SOPA Blackout Plugin Security & Risk Analysis

wordpress.org/plugins/sopa-blackout-plugin

This plugin allows you to set SOPA blackout dates for your WordPress website. SEO friendly plus easy options to configure how often it's shown.

30 active installs v1.0.6 PHP + WP 2.0.2+ Updated Jan 17, 2012
blackoutcensorshippipasoapsopa
85
A · Safe
CVEs total0
Unpatched0
Last CVENever
Safety Verdict

Is SOPA Blackout Plugin Safe to Use in 2026?

Generally Safe

Score 85/100

SOPA Blackout Plugin has no known CVEs and is actively maintained. It's a solid choice for most WordPress installations.

No known CVEs Updated 14yr ago
Risk Assessment

The "sopa-blackout-plugin" v1.0.6 presents a mixed security posture. On the positive side, the plugin demonstrates good practices by not exposing a large attack surface with no registered AJAX handlers, REST API routes, shortcodes, or cron events. It also utilizes prepared statements for all SQL queries and has no recorded vulnerability history, suggesting a generally stable codebase. However, significant concerns arise from the code analysis. The low percentage of properly escaped output (8%) is a major weakness, indicating a high risk of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the presence of a taint flow with unsanitized paths, although not flagged as critical or high severity, warrants attention as it suggests potential input validation issues. The single capability check is also a point of concern; depending on its implementation, it might not adequately protect sensitive operations.

Key Concerns

  • Low output escaping percentage
  • Taint flow with unsanitized paths
  • Limited capability checks observed
Vulnerabilities
None known

SOPA Blackout Plugin Security Vulnerabilities

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

SOPA Blackout Plugin Code Analysis

Dangerous Functions
0
Raw SQL Queries
0
0 prepared
Unescaped Output
12
1 escaped
Nonce Checks
0
Capability Checks
1
File Operations
0
External Requests
0
Bundled Libraries
0

Output Escaping

8% escaped13 total outputs
Data Flows
1 unsanitized

Data Flow Analysis

1 flows1 with unsanitized paths
<stop-sopa> (stop-sopa.php:0)
Source (user input) Sink (dangerous op) Sanitizer Transform Unsanitized Sanitized
Attack Surface

SOPA Blackout Plugin Attack Surface

Entry Points0
Unprotected0
WordPress Hooks 6
actiontemplate_redirectdown-against-sopa.php:85
actionadmin_initdown-against-sopa.php:127
actionadmin_menudown-against-sopa.php:129
filterwp_list_pages_excludesdown-against-sopa.php:329
actioninitdown-against-sopa.php:349
actionadmin_noticesdown-against-sopa.php:397
Maintenance & Trust

SOPA Blackout Plugin Maintenance & Trust

Maintenance Signals

WordPress version tested3.3.2
Last updatedJan 17, 2012
PHP min version
Downloads13K

Community Trust

Rating0/100
Number of ratings0
Active installs30
Developer Profile

SOPA Blackout Plugin Developer Profile

Ben Welch-bolen

1 plugin · 30 total installs

84
trust score
Avg Security Score
85/100
Avg Patch Time
30 days
View full developer profile
Detection Fingerprints

How We Detect SOPA Blackout Plugin

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 SOPA Blackout Plugin