Shield 5.4.0 is out
Shield 5.4.0 is available now for all licence holders, at no extra cost. It brings a more reliable update channel and resolves an issue that affected some installs after the last free release.
What's new
Shield now updates through its own channel. Previously Shield shared a plugin slug with the free "Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP" plugin on wordpress.org. That meant WordPress could see a free release as a newer version and install it over Shield, in most cases automatically. Shield 5.4.0 excludes wordpress.org from its update candidates entirely and checks openheaders.org instead, so a licensed build can no longer be replaced.
Licence validation is more robust. A bug in the licence heartbeat could cause valid licences to stop being recognised over time. This is fixed, and affected installs repair themselves on update.
Alerts, scanner and score are aligned with the header handling introduced in the free 5.3.4 release.
How to update
Existing installs will pick up 5.4.0 through the new update channel.
If Shield was replaced by the free plugin on your site, that channel is gone and the update has to be done once by hand:
- Sign in at
https://app.lemonsqueezy.com/my-orders/login with the email you used at checkout. You'll get a magic link, no password needed. Open your Headers Security Shield order and download the latest version.
- In Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, upload the zip and choose Replace current with uploaded. No need to deactivate or delete anything first.
- Enter your licence key in the Shield licence panel.
From then on, updates are automatic again.
Not sure whether this affected you?
It's easy to miss, because nothing visibly breaks: your headers keep being served and no error appears. What goes missing is the scanner, the security score, the email alerts and the licence panel.
Open Plugins in your admin. If you see the free plugin instead of Shield, or the licence field isn't there, follow the three steps above.
Your licence is unaffected either way, subscriptions kept running, keys were never revoked, and there is nothing to buy again. If the activation reports its limit as reached, that's a stale activation from the replaced install: release it from the same My Orders page, or write to support@openheaders.org and we'll clear it right away.
