WordPress Security in 2025, WordCamp Asia 2026 Visa Issue & Matt Mullenweg on Succession | WP More — Issue 26

Plus 70% of New WordPress Themes Still Using Classic Architecture, WordCamp Europe 2025 Diversity Scholarship Winner

6 min readMar 24, 2025

Hello WordPress enthusiasts!

Welcome to this month’s WPMore newsletter issue 26, where we bring you the most important developments in the WordPress ecosystem. This issue is packed with insights on WordPress security, community events, and theme development trends.

First Published Here — https://wpmore.substack.com/p/issue-26

So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and let’s explore what’s happening in the world of WordPress right now.

In this Issue:

WordPress Security in 2025: CRA Compliance Now Critical for Developers
WordCamp Asia 2026 Heads to Mumbai, But Visa Issues Create Barriers for Bangladesh & Pakistan
Matt Mullenweg on Succession: “I Don’t Want to Pass It to a Committee”
70% of New WordPress Themes Still Using Classic Architecture
Lua Salazar Receives WordCamp Europe 2025 Diversity Scholarship

WordPress Security in 2025: CRA Compliance Now Critical for Developers

The European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is now reshaping WordPress security practices. Having come into force in December 2024, the CRA will begin applying its first requirements in 2026, mandating that plugin and theme developers implement processes to notify authorities and users about vulnerabilities.

This couldn’t be more timely — 2024 saw 7,966 new security vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem, a concerning 34% increase from 2023 reported by PatchStack. Of these, 96% were in plugins and only 4% in themes. Even more alarming, more than half of plugin developers failed to patch reported vulnerabilities before official disclosure.

The current community situation has further complicated matters. The ongoing dispute between Automattic and WP Engine that became public in September 2024 has fractured trust, with some WordPress sites being disconnected from WordPress.org updates. Many see governance and supply chain integrity as pressing security issues for WordPress in 2025.

With AI playing an increasing role in WordPress development, PatchStack is seeing several emerging risks:

AI-generated code introducing new vulnerabilities
Easier vulnerability discovery
Faster exploitation of vulnerabilities
Previously low-priority vulnerabilities becoming easier to exploit

For developers, implementing vulnerability management and virtual patching will be essential to comply with the CRA and protect their users.

Read the full report “State of WordPress Security In 2025” on PatchStack.com

WordCamp Asia 2026 Heads to Mumbai, But Visa Issues Create Barriers

Mumbai has been selected to host WordCamp Asia 2026, highlighting India’s growing WordPress community that has hosted 12 WordCamps this year alone. However, this exciting announcement has been tempered by concerns over diplomatic tensions between India and Bangladesh.

Since late 2024, India has suspended visas for Bangladeshi nationals, potentially preventing many WordPress contributors from attending. WPManageNinja CMO Faizus Saleheen raised this issue on social media, noting that even if visa processing resumes, clearing the backlog could take 3–4 months, making attendance difficult for many Bangladeshis.

Read the full report on The Repository Here.

Other reports from The Repository you might like to read:

Don’t forget to subscribe & support them, they do some amazing hard-hitting WordPress journalism.

Matt Mullenweg on Succession: “I Don’t Want to Pass It to a Committee”

Amid increasing calls for WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg to step down following his controversial battle with WP Engine, TechCrunch Reports Mullenweg has instead begun thinking about succession planning. In a recent episode of Lenny’s Podcast, he shared that he doesn’t want to pass what he’s built to a “committee,” but rather to another individual CEO who would continue to act as a steward for the WordPress community.

Mullenweg described the role as being “more like a mayor than a CEO,” where the person would ultimately be accountable to users and contributors. He emphasized that checks and balances exist naturally, as “the community could leave, they could fork the software, people could change.”

He also highlighted Automattic’s role in boosting WordPress adoption, noting how the free version of WordPress.com has introduced more than 100 million people to the software. Mullenweg described this collaboration between for-profit Automattic and open source WordPress.org as “a really informed model” that many new startups are now adopting.

