SB Popular Posts Tabbed Widget Security & Risk Analysis

wordpress.org/plugins/sb-popular-posts-tabbed-widget

A lightweight, responsive, uncluttered widget to display popular posts, recent posts, and categories with tabs.

100 active installs v1.1 PHP + WP 3.5+ Updated May 23, 2015
popular-poststab-widgettabs
85
A · Safe
CVEs total0
Unpatched0
Last CVENever
Safety Verdict

Is SB Popular Posts Tabbed Widget Safe to Use in 2026?

Generally Safe

Score 85/100

SB Popular Posts Tabbed 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 plugin "sb-popular-posts-tabbed-widget" v1.1 exhibits a seemingly good security posture in several areas. The absence of any known CVEs, coupled with a lack of identified critical or high-severity taint flows, is a positive sign. Furthermore, the plugin demonstrates good practice by utilizing prepared statements for all SQL queries and avoiding file operations and external HTTP requests. However, there are notable concerns. The presence of the `create_function` function, a deprecated and potentially insecure construct, is a red flag. More significantly, a substantial portion of output (85%) is not properly escaped, posing a risk of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities if user-supplied data is incorporated into these outputs. The lack of any nonce or capability checks, while potentially mitigated by a small attack surface, leaves open the possibility of unintended actions if an entry point were discovered or exploited.

Key Concerns

  • Use of deprecated and potentially unsafe create_function
  • Significant amount of unescaped output (85%)
  • No nonce checks implemented
  • No capability checks implemented
Vulnerabilities
None known

SB Popular Posts Tabbed Widget Security Vulnerabilities

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

SB Popular Posts Tabbed Widget Code Analysis

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

Dangerous Functions Found

create_functionadd_action('widgets_init', create_function('', 'return register_widget("sb_tabbed_widget");'));sb-pop-posts-widget.php:193

Output Escaping

15% escaped20 total outputs
Attack Surface

SB Popular Posts Tabbed Widget Attack Surface

Entry Points0
Unprotected0
WordPress Hooks 2
actionwp_enqueue_scriptsincludes\scripts.php:14
actionwidgets_initsb-pop-posts-widget.php:193
Maintenance & Trust

SB Popular Posts Tabbed Widget Maintenance & Trust

Maintenance Signals

WordPress version tested4.2.39
Last updatedMay 23, 2015
PHP min version
Downloads15K

Community Trust

Rating86/100
Number of ratings7
Active installs100
Developer Profile

SB Popular Posts Tabbed Widget Developer Profile

Scott Bolinger

4 plugins · 1K total installs

83
trust score
Avg Security Score
84/100
Avg Patch Time
11 days
View full developer profile
Detection Fingerprints

How We Detect SB Popular Posts Tabbed Widget

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

Asset Fingerprints

Asset Paths
/wp-content/plugins/sb-popular-posts-tabbed-widget/css/style.css/wp-content/plugins/sb-popular-posts-tabbed-widget/js/tabs.js
Script Paths
/wp-content/plugins/sb-popular-posts-tabbed-widget/js/tabs.js
Version Parameters
sb-popular-posts-tabbed-widget/css/style.css?ver=sb-popular-posts-tabbed-widget/js/tabs.js?ver=

HTML / DOM Fingerprints

CSS Classes
sb_tabbedsb_tabstab-contentsb-comment-metasb-date-metasb-cat-meta
HTML Comments
<!-- The tabs --><!-- tab 1 --><!-- tab 2 --><!-- tab 3 -->
Data Attributes
id="sb-popular-posts-tabbed-widget-widget-number"id="sb-popular-posts-tabbed-widget-widget-checkbox"id="sb-popular-posts-tabbed-widget-widget-checkbox2"
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about SB Popular Posts Tabbed Widget