Author box plugins are security-relevant because they render user-controlled profile data across the site, often including author bio text, website links, and social profiles. If output encoding, access control, or request integrity is weak, these surfaces can become a path to stored XSS, unauthorized profile metadata exposure, or CSRF-driven settings changes. Simple Author Box version 2.59 has successfully completed the CleanTalk Plugin Security Certification process and received PSC-2026-64639, confirming that the plugin was reviewed from a secure code perspective with attention to the most common exploitation paths for author profile and bio display plugins.
| Name of | Simple Author Box |
| Version | 2.59 |
| Active installations | 80,000+ |
| Description | Simple Author Box adds a responsive author box at the end of your posts, showing the author name, author gravatar and author description (author bio), and it adds 30+ social profile fields to display author social icons. |
| Security | Successfully tested for: SQL Injection (SQLi) Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) – Stored & Reflected Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Authentication Vulnerabilities Authentication Bypass Exploits Privilege Escalation Buffer Overflow Denial-of-Service (DoS) vectors Data Leakage Vulnerabilities Insecure Dependency Usage Remote Code Execution (RCE) Risks Unauthorized File Access Insufficient Injection Protection Information Disclosure via Misconfigured Endpoints |
| CleanTalk Certification | Proudly earned the “Plugin Security Certification” (PSC) from CleanTalk, indicating adherence to stringent security standards. |
| Additional Information | Site owners can display author bios and social profiles with the assurance of the “Plugin Security Certification” (PSC). As a best practice, limit who can edit user profile fields on multi-author sites and treat author bio fields as security-sensitive output that should remain safely rendered. |
| Plugin Security Certification by CleanTalk |  |
| Logo of the plugin |  |
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Key Features
Simple Author Box automatically inserts a responsive author box at the end of posts, showing core author identity signals such as avatar (gravatar), display name, website, and biographical info. It also extends the WordPress user profile with 30+ social profile fields so social icons can be displayed alongside the author bio, which is particularly useful on multi-author and guest-post sites. The plugin is designed to be customizable to match theme styling and to render cleanly across devices. From a security standpoint, these features are sensitive because they store and render user-controlled strings into HTML across public pages and sometimes admin previews, so safe output encoding and strict permission boundaries around profile editing are essential.
Security Assurance
The CleanTalk Plugin Security Certification evaluation for author box plugins focuses on attacker models that target stored profile fields and front-end rendering contexts. Typical abuse patterns include injecting JavaScript into author bio text, social URLs, or display fields that get rendered on posts and archives (stored XSS), exploiting weak output encoding in attributes or link contexts, and forcing configuration changes via CSRF against administrators if settings pages are not protected correctly. The review validates that state-changing actions are protected with nonce and CSRF defenses, that capability checks are applied consistently for administrative settings, and that user-controlled values are output-encoded appropriately in both front-end and admin contexts. It also considers leakage vectors via misconfigured endpoints or overly verbose diagnostics that could expose profile metadata or configuration state.
The plugin has been successfully tested for:
✅ Information Leakage Vulnerabilities
✅ SQL Injection Vulnerabilities
✅ Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Attacks
✅ Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Attacks
✅ Authentication & Authentication Bypass Vulnerabilities
✅ Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilities
✅ Buffer Overflow Vulnerabilities
✅ Denial-of-Service (DoS) Vulnerabilities
✅ Data Leakage Vulnerabilities
✅ Insecure Dependencies
✅ Code Execution Vulnerabilities
✅ File Unauthorized Access Vulnerabilities
✅ Insufficient Injection Protection
Conclusion
With PSC-2026-64639, Simple Author Box version 2.59 demonstrates strong baseline security for the workflows that matter most in author bio plugins: safe rendering of profile data across the site, controlled administration of plugin settings, and consistent protections against common WordPress vulnerability classes that target stored configuration and output contexts. This certification helps publishers and multi-author sites display author identity information with reduced risk that profile fields become an unintended injection or data exposure surface. As a best practice, keep profile editing limited to trusted roles, review any custom HTML policies for bio fields, and keep the plugin updated as WordPress output contexts evolve.
Note: The date and certification information may change over time. It is advisable to verify the latest details on the plugin developer’s website.