OnionBuzz Security & Risk Analysis

wordpress.org/plugins/onionbuzz-viral-quiz

Create BuzzFeed like quizzes on your WordPress website or blog.

100 active installs v1.0.7 PHP + WP 4.0.0+ Updated Jan 8, 2018
buzzbuzzfeedguesspersonalityplaybuzz
47
D · High Risk
CVEs total3
Unpatched1
Last CVEJun 27, 2025
Safety Verdict

Is OnionBuzz Safe to Use in 2026?

High Risk

Score 47/100

OnionBuzz carries significant security risk with 3 known CVEs, 1 still unpatched. Consider switching to a maintained alternative.

3 known CVEs 1 unpatched Last CVE: Jun 27, 2025Updated 8yr ago
Risk Assessment

The "onionbuzz-viral-quiz" plugin exhibits a concerning security posture, primarily due to a vast attack surface with no authentication checks on any of its entry points. All 29 AJAX handlers are unprotected, creating a significant risk for unauthorized actions. This is further exacerbated by the fact that 100% of analyzed taint flows have unsanitized paths, although no critical or high severity issues were found in this specific analysis. The plugin's vulnerability history is a major red flag, with three known CVEs, including two critical and one medium, and importantly, one critical vulnerability remains unpatched. This historical pattern of critical SQL injection and CSRF vulnerabilities, coupled with the current lack of proper sanitization and authentication, suggests a recurring inability to address severe security flaws. While the plugin doesn't appear to use dangerous functions or perform file operations, the absence of nonce and capability checks, combined with a low percentage of properly escaped output, points to several potential weaknesses that could be exploited.

Key Concerns

  • 29 AJAX handlers without auth checks
  • 17 flows with unsanitized paths
  • 0 Nonce checks
  • 0 Capability checks
  • 1 unpatched critical CVE
  • 2 critical CVEs in history
  • 16% properly escaped output
  • Bundled outdated jQuery v3.1.1
Vulnerabilities
3

OnionBuzz Security Vulnerabilities

CVEs by Year

2 CVEs in 2019
2019
1 CVE in 2025 · unpatched
2025
Patched Has unpatched

Severity Breakdown

Critical
2
Medium
1

3 total CVEs

CVE-2025-53312medium · 4.3Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

OnionBuzz <= 1.0.7 - Cross-Site Request Forgery

Jun 27, 2025Unpatched
CVE-2019-14230critical · 9.8Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

OnionBuzz Plugin < 1.2.7 - SQL Injection

Jul 20, 2019 Patched in 1.2.7 (1648d)
CVE-2019-14231critical · 10Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

Viral Quiz Maker - OnionBuzz < 1.2.2 - SQL Injection

Jul 20, 2019 Patched in 1.2.2 (1648d)
Code Analysis
Analyzed Mar 16, 2026

OnionBuzz Code Analysis

Dangerous Functions
0
Raw SQL Queries
17
13 prepared
Unescaped Output
403
76 escaped
Nonce Checks
0
Capability Checks
0
File Operations
0
External Requests
0
Bundled Libraries
1

Bundled Libraries

jQuery3.1.1

SQL Query Safety

43% prepared30 total queries

Output Escaping

16% escaped479 total outputs
Data Flows
17 unsanitized

Data Flow Analysis

17 flows17 with unsanitized paths
ob_question_votes_callback (src\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:556)
Source (user input) Sink (dangerous op) Sanitizer Transform Unsanitized Sanitized
Attack Surface
29 unprotected