70% of New WordPress Themes Still Using Classic Architecture

Despite the push toward Full Site Editing (FSE), classic themes continue to dominate WordPress theme development. According to recent data from WordPress Themes Trac, 70% of themes published in the WordPress directory over the last two years are still using the classic architecture rather than block-based FSE.

The analysis from WPBakery, which looked at 3,486 themes, found only 1,045 block-based FSE themes. However, there’s a clear upward trend in FSE adoption, with the percentage growing steadily. If the trend continues, FSE themes could reach 50% of new submissions by 2026.

Interestingly, the top theme authors are showing resistance to FSE adoption. Among the top 10 independent theme authors, 81% of their submissions are classic themes, with half not submitting any FSE themes at all.

Read the full report here on WP Bakery.

Lua Salazar Receives WordCamp Europe 2025 Diversity Scholarship

WordCamp Europe has announced Lua Salazar as the recipient of this year’s Diversity Scholarship for the 2025 event. Hailing from Nicaragua, Lua is a business administrator with 15 years of experience in business management, consulting, and training, along with a passion for technology and digital marketing.

Lua has been an active WordPress community member since 2019, currently contributing about 10 hours weekly to the Community Team and mentoring local events through the WordPress Latam Community. She works as a Community Manager and Project Manager, roles that align with her passions for technology and community engagement.

On other WordPress News

→ Check WordCamp Asia 2025 in photos — Flickr Album, and Official Google Photos Album Here.

→ Join Alt Ctrl Org WordCamp event Friday Evening from 18:00 till 21:00 on June 6th in Basel to hear alternative talks on WordPress that you probably won’t hear at WordCamp.

→ A Month in Core — February 2025 (Make WordPress)

→ WordPress.org Themes of 2024: Reflections & Stats (ILoveWP) — It’s harder than ever for new WordPress themes to stand out. In this article, Dumitru Brinzan dive into data from over 1,700 themes released on WordPress.org throughout 2024.

From WordPress Community

→ What is a “Website Care Plan” and What’s Included? (TheAdminBar.com)

→ From Founding to Funding, Marieke van de Rakt’s Entrepreneurial Journey (DoTheWoo.io)

→ 16 Years of rtCamp: Expansion, Innovation, and New Frontiers (rtcamp.com)

→ What Kinsta’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday analytics can teach e-commerce websites (Kinsta.com)

→ How we use AI for software development at WP Fusion (drunk.support)

→ Why WordPress is a tough sell for marketing students (progressplanner.com)

→ WordCamp Asia 2025 Talk you don’t want to miss: Boosting Performance with Optimization Detective (weston.ruter.net)

→ WordCamp Asia 2025 Recap: A New Era for Freemius and Uncertain Times for WordPress (Freemius.com) — Vova Feldman shared in-details of their WordCamp Asia 2025 pros and cons, worth reading.

→ WordCamp Asia 2025: It’s All About The People (wpbakery.com) — Another WordCamp Asia 2025 blog I enjoyed reading.

→ From 2017 to Now: How Influencer Marketing Has Transformed in WordPress space (callmelana.com) — Lana Miro shares her observations on influencer marketing; on where we are today and what the future holds.

→ A New Home for All Things Within WordPress (remkusdevries.com) — Remkus de Vries moved his popular newsletter to a new website.

From the Editor’s Desk

That’s all for this issue of WPMore newsletter! What are your thoughts on these developments?

Are you preparing for CRA compliance?

Planning to attend WordCamp Asia 2026?

Still developing classic themes?

Let us know by replying to this newsletter.

Until next month,

Nishat, WPMore

Follow → X.com | LinkedIn | BlueSky | Facebook

Join Our Community → Sub-Reddit | X Community

🔥 Loved this issue? Forward it to a friend!

Originally published at https://wpmore.substack.com.