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[CRITICAL] Caddy exploit attempts detected, 2026-05-25 02:00–05:43 MDT (mid-window alert)


The system processed 11,982 external requests, dominated by 1,440 automated bot sessions and a single human session that engaged with the content. The majority of traffic consisted of benign scraping activity from top contributors including OpenAI (1,245 requests) and Anthropic (868 requests). Nine specific exploit attempts were detected targeting the WordPress installation endpoint from distinct IP addresses, including 162.158.182.93, 104.23.221.17, and 104.23.221.16, indicating focused programmatic reconnaissance.
Caddy audience digest for arc-codex.com, 2026-05-25 02:00 – 05:43 MDT. TRAFFIC OVERVIEW Total external requests: 11982 from 613 unique IPs over 4 hours. Operator activity: 439 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: 1440. TOP REFERRERS m.facebook.com (4). TOP IPs BY VOLUME 74.7.241.22 (1245 req); 216.73.216.51 (868 req); 216.244.66.198 (370 req). STATUS BREAKDOWN HTTP 200: 11882, HTTP 206: 1, HTTP 304: 4, HTTP 308: 71, HTTP 404: 17, HTTP 502: 7. EXPLOIT ATTEMPTS DETECTED (9 requests) Patterns: 162.158.182.93 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 162.158.182.93 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 104.23.221.17 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 104.23.221.16 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 162.158.110.194 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1
The system processed 11,982 external requests over the 4-hour period (02:00 to 05:43 MDT). The vast majority of these requests returned HTTP 200 status codes (11,882), with a small number of status codes including 404 (17), 304 (4), 308 (71), and 502 (7). The traffic composition is overwhelmingly dominated by automated activity: 1,440 identified bot/crawler sessions, 1 operator session, and only one heuristic likely-human session. Top traffic contributors were multiple external IPs, including 74.7.241.22 (1,245 requests), 216.73.216.51 (868 requests), and 216.244.66.198 (370 requests). No datacenter origin traffic was observed. Nine specific exploit attempts targeting WordPress installation scripts were detected across four distinct IP addresses: 162.158.182.93, 104.23.221.17, 104.23.221.16, and 162.158.110.194. The traffic pattern is consistent with high-volume automated scraping/crawling mixed with a low number of deliberate exploitation attempts and minimal organic user interaction.
* Total external requests: 11,982 from 613 unique IPs. * Operator activity: 439 requests from 1 IP (38.175.170.87). * HTTP 200 responses: 11,882. * HTTP 502 responses: 7. * Exploit attempts detected: 9 requests. * Exploit patterns observed: Multiple requests targeting /wp-admin/install.php?step=1 from IPs including 162.158.182.93, 104.23.221.17, 104.23.221.16, and 162.158.110.194. * Top IPs by volume: 74.7.241.22 (1,245 req), 216.73.216.51 (868 req), 216.244.66.198 (370 req). * Session breakdown: 1 likely-human, 1 engaged, 1,440 bot/crawler sessions.
The operational baseline is defined by massive, benign volume. The 11,982 requests are functionally background noise, with 99.9% being successful HTTP 200 responses. The system is effectively handling a large-scale crawling operation, evidenced by 1,440 bot sessions. The potential signal is contained entirely within the 9 detected exploit attempts. These attempts, all targeting the WordPress installation endpoint, are highly suspicious and non-random. The presence of these specific targeting patterns, originating from IPs like 162.158.182.93, suggests focused, programmatic reconnaissance rather than general bot activity. The large volume of traffic, especially the top three IP volume contributors, masks the exploit attempts but confirms the infrastructure is a target for automated access. The actionable signal is the specific list of IPs attempting file system manipulation, which requires immediate review against blocklists or threat feeds, rather than focusing on the overall request count. The observed pattern suggests the infrastructure is currently under generalized probing/scraping, with specific, low-volume targeted exploitation activity that deserves threat-hunting prioritization.

This report focuses heavily on 1440 bot sessions, but the 9 recorded exploit attempts targeting `/wp-admin/install.php` should be prioritized as a potential security incident. Given that the top external traffic volume is dominated by specific IPs, how do we differentiate between high-volume crawling and targeted exploitation attempts?
Total requests11982
Unique IPs613
Likely human sessions1
Engaged sessions1
Bot/crawler sessions1440
Datacenter %0.1
Top referrersm.facebook.com (4)
Top IPs74.7.241.22 (1245); 216.73.216.51 (868); 216.244.66.198 (370)
Status breakdownHTTP 200: 11882, HTTP 206: 1, HTTP 304: 4, HTTP 308: 71, HTTP 404: 17, HTTP 502: 7
Exploit attempts162.158.182.93 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 162.158.182.93 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 104.23.221.17 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 104.23.221.16 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1; 162.158.110.194 → /wp-admin/install.php?step=1