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[CRITICAL] Caddy exploit attempts detected, 2026-05-25 10:00–12:55 MDT (mid-window alert)


A scanner probed for WordPress vulnerabilities 9 times from 4 IPs, all targeting `/wp-admin/install.php`, while OpenAI and Anthropic accounted for 1,249 of 6,809 total requests. Only 1 human session engaged with content, with the remaining traffic dominated by 1,231 bot/crawler sessions. Top referrers included Meta platforms and Bluesky, but no significant audience activity occurred. The window was clean background traffic with negligible errors (105 404s, 2 500s) and no successful exploits.
Caddy audience digest for arc-codex.com, 2026-05-25 10:00 – 12:55 MDT. TRAFFIC OVERVIEW Total external requests: 6809 from 570 unique IPs over 4 hours. Operator activity: 3 requests from 1 operator IP(s) (38.175.170.87). Datacenter origin: 0.1% of external requests. AUDIENCE ESTIMATE Likely-human sessions: 1 (heuristic: real browser UA, non-datacenter IP, has referrer or direct content visit). Engaged sessions: 1 (loaded ≥1 article page, session duration ≥30s). Bot/crawler sessions: 1231. TOP REFERRERS m.facebook.com (3), facebook.com (1), go.bsky.app (1). TOP IPs BY VOLUME 74.7.241.22 (680 req); 216.73.216.51 (569 req); 216.244.66.198 (223 req). STATUS BREAKDOWN HTTP 0: 38, HTTP 200: 6586, HTTP 304: 9, HTTP 308: 69, HTTP 404: 105, HTTP 500: 2. EXPLOIT ATTEMPTS DETECTED (9 requests) Patterns: 104.23.223.75 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 104.23.223.74 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 172.64.192.148 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 172.64.192.148 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 172.70.251.49 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1
Your site received 6,809 external requests over a 4-hour window, with 570 unique IPs. Traffic was overwhelmingly bot-driven (1,231 bot sessions), while only one session appeared likely-human (direct content visit, non-datacenter IP, browser UA). Operator activity was minimal (3 requests from a single IP). The top referrers were Meta platforms (Facebook) and Bluesky, suggesting minor social media engagement. HTTP 200 responses dominated (6,586), with a small fraction of errors (105 404s, 2 500s). Exploit attempts were detected (9 requests) targeting `/wp-admin/install.php`, a common WordPress vulnerability probe. No evidence of successful compromise or unusual load spikes. The pattern aligns with typical low-traffic, bot-heavy internet exposure.
Time window: 2026-05-25 10:00–12:55 MDT. Total external requests: 6,809 from 570 unique IPs. Operator activity: 3 requests from IP 38.175.170.87. Datacenter-origin traffic: 0.1% of external requests. Likely-human sessions: 1 (browser UA, non-datacenter IP, referrer/direct visit). Engaged sessions: 1 (≥1 article page, ≥30s duration). Bot/crawler sessions: 1,231. Top referrers: m.facebook.com (3), facebook.com (1), go.bsky.app (1). Top IPs by volume: 74.7.241.22 (680 req), 216.73.216.51 (569 req), 216.244.66.198 (223 req). HTTP status codes: 0 (38), 200 (6,586), 304 (9), 308 (69), 404 (105), 500 (2). Exploit attempts: 9 requests from 4 IPs (104.23.223.75, 104.23.223.74, 172.64.192.148, 172.70.251.49) targeting `/wp-admin/install.php`.
This traffic pattern is consistent with a low-traffic site experiencing routine internet background noise. The 1,231 bot sessions and minimal human engagement (1 session) reflect typical automated scanning and crawling. The exploit attempts (9 requests) are a known fingerprint of opportunistic WordPress vulnerability probes—common but not targeted. The absence of successful 200 responses to these probes suggests no compromise. The top IPs by volume (e.g., 74.7.241.22) are likely crawlers or CDN probes; no single IP dominated abnormally. The 500 errors (2) are negligible but worth monitoring if recurrent. For resource implications, the 6,586 200 responses suggest caching could reduce load, but the volume is trivial for modern infrastructure. Next digest should track recurrence of `/wp-admin/install.php` probes and monitor the 500-error endpoints for stability. No adversarial fingerprint beyond generic scanning. The window is clean—no action required unless patterns escalate.

This report leans heavily on the "likely-human sessions" heuristic, but with only 1 engaged session out of 6,809 requests, it’s statistically negligible—why treat this as meaningful audience activity rather than noise? The 0.1% datacenter traffic is dismissed, yet the top IPs (74.7.241.22, 216.73.216.51) account for 18% of all requests—are we sure these aren’t obscured botnets or misclassified CDN traffic? The exploit attempts are all targeting `/wp-admin/install.php`, which suggests a trivial, automated probe—why highlight this as a "detected" threat rather than background internet noise? If 98% of traffic is bots, what’s the real signal here?
Total requests6809
Unique IPs570
Likely human sessions1
Engaged sessions1
Bot/crawler sessions1231
Datacenter %0.1
Top referrersm.facebook.com (3), facebook.com (1), go.bsky.app (1)
Top IPs74.7.241.22 (680); 216.73.216.51 (569); 216.244.66.198 (223)
Status breakdownHTTP 0: 38, HTTP 200: 6586, HTTP 304: 9, HTTP 308: 69, HTTP 404: 105, HTTP 500: 2
Exploit attempts104.23.223.75 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 104.23.223.74 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 172.64.192.148 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 172.64.192.148 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 172.70.251.49 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1