
Count Posts in a Category, Tag, or Custom Taxonomy Security & Risk Analysis
wordpress.org/plugins/count-posts-in-a-categoryAdds a custom shortcode that returns the number of posts in a category, tag, or custom taxonomy. Accepts a slug (default), ID, or name as input and wo …
Is Count Posts in a Category, Tag, or Custom Taxonomy Safe to Use in 2026?
Generally Safe
Score 85/100Count Posts in a Category, Tag, or Custom Taxonomy has no known CVEs and is actively maintained. It's a solid choice for most WordPress installations.
The "count-posts-in-a-category" plugin version 3.1 exhibits a strong security posture based on the provided static analysis. The absence of dangerous functions, SQL queries not using prepared statements, and proper output escaping are all excellent indicators of secure coding practices. Furthermore, the lack of file operations and external HTTP requests minimizes the plugin's potential to interact with sensitive resources or external services in an insecure manner.
The vulnerability history is completely clean, with no recorded CVEs, which is a significant strength. This suggests a history of stable and secure development. The absence of any identified taint flows further reinforces the good security standing, indicating no apparent pathways for untrusted data to reach sensitive operations without proper sanitization.
While the static analysis reveals no direct vulnerabilities, it's important to note that the plugin has 3 shortcodes with no explicitly mentioned capability checks. Although the entry points are reported as unprotected, the absence of specific details on shortcode validation might leave a small, theoretical surface for issues if user-supplied data is mishandled within these shortcodes, even without direct capability checks. Overall, this plugin appears to be very secure, with its strengths far outweighing any minor theoretical concerns.
Key Concerns
- Shortcodes lack explicit capability checks
Count Posts in a Category, Tag, or Custom Taxonomy Security Vulnerabilities
Count Posts in a Category, Tag, or Custom Taxonomy Code Analysis
Count Posts in a Category, Tag, or Custom Taxonomy Attack Surface
Shortcodes 3
Maintenance & Trust
Count Posts in a Category, Tag, or Custom Taxonomy Maintenance & Trust
Maintenance Signals
Community Trust
Count Posts in a Category, Tag, or Custom Taxonomy Alternatives
Custom Recent Posts Widget
custom-recent-posts-widget
A widget to show recent posts list based on categories or tags
Posts by Category
posts-by-category
Display a list of posts from a specific category or tag.
Custom Taxonomy Templates
custom-taxonomy-templates
Define custom templates for taxonomy archive views.
WP-Popular Posts Tool
wp-popular-posts-tool
Enables you to automatically display most commented posts, either by category or tag. Optional: You can choose manually the category or tag you want t …
Custom Excerpts
custom-excerpts
Custom Excerpts allows you to create a custom excerpt length, choose HTML tags to allow and whether to make the link nofollow or dofollow.
Count Posts in a Category, Tag, or Custom Taxonomy Developer Profile
11 plugins · 13K total installs
How We Detect Count Posts in a Category, Tag, or Custom Taxonomy
Patterns used to identify this plugin on WordPress sites during automated security audits and web crawling.
Asset Fingerprints
HTML / DOM Fingerprints
[cat_count slug="category-slug"][tag_count slug="tag-slug"][tax_count tax="custom-taxonomy-type" slug="taxonomy-slug"][cat_count id="44,56,77,198"]