Web-Art Login Shield with reCAPTCHA

Web-Art Login Shield with reCAPTCHA protects WordPress authentication, Elementor Login widgets and Elementor Forms.

It provides optional Google reCAPTCHA v2/v3, IP lockouts, Advanced login URL protection, IP blocking and REST/XML-RPC protection. It preserves WordPress core authentication logic.

No ads, author telemetry or external dashboard. All modules are opt-in and disabled by default.

Key Features

reCAPTCHA v2/v3

• selectable v2 checkbox or v3 score-based verification
• protection for wp-login.php, Elementor Login and Elementor Forms
• server-side token, action, score and hostname validation where applicable
• configurable v3 score threshold
• one active type at a time
• configuration verification before activation

Elementor support

• protection for Elementor Login and Elementor Pro Forms
• native Elementor reCAPTCHA fields are skipped to avoid duplication
• v2 alignment controls
• login errors and lockouts remain inside the Login widget
• dynamic content and Elementor popup support

Login Protect

• per-IP failed-attempt counting and temporary lockouts
• safe concurrent-request handling
• active-lockout countdown
• local security event log with bounded retention
• optional REST API, Application Password and XML-RPC protection
• independent operation with or without reCAPTCHA

Advanced login URL

• optional custom login endpoint
• protection of default login routes while preserving required public actions
• logout and password-link compatibility
• emergency wp-config.php recovery constant

IP allowlists and blocking

• separate reCAPTCHA allowlist and Login Protect trusted IP list
• permanent IP blocking for public site requests with HTTP 403
• optional IP | reason notes

XML-RPC hardening

Optional blocking of:

• pingback.ping
• pingback.extensions.getPingbacks
• system.multicall

Security Model

Protected flows use fail-closed handling. If an enabled check cannot be completed safely, the request is rejected instead of bypassing protection.

Login Protect preserves active lockouts and safely handles concurrent requests. Setting Maximum login attempts or Lockout duration to 0 disables lockout enforcement.

All modules remain disabled until enabled. Recovery constants are available in wp-config.php for selected modules.

External Services

This plugin integrates with Google reCAPTCHA v2 and v3, services provided by Google LLC.

reCAPTCHA is disabled by default. Google scripts or verification requests are used only after an administrator enables reCAPTCHA or runs a settings-page verification test.

Google’s reCAPTCHA JavaScript (https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js) may load on protected wp-login.php requests, pages containing protected Elementor widgets or forms, and the settings page during a verification test. Allowlisted visitors bypass frontend loading where applicable.

When reCAPTCHA runs, the visitor’s browser connects directly to Google. Google may process browser, device and interaction information and may set the necessary _GRECAPTCHA cookie under its policies.

For server-side verification, the plugin sends the token, configured Secret Key and visitor IP address when available to Google’s siteverify endpoint. It does not include usernames, passwords, email addresses or form contents in that request.

The plugin sends no telemetry, analytics or usage data to its author.

Google policies:

• https://policies.google.com/privacy
• https://policies.google.com/terms

Privacy

Locally stored security data may include:

• IP addresses, failed-attempt counts and lockout timestamps
• a username or email associated with an IP lockout
• recent events containing an IP address, username or email, source, type and timestamp
• the latest reCAPTCHA configuration or transport error used for diagnostics
• permanent IP blocklist entries and optional notes

Inactive Login Protect entries become eligible for deletion after seven days. Active lockouts remain until expiry. The event log is limited to 30 entries and 30 days.

WordPress privacy tools export or erase records matched to the requested email address or associated account. Unmatched IP-only records remain subject to retention and administrator cleanup. Permanent blocklist entries remain until removed by an administrator.

Plugin data can be removed during uninstall when uninstall cleanup is enabled.

Legal

reCAPTCHA is a trademark of Google LLC.
Elementor is a trademark of Elementor Ltd.
This plugin is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google LLC or Elementor Ltd.

1. Install and activate the plugin.
2. Open the plugin settings page.
3. Select reCAPTCHA v2 or v3 if required.
4. Enter the matching Site Key and Secret Key.
5. Save the keys and run the verification test.
6. Enable the required protection modules.
7. If using Advanced login URL, securely store the generated login URL.

1. 

   reCAPTCHA settings panel

2. 

   Login Protect settings panel

3. 

   Security event log and blocked IP list

4. 

   WordPress login screen

5. 

   Elementor Login widget

6. 

   Elementor Form

1.2.0

• Feature: Added Google reCAPTCHA v3 with selectable v2/v3 configuration, action and score validation for wp-login.php, Elementor Login and Elementor Forms; existing installations remain configured for v2 by default.
• Feature: Added scoped frontend loading for protected Elementor widgets and forms, including dynamically inserted content and Elementor popups.
• Feature: Extended optional REST API Login Protect coverage to native WordPress Application Password authentication.
• Security: Strengthened reCAPTCHA hostname validation and fail-closed handling across protected authentication and form submission flows.
• Security: Hardened Login Protect state management, concurrent authentication handling and lockout enforcement.
• Security: Improved Advanced Login routing and request validation across multisite, subdirectory and non-standard WordPress configurations.
• Compatibility: Improved independent reCAPTCHA rendering scopes for Elementor Login and Elementor Forms and skipped forms containing native Elementor reCAPTCHA fields.
• Compatibility: Kept authentication errors, remaining attempts and active lockouts inside Elementor Login widgets and ensured configured logout redirects remain in the current browser tab.
• Reliability: Added multisite network activation support, automatic initialization for newly created sites, lifecycle cleanup and configuration recovery.
• Privacy: Added scheduled retention cleanup, privacy export and erasure integration, and expanded documentation for external services and locally stored data.
• Performance: Moved large plugin options out of autoload where supported.
• Tweak: Updated the admin interface, diagnostics and translations.

1.1.1

• Compatibility: Tested with WordPress 7.0.
• Tweak: Updated plugin metadata for WordPress 7.0 compatibility.

1.1.0

• Feature: Added IP Blocking (Site-wide) with a permanent IP blocklist and HTTP 403 responses across the site.
• UX: Separated and standardized admin status labels for permanent and temporary IP blocks.
• UX: Documented optional IP | reason note support for the reCAPTCHA allowlist and Login Protect trusted IPs.
• Security: Login Protect lockouts on wp-login.php now return HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header for active lockouts on login attempts.
• UX: Added a wp-login.php lockout countdown notice and temporary submit blocking during an active lockout.
• Fix: Improved login-screen messaging when a new lockout is triggered.
• Hardening: Reduced unnecessary request inspection by limiting wp-login.php POST attempt detection to relevant contexts.
• Recovery: Added wp-config.php kill-switch constants for Advanced login URL and IP Blocking.

1.0.1

• Feature: Added left, center and right reCAPTCHA alignment options for Elementor Login and Elementor Forms.
• Security: Improved input sanitization for FastCGI and Nginx environments.
• Performance: Disabled reCAPTCHA rendering in the Elementor editor.
• Fix: Stabilized Elementor Forms reCAPTCHA alignment in multi-column layouts with column gaps.
• UX: Simplified and unified configuration status labels in the admin settings.
• Tweak: General code hardening and stricter type handling.

1.0.0

• Initial release.