OnionBuzz Attack Surface

Entry Points29
Unprotected29

AJAX Handlers 29

authwp_ajax_ob_get_resultssrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:138
noprivwp_ajax_ob_get_resultssrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:139
authwp_ajax_ob_question_votessrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:141
noprivwp_ajax_ob_question_votessrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:142
authwp_ajax_ob_save_emailsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:144
noprivwp_ajax_ob_save_emailsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:145
authwp_ajax_ob_lock_share_clickedsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:147
noprivwp_ajax_ob_lock_share_clickedsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:148
authwp_ajax_ob_settingssrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:150
authwp_ajax_ob_feedssrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:152
authwp_ajax_ob_feedsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:153
authwp_ajax_ob_feed_quizzessrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:154
authwp_ajax_ob_quizzessrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:156
authwp_ajax_ob_quizsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:157
authwp_ajax_ob_quiz_resultssrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:159
authwp_ajax_ob_quiz_resultsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:160
authwp_ajax_ob_quiz_results_conditionssrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:161
authwp_ajax_ob_quiz_questionssrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:163
authwp_ajax_ob_quiz_questionsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:164
authwp_ajax_ob_questions_resortsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:165
authwp_ajax_ob_quiz_question_answerssrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:167
authwp_ajax_ob_quiz_question_answersrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:168
authwp_ajax_ob_quiz_settingssrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:170
authwp_ajax_ob_quiz_statssrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:172
authwp_ajax_ob_stats_erasesrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:174
noprivwp_ajax_ob_get_resultssrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:73
noprivwp_ajax_ob_save_emailsrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:74
noprivwp_ajax_ob_question_votessrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:75
noprivwp_ajax_ob_lock_share_clickedsrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:76
WordPress Hooks 17
actionadmin_menusrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:136
actioninitsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:176
actioninitsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:177
actionwidgets_initsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:179
actionplugins_loadedsrc\Admin\OBVQ_Admin.php:181
actioninitsrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:54
actioninitsrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:55
actioninitsrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:57
actionwp_headsrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:59
actionwp_headsrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:60
filterarchive_templatesrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:66
filterthe_contentsrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:67
actionpre_get_postssrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:70
actionpre_get_postssrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:71
actionwidgets_initsrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:78
actionwp_enqueue_scriptssrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:79
filterthe_postssrc\Frontend\OBVQ_Frontend.php:204
Maintenance & Trust

OnionBuzz Maintenance & Trust

Maintenance Signals

WordPress version tested4.8.28
Last updatedJan 8, 2018
PHP min version
Downloads8K

Community Trust

Rating80/100
Number of ratings3
Active installs100
Developer Profile

OnionBuzz Developer Profile

Looks Awesome

3 plugins · 230 total installs

59
trust score
Avg Security Score
72/100
Avg Patch Time
1648 days
View full developer profile
Detection Fingerprints

How We Detect OnionBuzz

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

Asset Fingerprints

Asset Paths
/wp-content/plugins/onionbuzz-viral-quiz/vendors/pnotify/pnotify.min.js/wp-content/plugins/onionbuzz-viral-quiz/vendors/sharer/sharer.js/wp-content/plugins/onionbuzz-viral-quiz/frontend/js/frontend.js/wp-content/plugins/onionbuzz-viral-quiz/frontend/css/frontend.css/wp-content/plugins/onionbuzz-viral-quiz/vendors/animations/animations.css
Script Paths
vendors/pnotify/pnotify.min.jsvendors/sharer/sharer.jsfrontend/js/frontend.jsfrontend/css/frontend.cssvendors/animations/animations.css
Version Parameters
onionbuzz-viral-quiz/vendors/pnotify/pnotify.min.js?ver=onionbuzz-viral-quiz/vendors/sharer/sharer.js?ver=onionbuzz-viral-quiz/frontend/js/frontend.js?ver=onionbuzz-viral-quiz/frontend/css/frontend.css?ver=onionbuzz-viral-quiz/vendors/animations/animations.css?ver=

HTML / DOM Fingerprints

HTML Comments
<!-- Onionbuzz Custom CSS --><!-- Onionbuzz Custom CSS END -->
Data Attributes
data-obvq
JS Globals
onionbuzz_paramsonionbuzz_lng
REST Endpoints
/wp-json/onionbuzz-viral-quiz/v1/getquiz/wp-json/onionbuzz-viral-quiz/v1/getquizdata
Shortcode Output
[onionbuzz_quiz[quiz_display
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about OnionBuzz