Candy Social Widget Security & Risk Analysis

wordpress.org/plugins/candy-social-widget

Social Widget plugin for displaying links to your social media in any widget area. Created by WPExplorer, this plugin allows you to add colorful icons …

200 active installs v3.1 PHP 5.3+ WP 4.6+ Updated Mar 10, 2026
socialsocial-mediasocial-networkingsocial-widgetwidget
100
A · Safe
CVEs total0
Unpatched0
Last CVENever
Safety Verdict

Is Candy Social Widget Safe to Use in 2026?

Generally Safe

Score 100/100

Candy Social Widget has no known CVEs and is actively maintained. It's a solid choice for most WordPress installations.

No known CVEs Updated 24d ago
Risk Assessment

The candy-social-widget plugin v3.1 exhibits a generally strong security posture based on the provided static analysis. There are no identified vulnerabilities in its history and the code analysis reveals no critical issues. The absence of direct SQL queries outside of prepared statements, a high percentage of properly escaped output, and no observed critical or high severity taint flows are positive indicators. The limited attack surface and lack of external HTTP requests further contribute to this favorable assessment.

However, there are a few areas that warrant attention. The complete absence of nonce checks across all entry points is a significant concern, as it leaves the plugin susceptible to Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks if any of its functionalities were to be triggered by an attacker. Additionally, the presence of file operations, even if not explicitly flagged as malicious, could potentially be an avenue for exploitation if not handled with extreme care and robust validation. While the vulnerability history is clean, this does not guarantee future security and vigilance is always recommended.

Overall, the plugin appears to be well-coded with a focus on secure practices, particularly regarding SQL injection. The primary weakness lies in the missing nonce protection for its entry points. This should be addressed to mitigate potential CSRF risks.

Key Concerns

  • Missing nonce checks on entry points
  • File operations present without specific validation context
Vulnerabilities
None known

Candy Social Widget Security Vulnerabilities

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

Candy Social Widget Code Analysis

Dangerous Functions
0
Raw SQL Queries
0
0 prepared
Unescaped Output
14
72 escaped
Nonce Checks
0
Capability Checks
0
File Operations
1
External Requests
0
Bundled Libraries
0

Output Escaping

84% escaped86 total outputs
Attack Surface

Candy Social Widget Attack Surface

Entry Points0
Unprotected0
WordPress Hooks 3
actionwp_enqueue_scriptscandy-social-widget.php:88
actionadmin_print_scripts-widgets.phpcandy-social-widget.php:90
actionwidgets_initcandy-social-widget.php:488
Maintenance & Trust

Candy Social Widget Maintenance & Trust

Maintenance Signals

WordPress version tested6.9.4
Last updatedMar 10, 2026
PHP min version5.3
Downloads20K

Community Trust

Rating100/100
Number of ratings2
Active installs200
Developer Profile

Candy Social Widget Developer Profile

AJ Clarke

1 plugin · 200 total installs

94
trust score
Avg Security Score
100/100
Avg Patch Time
30 days
View full developer profile
Detection Fingerprints

How We Detect Candy Social Widget

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

Asset Fingerprints

Asset Paths
/wp-content/plugins/candy-social-widget/assets/css/candy-social-widget.css
Script Paths
/wp-content/plugins/candy-social-widget/assets/js/candy-social-widget.js
Version Parameters
candy-social-widget/assets/css/candy-social-widget.css?ver=candy-social-widget/assets/js/candy-social-widget.js?ver=

HTML / DOM Fingerprints

CSS Classes
candy_social_widgetcandy_social_widget_ulcsw-desccsw-shape-roundedcsw-shape-roundcsw-shape-squarecsw-facebookcsw-twitter+28 more
Data Attributes
data-iddata-sitedata-url
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about Candy Social Widget