Security updates are necessary; the risk is applying them blindly. This guide covers simple risk controls and what to verify so production stays stable.
Risk controls
- Schedule updates so they’re predictable and someone can verify afterward
- Know how unattended-upgrades (or your automation) behaves in your environment
- Test in staging or on a clone VM when you can
- Plan reboots intentionally so they don’t surprise you
What to verify after updates
- Apache running
- PHP-FPM running
- Sites responding normally
Use routine service health checks as a quick post-update checklist.
FAQ
Should I enable unattended-upgrades on a WordPress server?
It can reduce exposure to known vulnerabilities, but reboots and service restarts can still cause brief outages. If you use it, configure reboots and test that critical services come back. Otherwise, run APT maintenance on a schedule and verify after each run.
Related
- APT maintenance for Ubuntu WordPress servers — update and cleanup routine
- Routine service health checks for WordPress servers — post-update verification