Simple Membership Security & Risk Analysis
wordpress.org/plugins/simple-membershipSimple membership plugin adds membership functionality to your site. Protect members only content using content protection easily.
Is Simple Membership Safe to Use in 2026?
Mostly Safe
Score 82/100Simple Membership is generally safe to use. 24 past CVEs were resolved. Keep it updated.
The 'simple-membership' plugin v4.7.2 exhibits a mixed security posture. While it demonstrates good practices in using prepared statements for SQL queries (96%) and a high rate of output escaping (71%), several areas raise significant concerns. The presence of 9 unprotected AJAX handlers on an attack surface of 23 entry points is a notable weakness, indicating potential for unauthorized actions. The taint analysis reveals 10 high-severity flows with unsanitized paths, suggesting potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited if input is not properly handled. Furthermore, the plugin's history of 24 known CVEs, including a past critical vulnerability, and common vulnerability types like XSS, SQL Injection, and open redirects, indicates a recurring pattern of security weaknesses. The recentness of the last vulnerability (2026-02-18) is highly suspicious and likely a data anomaly; however, even without this, the historical pattern is concerning. The plugin's strengths lie in its SQL query preparedness and output escaping, but these are overshadowed by the significant attack surface without proper authentication and the identified critical taint flows. The vulnerability history necessitates vigilance.
Key Concerns
- High number of unprotected AJAX handlers
- 10 high severity taint flows with unsanitized paths
- Numerous known CVEs with critical and high severities
- Dangerous function: unserialize without clear context
- Significant number of unsanitized paths in taint flows
Simple Membership Security Vulnerabilities
CVEs by Year
Severity Breakdown
24 total CVEs
Simple Membership <= 4.7.0 - Unauthenticated Improper Handling of Missing Values
Simple Membership <= 4.6.3 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Simple Membership <= 4.5.5 - Exposure of Private Personal Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Simple Membership <= 4.5.3 - Unauthenticated Open Redirect
Simple Membership <= 4.4.5 - Authenticated(Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode
Simple Membership <= 4.4.3 - Authenticated(Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode
Simple Membership <= 4.4.2 - Unauthenticated Stored Self-Based Cross-Site Scripting
Simple Membership <= 4.4.1 - Open Redirect
Simple Membership <= 4.3.8 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Simple Membership <= 4.3.8 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability via environment_mode
Simple Membership <= 4.3.4 - Privilege escalation via Registration
Simple Membership <= 4.3.4 - Account Takeover via Password Reset
Simple Membership <= 4.3.5 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Simple Membership <= 4.2.1 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Cross Site Scripting via shortcode
Simple Membership <= 4.1.2 - Membership Privilege Escalation
Simple Membership <= 4.1.2 - Membership Privilege Escalation
Simple Membership <= 4.1.0 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Simple Membership <= 4.0.9 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Arbitrary Transaction Deletion
Simple Membership <= 4.0.8 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Arbitrary Member Deletion
Simple Membership <= 4.0.3 - Authenticated (Admin+) SQL Injections
Simple Membership <= 3.8.4 - Cross-Site Request Forgery
Simple Membership <= 3.5.6 - Cross-Site Scripting
Simple Membership <= 3.3.2 - Multiple Cross-Site Request Forgery
Simple Membership < 3.2.9 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Simple Membership Code Analysis
Dangerous Functions Found
SQL Query Safety
Output Escaping
Data Flow Analysis
Simple Membership Attack Surface
AJAX Handlers 11
Shortcodes 12
WordPress Hooks 121
Scheduled Events 4
Maintenance & Trust
Simple Membership Maintenance & Trust
Maintenance Signals
Community Trust
Simple Membership Alternatives
Simple Membership Menu
simple-membership-menu
Simple membership Menu, permits to configure visibility on menu items, following Simple Membership available roles.
Membership Lock
membership-lock
Membership Lock down lets you easily lock all post content including attached images, video, docs, and everything else.
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin
members
The best WordPress membership and user role editor plugin. User Roles & Capabilities editor helps you restrict content in just a few clicks.
Paid Membership Plugin, Ecommerce, User Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content – ProfilePress
wp-user-avatar
Setup paid membership, accept payment, sell subscription & digital product, paywall, create login & registration form, user profile & member directory
Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Plugin! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More
content-control
Restrict content based on login status, user roles, device type & more. Monetize your content with a paywall or members-only content.
Simple Membership Developer Profile
14 plugins · 76K total installs
How We Detect Simple Membership
Patterns used to identify this plugin on WordPress sites during automated security audits and web crawling.
Asset Fingerprints
/wp-content/plugins/simple-membership/js/swpm-stats.jshttps://www.gstatic.com/charts/loader.js/wp-content/plugins/simple-membership/js/swpm-stats.jssimple-membership/style.css?ver=simple-membership/js/swpm-stats.js?ver=HTML / DOM Fingerprints
swpm-admin-menu-wrapswpm_report_date_range_form<!-- start wrap --><!-- page title --><!-- start nav menu tabs --><!-- end nav menu tabs -->+2 morename="simple_wp_membership"name="swpm_date_range_form"name="swpm_date_range_form[start_date]"name="swpm_date_range_form[end_date]"SIMPLE_WP_MEMBERSHIP_VERSIMPLE_WP_MEMBERSHIP_URL