External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window Security & Risk Analysis

wordpress.org/plugins/wp-external-links

Internal links & external links manager: open in new window or tab, control nofollow, ugc, sponsored & noopener. SEO friendly.

90K active installs v2.63 PHP 7.2+ WP 4.2+ Updated Dec 3, 2025
external-linksnew-tabnew-windownofollownoopener
99
A · Safe
CVEs total3
Unpatched0
Last CVEMar 8, 2023
Safety Verdict

Is External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window Safe to Use in 2026?

Generally Safe

Score 99/100

External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window has a strong security track record. Known vulnerabilities have been patched promptly.

3 known CVEsLast CVE: Mar 8, 2023Updated 4mo ago
Risk Assessment

The wp-external-links plugin, version 2.63, exhibits a mixed security posture. While the static analysis indicates good practices such as 100% prepared SQL statements and a relatively small attack surface with no unprotected entry points, the vulnerability history raises significant concerns. The presence of three known medium-severity vulnerabilities, including CSRF and Cross-site Scripting, suggests a history of exploitable weaknesses. The fact that these vulnerabilities have been addressed and are currently unpatched is a positive sign, but the historical pattern indicates a need for ongoing vigilance and thorough security audits. The lack of identified taint flows in the static analysis is encouraging, but the past vulnerabilities highlight that such issues might have been present or overlooked in prior versions.

Key Concerns

  • History of medium severity vulnerabilities
  • History of CSRF vulnerabilities
  • History of XSS vulnerabilities
  • 82% output escaping is good, but not 100%
Vulnerabilities
3

External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window Security Vulnerabilities

CVEs by Year

1 CVE in 2016
2016
1 CVE in 2022
2022
1 CVE in 2023
2023
Patched Has unpatched

Severity Breakdown

Medium
3

3 total CVEs

WF-ae7d54a5-3952-4206-a5f4-be60aac27767-wp-external-linksmedium · 4.3Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

External Links <= 2.57 - Cross-Site Request Forgery via action_admin_action_wpel_dismiss_notice

Mar 8, 2023 Patched in 2.58 (407d)
WF-1254e0ad-852e-4fd4-8317-61bfbbc9f737-wp-external-linksmedium · 5.5Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

External Links <= 2.55 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Cross-Site Scripting

Nov 20, 2022 Patched in 2.56 (429d)
WF-3621801a-231b-4678-bfb5-fbf18e58a658-wp-external-linksmedium · 6.4Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

WP External Links < 1.81 - Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting

Mar 23, 2016 Patched in 1.81 (2862d)
Code Analysis
Analyzed Mar 16, 2026

External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window Code Analysis

Dangerous Functions
0
Raw SQL Queries
0
0 prepared
Unescaped Output
18
80 escaped
Nonce Checks
3
Capability Checks
2
File Operations
0
External Requests
0
Bundled Libraries
0

Output Escaping

82% escaped98 total outputs
Attack Surface

External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window Attack Surface

Entry Points1
Unprotected0

AJAX Handlers 1

authwp_ajax_wpel_dismiss_noticeincludes\class-wpel-plugin.php:24
WordPress Hooks 10
filteradmin_footer_textincludes\admin\class-wpel-settings-page.php:105
actionfinal_outputincludes\class-wpel-front.php:38
filtersafe_style_cssincludes\class-wpel-plugin.php:96
filtersafe_style_cssincludes\class-wpel-plugin.php:328
actionadmin_initwf-flyout\wf-flyout.php:27
actionadmin_enqueue_scriptswf-flyout\wf-flyout.php:73
actionadmin_headwf-flyout\wf-flyout.php:74
actionadmin_footerwf-flyout\wf-flyout.php:75
actionadmin_noticeswp-external-links.php:60
actioninitwp-external-links.php:101
Maintenance & Trust

External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window Maintenance & Trust

Maintenance Signals

WordPress version tested6.9.4
Last updatedDec 3, 2025
PHP min version7.2
Downloads1.6M

Community Trust

Rating86/100
Number of ratings247
Active installs90K
Developer Profile

External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window Developer Profile

WebFactory

28 plugins · 3.5M total installs

78
trust score
Avg Security Score
98/100
Avg Patch Time
699 days
View full developer profile
Detection Fingerprints

How We Detect External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window

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

Asset Fingerprints

Asset Paths
/wp-content/plugins/wp-external-links/public/css/external-links.css/wp-content/plugins/wp-external-links/public/js/external-links.js/wp-content/plugins/wp-external-links/libs/wprun/assets/css/wprun-forms.css
Script Paths
/wp-content/plugins/wp-external-links/public/js/external-links.js
Version Parameters
wp-external-links/public/css/external-links.css?ver=wp-external-links/public/js/external-links.js?ver=wprun/assets/css/wprun-forms.css?ver=

HTML / DOM Fingerprints

CSS Classes
wpel-tooltipwpel-icon
HTML Comments
WP External Links Plugin | WebFactory LtdWPEL SettingsWP External LinksNetwork Settings+2 more
Data Attributes
data-wpel-icondata-wpel-icon-colordata-wpel-icon-positiondata-wpel-titledata-wpel-tooltip-style
JS Globals
WPEL_Settings
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window