BuddyPress reCAPTCHA Security & Risk Analysis

wordpress.org/plugins/buddypress-recaptcha

This plugin utilizes reCAPTCHA to help your blog stay clear of spam-registrations.

200 active installs v0.1 PHP + WP 3.2+ Updated Aug 24, 2011
anti-spambuddypresscaptchagooglespam
85
A · Safe
CVEs total0
Unpatched0
Last CVENever
Safety Verdict

Is BuddyPress reCAPTCHA Safe to Use in 2026?

Generally Safe

Score 85/100

BuddyPress reCAPTCHA has no known CVEs and is actively maintained. It's a solid choice for most WordPress installations.

No known CVEs Updated 14yr ago
Risk Assessment

The "buddypress-recaptcha" v0.1 plugin presents a mixed security posture. On the positive side, the plugin has no known vulnerabilities, a clean history of CVEs, and appears to use prepared statements for all its SQL queries, which is a strong security practice. The attack surface is also reported as zero, indicating no apparent AJAX handlers, REST API routes, shortcodes, or cron events that could be directly targeted. However, significant concerns arise from the static analysis of its code. The lack of any output escaping on the two identified outputs is a major red flag, suggesting a high risk of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities. Additionally, the presence of a file operation without further details is a potential concern, as is the single unsanitized path identified in the taint analysis. While the plugin's history suggests responsible development thus far, these code-level weaknesses, particularly the unescaped output and taint flow, introduce considerable risk.

Key Concerns

  • Output escaping is not implemented
  • Unsanitized paths in taint analysis
  • File operations found
Vulnerabilities
None known

BuddyPress reCAPTCHA Security Vulnerabilities

No known vulnerabilities — this is a good sign.
Code Analysis
Analyzed Mar 16, 2026

BuddyPress reCAPTCHA Code Analysis

Dangerous Functions
0
Raw SQL Queries
0
0 prepared
Unescaped Output
2
0 escaped
Nonce Checks
0
Capability Checks
0
File Operations
1
External Requests
0
Bundled Libraries
0

Output Escaping

0% escaped2 total outputs
Data Flows
1 unsanitized

Data Flow Analysis

1 flows1 with unsanitized paths
<example-captcha> (recaptcha-php-1.11\example-captcha.php:0)
Source (user input) Sink (dangerous op) Sanitizer Transform Unsanitized Sanitized
Attack Surface

BuddyPress reCAPTCHA Attack Surface

Entry Points0
Unprotected0
WordPress Hooks 2
actionbp_before_registration_submit_buttonsbp-recaptcha.php:62
actionbp_signup_validatebp-recaptcha.php:63
Maintenance & Trust

BuddyPress reCAPTCHA Maintenance & Trust

Maintenance Signals

WordPress version tested3.2.1
Last updatedAug 24, 2011
PHP min version
Downloads13K

Community Trust

Rating90/100
Number of ratings4
Active installs200
Developer Profile

BuddyPress reCAPTCHA Developer Profile

algorhythm

1 plugin · 200 total installs

84
trust score
Avg Security Score
85/100
Avg Patch Time
30 days
View full developer profile
Detection Fingerprints

How We Detect BuddyPress reCAPTCHA

Patterns used to identify this plugin on WordPress sites during automated security audits and web crawling.

Asset Fingerprints

HTML / DOM Fingerprints

CSS Classes
register-sectionsecurity-sectioneditfield
JS Globals
RecaptchaOptions
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about BuddyPress reCAPTCHA