diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2305.section.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2305.section.xml
index 8679bb4b70ff..69a6ff4aac05 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2305.section.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2305.section.xml
@@ -302,6 +302,14 @@
           <link xlink:href="https://github.com/RasmusLindroth/tut/releases/tag/2.0.0">here</link>.
         </para>
       </listitem>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          The <literal>wordpress</literal> derivation no longer contains
+          any builtin plugins or themes. If you need them you have to
+          add them back to prevent your site from breaking. You can find
+          them in <literal>wordpressPackages.{plugins,themes}</literal>.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
       <listitem>
         <para>
           <literal>llvmPackages_rocm.llvm</literal> will not contain
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2305.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2305.section.md
index db80ccc9b720..b33221714ab5 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2305.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2305.section.md
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ In addition to numerous new and upgraded packages, this release has the followin
 
 - `tut` has been updated from 1.0.34 to 2.0.0, and now uses the TOML format for the configuration file instead of INI. Additional information can be found [here](https://github.com/RasmusLindroth/tut/releases/tag/2.0.0).
 
+- The `wordpress` derivation no longer contains any builtin plugins or themes. If you need them you have to add them back to prevent your site from breaking. You can find them in `wordpressPackages.{plugins,themes}`.
+
 - `llvmPackages_rocm.llvm` will not contain `clang` or `compiler-rt`. `llvmPackages_rocm.clang` will not contain `llvm`. `llvmPackages_rocm.clangNoCompilerRt` has been removed in favor of using `llvmPackages_rocm.clang-unwrapped`.
 
 - The EC2 image module previously detected and automatically mounted ext3-formatted instance store devices and partitions in stage-1 (initramfs), storing `/tmp` on the first discovered device. This behaviour, which only catered to very specific use cases and could not be disabled, has been removed. Users relying on this should provide their own implementation, and probably use ext4 and perform the mount in stage-2.
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/wordpress.nix b/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/wordpress.nix
index aabfb2261bb6..d4c987da1144 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/wordpress.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/wordpress.nix
@@ -156,7 +156,8 @@ let
             (l: warn "setting this option with a list is deprecated"
               listToAttrs (map (p: nameValuePair (p.name or (throw "${p} does not have a name")) p) l))
             (attrsOf path);
-          default = {};
+          default = { inherit (pkgs.wordpressPackages.themes) twentytwentythree; };
+          defaultText = literalExpression "{ inherit (pkgs.wordpressPackages.themes) twentytwentythree; }";
           description = lib.mdDoc ''
             Path(s) to respective theme(s) which are copied from the 'theme' directory.
 
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/web-apps/wordpress/generic.nix b/pkgs/servers/web-apps/wordpress/generic.nix
index e15640c88281..d2d97dab35d9 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/web-apps/wordpress/generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/web-apps/wordpress/generic.nix
@@ -12,6 +12,15 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   installPhase = ''
     runHook preInstall
 
+    # remove non-essential plugins and themes
+    rm -r wp-content/{plugins,themes}
+    mkdir wp-content/plugins
+    cat << EOF > wp-content/plugins/index.php
+    <?php
+    // Silence is golden.
+    EOF
+    cp -a wp-content/{plugins,themes}
+
     mkdir -p $out/share/wordpress
     cp -r . $out/share/wordpress