Pretty Url Security & Risk Analysis

wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-url

Description: Pretty URLs is a powerful WordPress plugin that lets you create clean, SEO-optimized custom URLs for any content type — including Posts, …

90 active installs v1.5.5 PHP + WP 3.4+ Updated Jun 18, 2025
custom-category-urlcustom-page-urlcustom-post-type-pretty-urlcustom-post-urlseo-friendly-url
77
B · Generally Safe
CVEs total3
Unpatched1
Last CVEJan 7, 2025
Safety Verdict

Is Pretty Url Safe to Use in 2026?

Mostly Safe

Score 77/100

Pretty Url is generally safe to use. 3 past CVEs were resolved. Keep it updated.

3 known CVEs 1 unpatched Last CVE: Jan 7, 2025Updated 9mo ago
Risk Assessment

The 'pretty-url' plugin exhibits a mixed security posture. While it has a commendable zero-attack surface for direct entry points like AJAX handlers and REST API routes, and a reasonable number of SQL queries utilize prepared statements, there are significant concerns. The taint analysis revealing two flows with unsanitized paths, classified as high severity, is a critical finding that indicates potential vulnerabilities in how user input is handled, which could lead to serious security issues if exploited.

The plugin's vulnerability history, with three known CVEs and two currently unpatched, is a major red flag. The fact that these past vulnerabilities include Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) suggests a recurring pattern of input validation and state management weaknesses. The most recent vulnerability being in 2025 further indicates that these issues may be persistent and not adequately addressed.

In conclusion, despite a strong showing in minimizing direct attack vectors and a good percentage of prepared SQL statements, the presence of high-severity unsanitized taint flows and a history of unpatched CSRF and XSS vulnerabilities present a substantial risk. Users should exercise extreme caution and prioritize patching any known vulnerabilities. The plugin has strengths in code hygiene for certain areas, but the identified taint flows and historical issues require immediate attention.

Key Concerns

  • Unpatched CVEs
  • High severity unsanitized taint flows
  • Medium severity unpatched CVEs
  • SQL queries not using prepared statements
  • Outputs not properly escaped
  • Missing nonce checks
  • Missing capability checks
Vulnerabilities
3

Pretty Url Security Vulnerabilities

CVEs by Year

1 CVE in 2023
2023
2 CVEs in 2025 · unpatched
2025
Patched Has unpatched

Severity Breakdown

Medium
3

3 total CVEs

CVE-2025-22564medium · 6.1Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Pretty Url <= 1.5.4 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

Jan 7, 2025 Patched in 1.5.5 (416d)
CVE-2025-22563medium · 4.3Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Pretty Url <= 1.5.4 - Cross-Site Request Forgery

Jan 7, 2025Unpatched
CVE-2023-2009medium · 4.4Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Pretty Url < 1.5.5 - Authenticated (Admin+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting

Apr 18, 2023 Patched in 1.5.5 (1065d)
Code Analysis
Analyzed Mar 16, 2026

Pretty Url Code Analysis

Dangerous Functions
0
Raw SQL Queries
10
32 prepared
Unescaped Output
16
31 escaped
Nonce Checks
2
Capability Checks
3
File Operations
0
External Requests
0
Bundled Libraries
0

SQL Query Safety

76% prepared42 total queries

Output Escaping

66% escaped47 total outputs
Data Flows
2 unsanitized

Data Flow Analysis

2 flows2 with unsanitized paths
prettyurls_manage (wp-prettyyurls.php:262)
Source (user input) Sink (dangerous op) Sanitizer Transform Unsanitized Sanitized
Attack Surface

Pretty Url Attack Surface

Entry Points0
Unprotected0
WordPress Hooks 11
actionadmin_menuwp-prettyyurls.php:28
actionadd_meta_boxeswp-prettyyurls.php:29
actionsave_postwp-prettyyurls.php:30
filterterm_linkwp-prettyyurls.php:33
filterpage_linkwp-prettyyurls.php:34
filterpost_linkwp-prettyyurls.php:35
filterpost_type_linkwp-prettyyurls.php:36
filterredirect_canonicalwp-prettyyurls.php:37
filterrewrite_rules_arraywp-prettyyurls.php:38
filterwp_titlewp-prettyyurls.php:39
actionwp_headwp-prettyyurls.php:40
Maintenance & Trust

Pretty Url Maintenance & Trust

Maintenance Signals

WordPress version tested6.8.5
Last updatedJun 18, 2025
PHP min version
Downloads11K

Community Trust

Rating100/100
Number of ratings1
Active installs90
Developer Profile

Pretty Url Developer Profile

faaiq

6 plugins · 630 total installs

71
trust score
Avg Security Score
89/100
Avg Patch Time
498 days
View full developer profile
Detection Fingerprints

How We Detect Pretty Url

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

Asset Fingerprints

HTML / DOM Fingerprints

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about Pretty Url