WP User Avatars Security & Risk Analysis

wordpress.org/plugins/wp-user-avatars

Allow registered users to upload & select their own avatars.

20K active installs v1.4.1 PHP 7.0+ WP 5.2+ Updated Jun 1, 2021
avatarlocalmediaprofileuser
85
A · Safe
CVEs total0
Unpatched0
Last CVENever
Safety Verdict

Is WP User Avatars Safe to Use in 2026?

Generally Safe

Score 85/100

WP User Avatars has no known CVEs and is actively maintained. It's a solid choice for most WordPress installations.

No known CVEs Updated 4yr ago
Risk Assessment

The wp-user-avatars plugin v1.4.1 demonstrates a generally positive security posture, with no recorded critical or high-severity vulnerabilities in its history. The code analysis shows strong practices like the complete absence of raw SQL queries and a high percentage of properly escaped output. Furthermore, there are no critical or high-severity taint flows identified, suggesting a good effort in handling user-provided data. The plugin also incorporates nonce and capability checks, which are fundamental security measures.

However, significant concerns arise from the identified attack surface. The presence of two AJAX handlers, both lacking authentication checks, presents a clear risk. This means that any unauthenticated user could potentially interact with these handlers, leading to unintended actions or information disclosure if not properly secured within the handler logic itself. While no specific vulnerabilities are currently known or have been historically recorded, this lack of protection on entry points is a weakness that could be exploited by attackers.

In conclusion, while the plugin benefits from good coding practices regarding data handling and has a clean vulnerability history, the unprotected AJAX endpoints are a notable security weakness. Addressing these unprotected entry points should be a priority to further strengthen the plugin's overall security.

Key Concerns

  • Unprotected AJAX handlers
  • Low percentage of properly escaped output
Vulnerabilities
None known

WP User Avatars Security Vulnerabilities

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

WP User Avatars Code Analysis

Dangerous Functions
0
Raw SQL Queries
0
0 prepared
Unescaped Output
5
15 escaped
Nonce Checks
3
Capability Checks
8
File Operations
1
External Requests
0
Bundled Libraries
0

Output Escaping

75% escaped20 total outputs
Data Flows
All sanitized

Data Flow Analysis

3 flows
wp_user_avatars_action_remove_avatars (wp-user-avatars\includes\ajax.php:19)
Source (user input) Sink (dangerous op) Sanitizer Transform Unsanitized Sanitized
Attack Surface
2 unprotected

WP User Avatars Attack Surface

Entry Points2
Unprotected2

AJAX Handlers 2

authwp_ajax_assign_wp_user_avatars_mediawp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:42
authwp_ajax_remove_wp_user_avatarswp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:43
WordPress Hooks 23
actionuser_profile_update_errorswp-user-avatars\includes\common.php:40
filterupload_size_limitwp-user-avatars\includes\common.php:50
actionuser_profile_update_errorswp-user-avatars\includes\common.php:77
actionuser_profile_update_errorswp-user-avatars\includes\common.php:80
actionadmin_initwp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:15
filtermap_meta_capwp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:18
actionadmin_enqueue_scriptswp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:21
actionshow_user_profilewp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:24
actionedit_user_profilewp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:25
actionuser_edit_form_tagwp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:26
actionpersonal_options_updatewp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:27
actionedit_user_profile_updatewp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:28
filteravatar_defaultswp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:31
filteroption_avatar_defaultwp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:34
filterpre_update_option_avatar_defaultwp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:35
filterget_avatar_urlwp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:38
filterget_avatar_urlwp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:39
actionadmin_action_remove-wp-user-avatarswp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:44
actionwp_user_profiles_add_meta_boxeswp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:47
actionwp_user_profiles_do_admin_headwp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:48
actioninitwp-user-avatars\includes\hooks.php:49
actionadmin_initwp-user-avatars\includes\sponsor.php:17
actionplugins_loadedwp-user-avatars.php:46
Maintenance & Trust

WP User Avatars Maintenance & Trust

Maintenance Signals

WordPress version tested5.8.13
Last updatedJun 1, 2021
PHP min version7.0
Downloads313K

Community Trust

Rating90/100
Number of ratings29
Active installs20K
Developer Profile

WP User Avatars Developer Profile

John James Jacoby

28 plugins · 332K total installs

70
trust score
Avg Security Score
87/100
Avg Patch Time
1401 days
View full developer profile
Detection Fingerprints

How We Detect WP User Avatars

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

Asset Fingerprints

Asset Paths
/wp-content/plugins/wp-user-avatars/assets/css/user-avatars-rtl.css/wp-content/plugins/wp-user-avatars/assets/css/user-avatars.css/wp-content/plugins/wp-user-avatars/assets/js/user-avatars.js
Version Parameters
wp-user-avatars/assets/css/user-avatars.css?ver=wp-user-avatars/assets/js/user-avatars.js?ver=

HTML / DOM Fingerprints

CSS Classes
wp-user-avatars-photowp-user-avatars-actionswp-user-avatars-media
Data Attributes
id="wp-user-avatars-user-settings"id="wp-user-avatars-photo"id="wp-user-avatars-actions"id="wp-user-avatars"id="wp-user-avatars-media"
JS Globals
i10n_WPUserAvatars
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about WP User Avatars