• Posted by: Eng. Donya Bino
• December 12, 2025

Overlooked Website Hacking Techniques That Still Cause Breaches

Some website attacks are predictable, yet they continue to work year after year.
Not because attackers are unusually clever but because the same weak spots remain untouched.
When security teams review incidents, the patterns look almost identical across different industries.
Below are the techniques that still show up in real compromises, even though the fixes are straightforward.

1. Old CMS Versions and Forgotten Plugins
Outdated website components remain an easy target. Attackers track known vulnerabilities and scan the internet for sites running versions that should have been patched months ago.
Many breaches start with a single outdated plugin that no one remembered was installed.

Common outcomes include unauthorized file changes, backdoors inside theme folders, or injected code that silently redirects visitors.

2. Unprotected Admin Pages 
Most admin dashboards are regularly found in the same predictable locations /admin, /dashboard and /login however, if the admin dashboard is not protected behind Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), or IP restriction, then you can guarantee that every attacker on the same level is trying to get in with password guesswork before they can try using automated tools to gain entry. 

Once an attacker has found an entry point into your dashboard using an automated tool it will only be a matter of time before they create a new account for continued access or they will change the current site's settings to establish an ongoing means of persistence.

3. SQL Injection on Old or Temporary Features 
While they are often considered legacy areas of the site, the hidden vulnerabilities within these legacy functionalities can still be exploited by attackers regularly accessing these pages even when no longer in use. 

If your development team creates test forms, searches through an outdated search bar, or creates an API endpoint that is no longer in use, they are still receiving traffic from attackers searching for SQL Injection entry points to attack.

If so, any of the above options serve as direct access points to your database in addition to the user information contained therein.

4. XSS through unverified User Input 
Regardless of how simple an input field may appear, if the input field allows unverified text input to be placed into the form, then that field has the potential to cause severe harm to the site and end-users via Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). 

In the case XSS, an attacker will inject JavaScript into an input field that loads on the user or admin that views that page. If that happens, it can lead to cookie theft, forced actions, and/or malicious redirects.

XSS is exceedingly prevalent because, unlike current website technology's ease of use, there is still a disparity in how much protection and validation of end-user input companies and/or developers are utilizing on their website.

5. API Keys Exposed Through Front-End Code
Attackers will generally look at the publicly available code of a website to locate keys, tokens, and configuration files. If the key is visible in a browser it is considered to have been exposed, regardless of the perceived innocuous nature of the key being exposed.

Keys can be used by an attacker to call internal APIs or make fraudulent requests or access cloud-based buckets associated with the application.

6. Open File Upload Areas
Upload features often allow images, PDFs, or documents. If file handling is too relaxed, attackers upload disguised scripts that run on the server.
This is one of the fastest ways to turn a small website flaw into full server access.
The typical signs: unusual files appearing in upload folders or unfamiliar connections leaving the server.

7. It is Important to Monitor Third-Party Scripts. 
Web sites rely on external scripts such as analytic tools, chat widgets and marketing tags, which are often referred to as "third-party scripts". However, when a web site does not monitor these scripts, each one of them becomes an unattended source of potential problems. If any one of these scripts is compromised from another source before reaching your web site, you immediately inherit that risk.

Many organizations do not keep track of the number of scripts actually in use and/or where they originated.

Most website breaches don’t begin with a new exploit.
They start with everyday issues that fall off the radar, old plugins, forgotten endpoints, abandoned scripts, or unprotected admin pages.
Addressing these basics consistently does more for security than any advanced tool.