Dhaneshkumar, Tejaswini (2025) Enhancing Security of WordPress Containers on AWS:A Multitool Vulnerability Analysis. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.
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Abstract
There are two main risks that containerised WordPress on AWS has; vulnerable container images and application-layer attacks. Such implementation is organised as the layered defence, which incorporates continuous scanning of the Amazon ECR/Inspector images with additional AWS WAF and EventBridge/Lambda automation. SQLinjection (SQLi) and cross-site-scripting (XSS) tests resulted in 100% blocking of SQLi payloads, and 90.95 percent mitigation of XSS with its managed and internal WordPress-specific rules (/wp-login.php, xmlrpc.php). CVEs scanned on image scan prior to deployment; activated automated alerts, optional responses. Operational overhead was very low: WAF assessment <1 ms per request, ALB routing=20 ms, Lambda notifications=300 ms after the event and ECR scan=30-60s/image. Compared to a baseline where no WAF or scanning would be in place, the framework significantly increases protection with minimal overhead cost to application runtime, and is a reusable closed-loop pattern that can be applied to any other container-based web application running on AWS.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Supervisors: | Name Email Emani, Sai UNSPECIFIED |
| Subjects: | T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Cloud computing Q Science > QA Mathematics > Computer software > Computer Security T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Computer software > Computer Security |
| Divisions: | School of Computing > Master of Science in Cloud Computing |
| Depositing User: | Ciara O'Brien |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Mar 2026 15:24 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Mar 2026 15:24 |
| URI: | https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/9210 |
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