Best way to pirate WordPress plugins (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by goldensw@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Is there any way to pirate premium WordPress plugins and minimizing the chance of getting malware? Meaning perhaps there are certain sources that are known to provide malware free content and generally have a good reputation. I know piracy will always involve risks but it doesn't hurt to ask people with first-hand experience. I am even willing to pay but there's no way I will afford plugins that cost hundreds of dollars a year anytime soon.

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[-] Moonrise2473@feddit.it 2 points 2 days ago

The problem is that you also get malware with legit premium plugins. I bought a $59 plugin on codecanyon and my WordPress install was hacked because it had an unpatched bug that allowed anyone to register as admin.

Did not get any single warning email from codecanyon or the dev, I just got lucky that the hacker was dumb enough to try to claim my site on Google search console and Google warned me immediately, so I could just revert a backup after understanding what was going on. Luckily, again, the hacker left the hints in the admin panel by uninstalling my "premium" plugin, so I understood that was how he could get inside.

If it's a new website, avoid WordPress. It's a security mess and extremely inefficient. I am burdened by this technical debt, migrating now it's very time consuming.

[-] goldensw@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago

Damn, that's crazy. I suspect this could be mitigated somewhat if you only get popular premium plugins that are open source as well. But that is likely more expensive and limits flexibility.

[-] zo0@programming.dev 26 points 5 days ago

I would ask you to reconsider. Maybe look for an open source alternative or just another solution rather than wp plugins, or wp in general. There are already alternative foss programs to wp if you really need a suite for making the website.

The reason I say this is simply security. Let's say you get your hands on a fully malware free version of that plugin today, so far so good. What happens when the plugin needs a security update? Your version is pirated so it obviously won't be updated automatically. Now until you find an updated pirated version your website has a security hole that you can't do anything about unless you disable the plugin. Depending on plugin, now your website is either broken, slow or whatever you get the point

[-] goldensw@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 days ago

Yeah, I am starting to come to the same conclusion. Keeping the plugin up to date seems like the biggest issue even IF I do manage to find an initial reliable source.

[-] lukecooperatus@lemmy.ml 9 points 5 days ago

Most of the paid plugins I've messed with have code to phone home and prevent operation if there's not a paid license of some sort.

However, before you bother trying to put effort into pirating those, I recommend making certain that what you want isn't already freely available a different way. Many paid plugins have decent open source and free alternative plugin(s) that can be used instead. You just have to look hard enough in the plugin listing. The WordPress ecosystem is vast, but there are a ton of smarmy assholes charging monthly subscriptions for plugins that replicate features provided by free plugins and hoping you won't notice.

[-] goldensw@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

True, I've come across some free plugins that offer better functionality than paid versions. The issue is how often will the dev update it and how long will development continue. It might be risky to depend longterm on something that is free but has 5k downloads vs something that is paid with 50k downloads and is getting constant updates. Of course, if you pirate paid plugins it's arguably even worse with the updates... so I guess pirating plugins is not really the best of ideas.

[-] 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago

You can always look for code that validates the license and make it return true all the time. This part is easy, so many agencies usually also have a different obfuscated code to check for code modification.

It's just time consuming depending on how many levels of obfuscation they've used.

[-] Priyathium@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

This is the time to move your website to something other than WordPress or use free themes. I genuinely don't want anyone's website to end up like this: Overpaying me after using illegal plugins (I wrote this)

[-] goldensw@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 days ago

An interesting read. I am glad I posted here. :)

[-] gramie@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 days ago

You might want to look at something like Drupal as an alternative to WordPress. Drupal tends toward a lot more open source for its plugins (which they call modules). As a developer myself, I also find it better engineered than WordPress, although maybe that's just because I used Drupal more.

[-] hexagonwin@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 5 days ago

aren't wordpress plugins just php code? i believe it would be trivial to look through, if you can obtain them in the first place.

[-] StitchInTime@piefed.social 4 points 5 days ago

They’re also all GPL due to the nature of Wordpress, even the “paid” ones, so if you can find a copy you’re also in the clear - just be careful of your sources.

[-] goldensw@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 days ago

Some of the plugins I've seen use "tokens" for example to enable pro features. They also have free versions but their functionality is often severely limited.

[-] mbirth@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 days ago

i believe it would be trivial to look through, if you can obtain them in the first place.

That’s the key point. Most paid plugins you can download only after paying. And if you get your hands on a copy, that doesn’t mean you’ll get updates, too. And running old plugins can considerably harm the security of your installation.

But if you can get your hands on a fully functional demo, you usually can remove limits.

[-] goldensw@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I am not a dev myself, I am collaborating with someone who is though but I doubt he would be willing to do that and guarantee me the code is malware free.