
Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) Security & Risk Analysis
wordpress.org/plugins/buddyformsBuddyForms is a versatile plugin that allows the creation of post forms, registration forms, profile forms, content forms, and supports file uploads.
Is Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) Safe to Use in 2026?
Critical Risk — Avoid
Score 20/100Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) is critically unsafe with 18 known CVEs, 2 still unpatched. Avoid in production.
BuddyForms v2.9.0 presents a mixed security posture. While the plugin demonstrates good practices in its use of prepared statements for SQL queries (93%) and proper output escaping (95%), several significant concerns emerge from the static analysis. A notable 12 out of 26 AJAX handlers lack authentication checks, creating a substantial attack surface that could be exploited for unauthorized actions. Additionally, 11 out of 27 analyzed taint flows involve unsanitized paths, with one classified as high severity, indicating potential vulnerabilities related to file operations or path manipulation.
The plugin's vulnerability history is a major red flag. With 18 known CVEs, including 2 critical and 6 high-severity unpatched vulnerabilities, BuddyForms has a history of severe security flaws. The types of past vulnerabilities, such as Remote File Inclusion, Privilege Management, SSRF, XSS, Deserialization, and SQL Injection, are particularly concerning as they represent common and dangerous attack vectors. The recent vulnerability in October 2025, coupled with the current unpatched critical issues, suggests a recurring problem with maintaining a secure codebase. This historical trend, combined with the identified code analysis risks, points to a plugin that requires immediate attention and likely updates.
In conclusion, while BuddyForms shows some strengths in its coding practices like prepared statements and output escaping, these are overshadowed by the significant and persistent security issues revealed by its vulnerability history and the presence of unprotected AJAX handlers and unsanitized taint flows. The high number of past critical vulnerabilities and the currently unpatched ones are a strong indicator of a heightened risk for WordPress sites using this plugin. Users should exercise extreme caution and prioritize updating to a version that addresses these ongoing security concerns.
Key Concerns
- Unpatched Critical CVEs
- Unpatched High Severity CVEs
- High Severity Taint Flow
- Unprotected AJAX Handlers
- Flows with Unsanitized Paths
- Bundled Library Outdated (Freemius v1.0)
Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) Security Vulnerabilities
CVEs by Year
Severity Breakdown
18 total CVEs
BuddyForms <= 2.9.0 - Missing Authorization
BuddyForms <= 2.8.17 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Local File Inclusion
Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) <= 2.8.15 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'buddyforms_nav' Shortcode
Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) <= 2.8.13 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting
BuddyForms <= 2.8.12 - Authenticated (Editor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) <= 2.8.11 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Privilege Escalation
BuddyForms <= 2.8.9 - Email Verification Bypass due to Insufficient Randomness
BuddyForms <= 2.8.8 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Read and Server-Side Request Forgery
BuddyForms <= 2.8.5 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via page
Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) <= 2.8.7 - Missing Authorization
Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) <= 2.8.7 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated Media Deletion
Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) <= 2.8.7 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated Media Upload
Post, Registration and Profile Form Builder – FrontEnd Editor BuddyForms – Easy WordPress Forms <= 2.8.1 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode
BuddyForms <= 2.7.7 - PHAR Deserialization
BuddyForms <= 2.7.2 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Post, Registration and Profile Form Builder – FrontEnd Editor BuddyForms – Easy WordPress Forms <= 2.6.9 - Cross-Site Scripting
Freemius SDK <= 2.2.3 - Missing Authorization to Arbitrary Options Update
Post, Registration and Profile Form Builder – FrontEnd Editor BuddyForms – Easy WordPress Forms <= 2.2.7 - SQL Injection
Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) Code Analysis
Bundled Libraries
SQL Query Safety
Output Escaping
Data Flow Analysis
Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) Attack Surface
AJAX Handlers 26
Shortcodes 17
WordPress Hooks 141
Scheduled Events 1
Maintenance & Trust
Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) Maintenance & Trust
Maintenance Signals
Community Trust
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Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC) Developer Profile
12 plugins · 5K total installs
How We Detect Post Form – Registration Form – Profile Form for User Profiles – Frontend Content Forms for User Submissions (UGC)
Patterns used to identify this plugin on WordPress sites during automated security audits and web crawling.
Asset Fingerprints
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