Unsortable Meta Box Security & Risk Analysis

wordpress.org/plugins/unsortable-meta-box

Disable dragging of meta boxes and reset their positions.

90 active installs v0.9.0 PHP + WP 3.5+ Updated Jan 1, 2015
disable-draggingmeta-boxreset-positionsunsort
85
A · Safe
CVEs total0
Unpatched0
Last CVENever
Safety Verdict

Is Unsortable Meta Box Safe to Use in 2026?

Generally Safe

Score 85/100

Unsortable Meta Box has no known CVEs and is actively maintained. It's a solid choice for most WordPress installations.

No known CVEs Updated 11yr ago
Risk Assessment

The "unsortable-meta-box" v0.9.0 plugin exhibits a strong security posture based on the provided static analysis. It demonstrates excellent practice by having zero AJAX handlers, REST API routes, shortcodes, or cron events, significantly reducing its attack surface. Furthermore, all identified SQL queries utilize prepared statements, preventing common SQL injection vulnerabilities. The absence of dangerous functions, file operations, and external HTTP requests further contributes to its secure design. The plugin also passes taint analysis with no identified critical or high severity flows, indicating robust sanitization and validation of data.

However, a notable concern arises from the limited output escaping, with only 40% of outputs being properly escaped. This leaves a potential window for Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities if user-supplied data is reflected directly in the output without adequate sanitization. Additionally, the complete lack of nonce checks and capability checks across all entry points (though there are none) is a methodological gap. While the current lack of entry points mitigates immediate risk, if the plugin were to be extended in the future, these checks would be crucial to implement.

The vulnerability history of zero known CVEs, including none currently unpatched, is a very positive indicator of the plugin's past security. This suggests diligent development practices and a history of addressing any potential security flaws. In conclusion, "unsortable-meta-box" v0.9.0 is a well-coded plugin with a minimal attack surface and strong protection against common web vulnerabilities like SQL injection and XSS from tainted inputs. The primary area for improvement is the consistent and proper escaping of all outputs to mitigate potential XSS risks.

Key Concerns

  • Output escaping is not consistently applied
  • No nonce checks implemented
  • No capability checks implemented
Vulnerabilities
None known

Unsortable Meta Box Security Vulnerabilities

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

Unsortable Meta Box Code Analysis

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

SQL Query Safety

100% prepared3 total queries

Output Escaping

40% escaped5 total outputs
Attack Surface

Unsortable Meta Box Attack Surface

Entry Points0
Unprotected0
WordPress Hooks 9
actionadmin_enqueue_scriptsadmin\class-unsortable-meta-box-admin.php:79
actionadmin_menuadmin\class-unsortable-meta-box-admin.php:85
actionadmin_enqueue_scriptsadmin\class-unsortable-meta-box-admin.php:96
actionadmin_action_updateadmin\class-unsortable-meta-box-admin.php:97
actionadmin_initadmin\includes\settings.php:37
actioninitpublic\class-unsortable-meta-box.php:65
actionadmin_noticespublic\class-unsortable-meta-box.php:68
actionplugins_loadedunsortable-meta-box.php:45
actionplugins_loadedunsortable-meta-box.php:54
Maintenance & Trust

Unsortable Meta Box Maintenance & Trust

Maintenance Signals

WordPress version tested4.1.42
Last updatedJan 1, 2015
PHP min version
Downloads3K

Community Trust

Rating100/100
Number of ratings1
Active installs90
Developer Profile

Unsortable Meta Box Developer Profile

Yoren Chang

6 plugins · 4K total installs

79
trust score
Avg Security Score
87/100
Avg Patch Time
51 days
View full developer profile
Detection Fingerprints

How We Detect Unsortable Meta Box

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

Asset Fingerprints

Asset Paths
/wp-content/plugins/unsortable-meta-box/assets/css/admin.css/wp-content/plugins/unsortable-meta-box/assets/js/admin.js
Script Paths
/wp-content/plugins/unsortable-meta-box/assets/js/admin.js
Version Parameters
unsortable-meta-box/assets/css/admin.css?ver=unsortable-meta-box/assets/js/admin.js?ver=

HTML / DOM Fingerprints

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about Unsortable Meta Box