
Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing Security & Risk Analysis
wordpress.org/plugins/ulistingThis directory listings WordPress plugin is a fantastic tool for creating a professional business directory listings website on WordPress with no hass …
Is Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing Safe to Use in 2026?
Critical Risk — Avoid
Score 2/100Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing is critically unsafe with 26 known CVEs, 6 still unpatched. Avoid in production.
The ulisting plugin v2.2.0 presents a significant security risk due to its extensive vulnerability history and concerning static analysis findings. While the plugin demonstrates some good practices, such as a relatively high percentage of SQL prepared statements and output escaping, these are overshadowed by critical weaknesses. The presence of 25 known CVEs, with 5 currently unpatched and a history of critical and high severity vulnerabilities, indicates a recurring pattern of insecure coding. This suggests a lack of robust security auditing and remediation processes within the plugin's development lifecycle.
The static analysis reveals several red flags. Notably, one AJAX handler lacks authentication checks, creating a direct entry point for potential attackers. The use of the dangerous `unserialize` function, coupled with 5 unsanitized taint flows, raises concerns about deserialization vulnerabilities, which can be exploited for remote code execution. Furthermore, the plugin's attack surface includes multiple shortcodes and a cron event, alongside the unprotected AJAX handler, increasing the potential vectors for exploitation.
In conclusion, despite some positive aspects like nonce and capability checks, the ulisting plugin v2.2.0 has a poor security posture. The sheer volume and severity of past vulnerabilities, combined with newly identified weaknesses like the unprotected AJAX handler and deserialization risks, make this plugin a high-risk component. Users should exercise extreme caution, and prompt patching of unaddressed vulnerabilities is critical.
Key Concerns
- Multiple unpatched CVEs
- Unprotected AJAX handler
- Dangerous function: unserialize
- Flows with unsanitized paths
- Bundled library Select2
- Bundled library TinyMCE
Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing Security Vulnerabilities
CVEs by Year
Severity Breakdown
26 total CVEs
Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing <= 2.2.0 - Authenticated (Editor+) Arbitrary File Download
uListing <= 2.2.0 - Authenticated (Administrator+) PHP Object Injection
uListing <= 2.2.0 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) PHP Object Injection
uListing <= 2.1.9 - Authenticated (Administrator+) SQL Injection
Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing <= 2.2.0 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation
Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing <= 2.2.0 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Post Meta Update and PHP Object Injection
uListing <= 2.1.6 - Unauthenticated SQL Injection
uListing <= 2.1.6 - Authenticated (Contributor+) SQL Injection
uListing <= 2.1.5 - Unauthenticated Information Exposure
uListing <= 1.6.6 - Unauthenticated SQL Injection
Listing, Classified Ads & Business Directory – uListing <= 2.0.8 - Cross-Site Request Forgery
Listing, Classified Ads & Business Directory – uListing <= 2.0.5 - Privilege Escalation
uListing <= 2.0.5 - Cross-Site Request Forgery leading to Settings Change
Listing, Classified Ads & Business Directory – uListing <= 2.0.5 - Cross-Site Request Forgery
Listing, Classified Ads & Business Directory – uListing <= 2.0.5 - Cross-Site Request Forgery
Listing, Classified Ads & Business Directory – uListing <= 2.0.5 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
uListing plugin <= 2.0.5 - Authenticated Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR)
Listing, Classified Ads & Business Directory – uListing <= 2.0.3 - Unauthenticated SQL Injection
uListing <= 1.6.6 - Unauthenticated Information Disclosure
uListing <= 1.6.6 - Unauthenticated Wordpress Options Changes via AJAX
uListing <= 1.6.6 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Account Creation
uListing <= 1.6.6 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Account Changes
uListing <= 1.6.6 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Roles and Capabilities Creation/Deletion
uListing <= 1.6.6 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Post/Page Deletion
uListing <= 1.6.6 - Missing Authorization
uListing <= 1.6.6 - Unauthenticated Options Changes via wp_route
Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing Release Timeline
Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing Code Analysis
Dangerous Functions Found
Bundled Libraries
SQL Query Safety
Output Escaping
Data Flow Analysis
Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing Attack Surface
AJAX Handlers 1
Shortcodes 9
WordPress Hooks 102
Scheduled Events 1
Maintenance & Trust
Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing Maintenance & Trust
Maintenance Signals
Community Trust
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Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing Developer Profile
8 plugins · 58K total installs
How We Detect Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing
Patterns used to identify this plugin on WordPress sites during automated security audits and web crawling.
Asset Fingerprints
/wp-content/plugins/ulisting/assets/images/ulisting.png/wp-content/plugins/ulisting/assets/js/owl.carousel.min.js/wp-content/plugins/ulisting/assets/css/owl.carousel.min.css/wp-content/plugins/ulisting/assets/js/feedback.js/wp-content/plugins/ulisting/assets/css/admin/feedback.css/wp-content/plugins/ulisting/assets/js/vue-tinymce-2/tinymce.min.js/wp-content/plugins/ulisting/assets/js/vue-tinymce-2/vue-easy-tinymce.min.js/wp-content/plugins/ulisting/assets/css/frontend/bootstrap.min.css+5 moreulisting/assets/js/owl.carousel.min.jsulisting/assets/js/feedback.jsulisting/assets/js/vue-tinymce-2/tinymce.min.jsulisting/assets/js/vue-tinymce-2/vue-easy-tinymce.min.jsulisting/assets/js/helper.jsulisting/assets/js/bootstrap/bootstrap.jsulisting/assets/js/owl.carousel.min.js?ver=ulisting/assets/css/owl.carousel.min.css?ver=ulisting/assets/js/feedback.js?ver=ulisting/assets/css/admin/feedback.css?ver=ulisting/assets/js/vue-tinymce-2/tinymce.min.js?ver=ulisting/assets/js/vue-tinymce-2/vue-easy-tinymce.min.js?ver=ulisting/assets/css/frontend/bootstrap.min.css?ver=ulisting/assets/css/admin/settings.css?ver=ulisting/assets/css/admin/global.css?ver=ulisting/assets/js/helper.js?ver=ulisting/assets/js/bootstrap/bootstrap.js?ver=ulisting/assets/css/stm-grid.css?ver=HTML / DOM Fingerprints
ulisting-pro-featuresstm-ulisting-admin-notice<!-- uListing Pro Features --><!-- uListing Feedback --><!-- PRO -->data-toggle="ulisting-modal"data-target="#ulisting-pro-features-modal"ulisting_admin_paramsulisting_params/wp-json/ulisting/v1/feedback