6.7.2

TL;DR

WordPress 6.7.2 is a maintenance release that addresses several important bugs affecting the editor, HTML API, customizer, and block functionality. This update fixes issues with category selection in the classic editor, block hooks processing, HTML tag processing, customizer accordion behavior, and meta boxes display. It also resolves critical issues with React/React-DOM caching that could cause white screens when editing posts, and improves block template registration for custom post types with underscores in their names. This release is recommended for all WordPress 6.7 users to ensure proper functionality and prevent potential errors.

Highlight of the Release

• Fixed category selection issues in the classic editor
• Resolved white screen problems when editing posts due to React/React-DOM caching
• Improved HTML API tag processing with case-insensitive matching
• Fixed pagination in admin tables for categories, tags, and plugins
• Enhanced block template registration for custom post types with underscores
• Improved customizer accordion behavior and accessibility
• Fixed meta boxes display and functionality across different editing modes

Migration Guide

No specific migration steps are required for WordPress 6.7.2. This is a maintenance release that fixes bugs and improves functionality without introducing breaking changes.

If you're a developer who has built custom solutions that rely on any of the fixed components (particularly the HTML API, block metadata collections, or customizer accordions), you may want to test your code with this update to ensure everything works as expected.

For theme developers who have implemented custom accordion items in the customizer with the pre-6.7 structure, this release adds backward compatibility to support both the new and old markup structures.

Upgrade Recommendations

It is strongly recommended that all WordPress 6.7.x users upgrade to WordPress 6.7.2 as soon as possible. This maintenance release fixes several important bugs that could affect site functionality, including:

1. Critical issues with React/React-DOM caching that could cause white screens when editing posts
2. Problems with category selection in the classic editor
3. Issues with block hooks processing and HTML tag handling
4. Pagination problems in admin tables
5. Meta boxes display and functionality issues

The update process is straightforward and follows the standard WordPress update procedure. Most hosts provide automatic updates for maintenance releases, but you can also update manually through your WordPress dashboard.

This release does not contain any known breaking changes and should be a safe upgrade for all WordPress 6.7 users.

Bug Fixes

Editor Fixes

• Category Selection: Fixed an issue where clicking on a Category checkbox on the classic Edit Post screen would select/deselect multiple unwanted categories.
• Block Hooks: Fixed context handling in update_ignored_hooked_blocks_postmeta to ensure the correct type (WP_Post) is passed to filters.
• Post Thumbnails: Fixed squashed featured images in wp-admin by updating CSS for featured images in the classic editor.
• Meta Boxes: Fixed several issues with meta boxes:
  • Ensured meta boxes remain visible regardless of the current rendering mode
  • Fixed meta boxes saving when they're not present
  • Kept meta boxes unsplit from content in device preview

HTML API Fixes

• Fixed case sensitivity issues with tag name comparison in ::next_tag
• Added recognition for all uppercase tag names in the tag processor
• Fixed handling of foreign content void lookalike elements
• Improved seeking functionality to earlier bookmarks in the full processor

UI and Accessibility Fixes

• Customizer:
  • Removed unnecessary height: 100% on accordion buttons that could trigger them to be 100% the height of the accordion container
  • Added support for custom accordion items with obsolete structure
  • Added styles for extender usage of do_accordion_section()
• Admin Tables: Fixed pagination in categories, tags, and plugins tables, including the ability to manually enter page numbers
• Help/About: Modified the "See everything new" button to allow wrapping at all screen sizes

Other Fixes

• Block Templates: Fixed block template registration failing for custom post types containing underscore characters
• REST API: Protected against fatal errors for post types without format support by ignoring the format parameter
• Security: Escaped attachment URL in wp-admin/async-upload.php

New Features

Enhanced Block Metadata Collections Registration

WordPress 6.7.2 relaxes restrictions around registration of block metadata collections, allowing them to be registered for almost any source, such as MU plugins, themes, or custom directories with symlinked plugins or themes. Previously, block metadata collections could only be registered for plugins and WordPress Core. Safeguards remain in place to prevent registration of collections in locations that would cause conflicts.

Improved HTML API Functionality

The HTML API has been enhanced with several improvements:

• Case-insensitive tag name matching in ::next_tag method, allowing searches for 'DIV' to match both '<div>' and '<DIV>' tags
• Fixed recognition of all uppercase tag names in the tag processor
• Improved handling of foreign content void lookalike elements
• Enhanced seeking functionality in the full HTML processor

Security Updates

Improved URL Escaping

WordPress 6.7.2 includes a security improvement that properly escapes attachment URLs in wp-admin/async-upload.php, following up on previous security hardening efforts. This change helps prevent potential XSS vulnerabilities by ensuring proper output escaping.

Performance Improvements

React/React-DOM Caching Improvements

WordPress 6.7.2 addresses a critical issue with React and React-DOM script caching. In WordPress 6.7, the way these libraries were bundled in Core was changed, resulting in differences in the built files distributed in WordPress even though the actual version of the libraries remained the same. This could cause a blank white screen when trying to edit a post if those script files were heavily cached.

The fix appends .1 to the React/React-DOM versions to force cache busting while maintaining compatibility with third-party code expecting version numbers in the form /^[\d\.]+$/.

Patterns Loading Optimization

The update includes improvements to pattern loading, allowing intermediate responses while unbound requests are resolving, which provides a smoother user experience when working with patterns.

Impact Summary

WordPress 6.7.2 is a significant maintenance release that addresses multiple bugs and enhances functionality across several core components. The most impactful fixes include resolving the white screen issues when editing posts (caused by React/React-DOM caching problems), fixing category selection in the classic editor, improving HTML API tag processing, and enhancing block template registration for custom post types.

For content creators and site administrators, this update provides a more stable and reliable editing experience by fixing UI issues, improving meta boxes functionality, and resolving pagination problems in admin tables. Developers will benefit from the enhanced HTML API functionality, more flexible block metadata collection registration, and improved block hooks processing.

The release also includes accessibility improvements to the customizer accordion behavior and the "See everything new" button in the Help/About section. Security has been strengthened with better URL escaping in the async-upload.php file.

Overall, WordPress 6.7.2 is an essential update that improves stability, fixes critical bugs, and enhances the user experience without introducing breaking changes. All WordPress 6.7 users should update to this version to ensure optimal functionality and prevent potential errors.