HeroPress Recent Essay Widget Security & Risk Analysis

wordpress.org/plugins/heropress-recent-essays-widget

Creates a widget showing the most recent essay data from HeroPress. Optionally renders featured image, title, contributor, and date.

10 active installs v1.1 PHP + WP 3.0+ Updated Aug 27, 2015
widget
85
A · Safe
CVEs total0
Unpatched0
Last CVENever
Download
Safety Verdict

Is HeroPress Recent Essay Widget Safe to Use in 2026?

Generally Safe

Score 85/100

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

No known CVEs Updated 10yr ago
Risk Assessment

The heropress-recent-essays-widget plugin v1.1 exhibits a strong security posture based on the provided static analysis results. There are no identified attack vectors such as AJAX handlers, REST API routes, shortcodes, or cron events, and crucially, none of these potential entry points are unprotected. The code signals also indicate good practices, with no dangerous functions, all SQL queries utilizing prepared statements, and no file operations or external HTTP requests. While the output escaping is not perfectly at 100%, the 76% escape rate is generally acceptable, and the absence of taint analysis findings suggests no immediate critical vulnerabilities in data handling.

Key Concerns

  • Output not properly escaped
  • Missing nonce checks
  • Missing capability checks
Vulnerabilities
None known

HeroPress Recent Essay Widget Security Vulnerabilities

No known vulnerabilities — this is a good sign.
Code Analysis
Analyzed Mar 17, 2026

HeroPress Recent Essay Widget Code Analysis

Dangerous Functions
0
Raw SQL Queries
0
0 prepared
Unescaped Output
12
37 escaped
Nonce Checks
0
Capability Checks
0
File Operations
0
External Requests
0
Bundled Libraries
0

Output Escaping

76% escaped49 total outputs
Attack Surface

HeroPress Recent Essay Widget Attack Surface

Entry Points0
Unprotected0
WordPress Hooks 1
actionwidgets_initheropress-recent-essays-widget.php:341
Maintenance & Trust

HeroPress Recent Essay Widget Maintenance & Trust

Maintenance Signals

WordPress version tested4.3.34
Last updatedAug 27, 2015
PHP min version
Downloads2K

Community Trust

Rating0/100
Number of ratings0
Active installs10
Developer Profile

HeroPress Recent Essay Widget Developer Profile

Topher

10 plugins · 190 total installs

85
trust score
Avg Security Score
87/100
Avg Patch Time
30 days
View full developer profile
Detection Fingerprints

How We Detect HeroPress Recent Essay Widget

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

Asset Fingerprints

Asset Paths
/wp-content/plugins/heropress-recent-essays-widget/heropress-recent-essays-widget.php

HTML / DOM Fingerprints

CSS Classes
heropress_essay_titleheropress_contributorheropress_essay_pubdateheropress_essay_pubdate_prefix
Data Attributes
id="heropress-recent-essays-widget"
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about HeroPress Recent Essay Widget