

BraveWalrus

Core minor, sure. But on the shop I want to see a plugin update before it goes live, Mollie included.

Rickey

Minor core updates run on my LMS site for years, never broke a thing. It was always a plugin...

So that white page, core minor or a plugin?

atomicthistle

A page builder add-on - not the core itself.

marquezblog

We took over 30 sites last year, with plugins at 200 euro a year each.

Clients ask what they pay for!

Rickey, do you tell yours each time something updates?

Rickey

I tried a mail per update for two months on the dog training site, a short note each time, version numbers, the lot. Nobody opened them: the client had a filter sending them straight to a folder 🙂

Now it goes in the monthly report, one line per plugin, old version, new version. And that gets read, becuase the invoice sits in the same mail.

Axel.Gaudin

atomicthistle wrote
Do you really leave auto-updates on for this or do you click through them yourself?

On, for the shop, always. If I had to follow the security news every day - then nothing else gets done, I missed the last one completely !

atomicthistle

Ok fair - Core minor goes back on, plugins stay manual, monthly check.

jperez

Core minor and plugin auto-updates are separate switches since 5.5 - so it's not one rule for both. 7.0.4 is the security fix only. Edit: the shop's on it since this morning, nothing broke.

wildbadger

This. Two switches, done.

luckY_biSon

Core minor isn't always harmless. I had one stop halfway on Strato, site said briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance since one hour. I make a backup before each one now. Has anyone else seen that?

markusengel

Yes, I've had that twice on IONOS, same message.

It's the .maintenance file in the site root. WordPress drops it before the update and should remove it after, but a PHP timeout leaves it there.

Delete that file over FTP and the site's back. The update itself had usually finished.

Also I'd check the version after, it could be half done as well.

SleepyBison1124

I just saw 7.1 is out and my shop is still on 7.0.4! Will that one install itself too?

markusengel

No, majors don't, only the 7.1.x minors later. Do you have a staging copy?

thank you