I once had a client who spent three months building a custom “Member Directory” plugin. They were convinced it was the next big thing. The code looked clean enough, the UI was snappy, and they were ready to ship it to the official WordPress repository. Then they got the email from the Plugin Review Team. Twenty-four specific violations. Total nightmare. They came to me frustrated, thinking the reviewers were just being pedantic. “Ahmad, it works on my machine, why are they breaking my heart?”
The reality is that WordPress security standards aren’t there to make your life difficult; they’re there to keep 40% of the web from collapsing. Most devs—even the experienced ones—treat sanitization like a “check the box” task. I’ll be honest, ten years ago, I was guilty of this too. I thought as long as I ran everything through sanitize_text_field() at the top of the script, I was safe. I was wrong. That’s not how it works, and the review team knows it.
Why the WordPress Security Standards are Changing
We’re seeing a shift in how plugins are handled. Recently, as noted on the WordPress Make blog, David Perez and Fran Torres have stepped in as the new team reps for the Plugin Review Team. This is a big deal because the team is currently tackling massive hurdles: a doubling of plugin submissions and the absolute flood of low-quality, AI-generated code that’s hitting the queue. Trust me on this, if you’re using AI to write your logic, you’re probably failing the security check before you even hit ‘submit’.
The team is leaning heavily into tools like “Plugin Check” (PCP) to automate the boring stuff, which means the human reviewers can spend more time finding the architectural flaws that automation misses. The core of these reviews usually boils down to one thing: Data Integrity. If you aren’t escaping on output, you’re asking for trouble.
Here’s the kicker: Sanitizing data when it goes into the database is only half the battle. The “gold standard” the review team looks for is late escaping. You escape right when you’re about to render the HTML. Period. No exceptions.
// The WRONG way: Relying on early sanitization
function bbioon_display_member_bad( $id ) {
$name = get_post_meta( $id, 'member_name', true );
// We sanitized this when we saved it, so it's fine, right? Wrong.
echo '<div class="member-name">' . $name . '</div>';
}
// The RIGHT way: Late escaping
function bbioon_display_member_good( $id ) {
$name = get_post_meta( $id, 'member_name', true );
// Always escape as late as possible, specifically for the context
echo '<div class="member-name">' . esc_html( $name ) . '</div>';
}
That little esc_html() call seems redundant if you already sanitized the input, but it’s the only way to prove to a reviewer (and yourself) that you aren’t vulnerable to a stored XSS attack if someone—or another plugin—messes with that database row directly.
The Proactive Shift
The review team isn’t just sitting back anymore. They are moving toward “proactive reviews,” meaning they’ll be looking at existing plugins, not just new ones. If your plugin has been sitting in the repo for five years without a security audit, you might be in for a surprise. With the impact of AI making it easier than ever to generate “working” code that is technically “broken” from a security perspective, these standards are only going to get tighter.
Look, this stuff gets complicated fast. If you’re tired of debugging someone else’s mess and just want your site to work, drop my team a line. We’ve probably seen it before.
Summary of Key Takeaways
- Late Escaping is Non-Negotiable: Always escape your data at the moment of output, not just on input.
- Automated Tools: Use the “Plugin Check” tool yourself before submitting anything to the repo.
- AI is a Double-Edged Sword: AI can help write code, but it often ignores WordPress-specific security functions. Always audit what it gives you.
- Stay Updated: The Plugin Review Team is evolving. Keep an eye on the official Make blogs to see how documentation and requirements are shifting.
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