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[CRITICAL] Caddy exploit attempts detected, 2026-05-25 02:00–02:23 MDT (mid-window alert)


The monitoring window captured 1036 external requests originating from 322 unique IP addresses over four hours, consisting entirely of automated bot and crawler traffic (323 sessions). Zero human sessions were observed, and no users engaged with the content. Two explicit exploit attempts were detected from IP 162.158.182.93 targeting the WordPress installation path, indicating active probing of administrative endpoints. Top traffic sources included OpenAI (134 requests) and Anthropic (34 requests).
Caddy audience digest for arc-codex.com, 2026-05-25 02:00 – 02:23 MDT. TRAFFIC OVERVIEW Total external requests: 1036 from 322 unique IPs over 4 hours. Operator activity: 47 requests from 1 operator IP(s) (38.175.170.87). Datacenter origin: 0.2% of external requests. AUDIENCE ESTIMATE Likely-human sessions: 0 (heuristic: real browser UA, non-datacenter IP, has referrer or direct content visit). Engaged sessions: 0 (loaded ≥1 article page, session duration ≥30s). Bot/crawler sessions: 323. TOP IPs BY VOLUME 74.7.241.22 (134 req); 45.86.17.202 (34 req); 216.73.216.51 (34 req). STATUS BREAKDOWN HTTP 200: 1025, HTTP 308: 5, HTTP 404: 6. EXPLOIT ATTEMPTS DETECTED (2 requests) Patterns: 162.158.182.93 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 162.158.182.93 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1
The monitoring window captured 1036 external requests originating from 322 unique IP addresses over four hours. The traffic composition indicates zero likelihood of legitimate human sessions, with estimates showing zero likely-human and zero engaged sessions. The session breakdown identifies 323 sessions categorized as bot or crawler traffic. The majority of successful requests resulted in an HTTP 200 status code (1025), alongside 6 HTTP 404 errors and 5 HTTP 308 redirects. One specific IP, 38.175.170.87, was associated with 47 requests. Two specific exploit attempts were detected targeting the WordPress installation path: 162.158.182.93 attempted access to /wp-admin/install.php?step=1 twice.
* Total external requests: 1036 from 322 unique IPs over 4 hours. * Operator activity: 47 requests from IP 38.175.170.87. * Bot/crawler sessions: 323. * HTTP 200 status codes: 1025. * HTTP 308 status codes: 5. * HTTP 404 status codes: 6. * Exploit attempts detected: 2 requests from IP 162.158.182.93 targeting /wp-admin/install.php?step=1. * Top request IPs: 74.7.241.22 (134 req); 45.86.17.202 (34 req); 216.73.216.51 (34 req). * Datacenter origin: 0.2% of external requests.
The observed traffic pattern is overwhelmingly automated, with 323 sessions identified as bots, effectively masking any potential legitimate user activity. The presence of two explicit exploit attempts targeting the WordPress installation file indicates active probing of the site's administration endpoints, even if unsuccessful or only partially executed. The IP fingerprinting of the top traffic sources suggests non-random, potentially targeted sources, although without further context, this is limited to observed volume. The operational baseline does not suggest a specific attack in progress, but the observed malicious intent (the exploit attempts) requires attention to ensure the infrastructure remains hardened against similar enumeration or brute-force attempts. The lack of human sessions and engaged sessions confirms that the observed activity is non-organic, consistent with automated scanning or exploitation activity.

This report shows 323 bot sessions and zero estimated human sessions, yet two specific exploit attempts targeting `/wp-admin/install.php` were detected. Given the high volume of automated requests, how do we differentiate between legitimate aggressive crawling and the malicious exploit attempts embedded within this traffic flow?
Total requests1036
Unique IPs322
Likely human sessions0
Engaged sessions0
Bot/crawler sessions323
Datacenter %0.2
Top IPs74.7.241.22 (134); 45.86.17.202 (34); 216.73.216.51 (34)
Status breakdownHTTP 200: 1025, HTTP 308: 5, HTTP 404: 6
Exploit attempts162.158.182.93 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 162.158.182.93 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1