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Keeping it Clean: Sanitizing, Validating, and E...
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Robin Cornett
May 03, 2016
Technology
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Keeping it Clean: Sanitizing, Validating, and Escaping in WordPress
Robin Cornett
May 03, 2016
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Transcript
KEEPING IT CLEAN Sanitizing, Validating, and Escaping in WordPress
ASSUME THAT EVERYONE AROUND YOU IS LYING (or clueless, confused,
lost, can’t/won’t read, crazy)
FOUR STAGES OF DATA SAFETY Sanitization Validation Conditions Escaping Universal
Actions Specific Actions INPUT OUTPUT
INPUT: SANITIZE FOR SANITY Save the Right Kind of Data
DISPLAY FEATURED IMAGE FOR GENESIS
MANAGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS If a value is supposed to be
a number, make sure it’s saved as a number. If it’s supposed to be an image ID, make sure it’s a number. If it’s supposed to be a URL, make sure it’s a URL. …
BE RUTHLESS When you have a range of data that
can be entered, make sure you sanitize it.
LITTLE BOBBY TABLES source: http:/ /xkcd.com/327/
SANITIZE Make sure what’s saved to the database is the
correct format.
CORE SANITIZING FUNCTIONS Example functions: sanitize_email() sanitize_file_name() sanitize_html_class() sanitize_key() sanitize_meta()
sanitize_mime_type() sanitize_option() sanitize_sql_orderby() sanitize_text_field() sanitize_title() sanitize_title_for_query() sanitize_title_with_dashes() sanitize_user()
ALSO CONSIDER: (bool) (int) intval() array_map() htmlspecialchars_decode() stripslashes() esc_url_raw( $url,
(array) $protocols = null )
INPUT: VALIDATE FOR LOGIC Make Sure the Data Makes Sense
BE RUTHLESS Follow the whitelist philosophy with data validation, and
only allow the user to input data of your expected type. If it's not the proper type, discard it.
BUT DOES IT MAKE SENSE? If a number needs to
fall within a certain range, make sure it does.
BUT DOES IT MAKE SENSE?
OUTPUT: IT DEPENDS Use Conditionals To Make Smart Decisions
MAYBE I WILL, MAYBE I WON’T Use both WordPress conditionals
and your own to make sure you’re only printing data when you can or should. http:/ /codex.wordpress.org/Con ditional_Tags
USE ALL THE TOOLS YOU CAN Make sure you’re debugging:
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); define( 'SCRIPT_DEBUG', true ); Use plugins like Query Monitor, Debug Bar, or Hookr
OUTPUT: ESCAPE ALL THE THINGS
None
ESCAPE ALL THE THINGS “Escaping changes possibly evil content into
safe content.” source: https:/ /css-tricks.com/introduction-to-wordpress-front-end-security-escaping-the-things/
ESCAPING FUNCTIONS •intval( $int ) or (int) $int •absint( $int
) •wp_kses( (string) $fragment, (array) $allowed_html, (array) $protocols = null ) •wp_rel_nofollow( (string) $html ) •wp_kses_allowed_html( (string) $context ) •esc_html( $text ) •esc_html__() •esc_html_e() •esc_textarea() •sanitize_text_field() •esc_attr( $text ) •esc_attr__() •esc_attr_e() •esc_js( $text ) •esc_url( $url, (array) $protocols = null ) •esc_url_raw( $url, (array) $protocols = null ) •urlencode( $scalar ) •urlencode_deep( $array ) •validate_file( (string) $filename, (array) $allowed_files = "" ) •wp_redirect($location, $status = 302) •wp_safe_redirect($location, $status = 302) •sanitize_title( $title ) •sanitize_user( $username, $strict = false ) •balanceTags( $html ) or force_balance_tags( $html ) •tag_escape( $html_tag_name ) •sanitize_html_class( $class, $fallback ) •is_email( $email_address )
BE RUTHLESS Escape data as much as possible on output
to avoid XSS and malformed HTML.
SOURCES https:/ /css-tricks.com/introduction-to-wordpress-front-end-security-escaping- the-things/ https:/ /vip.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/the-importance-of-escaping-all-the- things/ https:/ /codex.wordpress.org/Validating_Sanitizing_and_Escaping_User_Data https:/
/ninjaforms.com/mr-mrs-null-form-validation-story/ http:/ /codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags
THANK YOU robincornett.com @robincornett