GPL Licensed Plugins and Themes are Secure for Website or not?
- Thread starter Bianco1
- Start date
hideath
Elite Member
- Jun 16, 2019
- 6,620
- 7,350
As long as you download the plugin/theme from the right source (avoid infected ones) and making sure that they do not have any major security problems, then you should be good to go
GPL has nothing to do with the security level and it's really up to the code itself to be vulnerable or not, so basically sticking with the right downloading sources and the top/common plugins (they're usually more secured) would be enough
GPL has nothing to do with the security level and it's really up to the code itself to be vulnerable or not, so basically sticking with the right downloading sources and the top/common plugins (they're usually more secured) would be enough
- Sep 10, 2010
- 11,812
- 26,653
License != security. They are unrelated.
However, a popular GPL (or MIT, or other open-source licenses) licensed software is generally audited by more users than a closed sourced one, for obvious reasons (because the source code is open, duh). For an example, Ubuntu would be audited by much more users than Windows. Hence, if something is vulnerable, it would have better chance of being seen by someone and eventually being patched.
However, a popular GPL (or MIT, or other open-source licenses) licensed software is generally audited by more users than a closed sourced one, for obvious reasons (because the source code is open, duh). For an example, Ubuntu would be audited by much more users than Windows. Hence, if something is vulnerable, it would have better chance of being seen by someone and eventually being patched.
- Jan 17, 2015
- 5,263
- 4,955
Many page commonly call them "GPL themes and plugins" as their core licensing.
But as many has already mentioned, the problem is that most pages with "GPL-something.com", specially public ones, tend to inject malware in the code of the plugin. Try to avoid them and look for any reputable plugin store. Reputation of the store generally is subjective, and they can even incur is a fault. So if you are 100% unsure about this, just go for the original source of the plugins.
But as many has already mentioned, the problem is that most pages with "GPL-something.com", specially public ones, tend to inject malware in the code of the plugin. Try to avoid them and look for any reputable plugin store. Reputation of the store generally is subjective, and they can even incur is a fault. So if you are 100% unsure about this, just go for the original source of the plugins.