Is Simple Download Counter safe? Known vulnerabilities and latest version

The Simple Download Counter plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'sdc_menu' shortcode in all versions up to, and including, 2.3. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user-supplied shortcode attributes, specifically the 'text' and 'cat' attributes. The 'text' attribute is output directly into HTML content on line 159 without any escaping (e.g., esc_html()). The 'cat' attribute is used unescaped in HTML class attributes on lines 135 and 157 without esc_attr(). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.

The Simple Download Counter plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Path Traversal in all versions up to, and including, 2.2.2. This is due to insufficient path validation in the `simple_download_counter_parse_path()` function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Administrator-level access and above, to read the contents of arbitrary files on the server, which may contain sensitive information such as database credentials (wp-config.php) or system files. Please note that the vendor opted to continue to allow remote file downloads from arbitrary locations on the server, however, has disabled this functionality on multi-sites and provided a warning to site owners in the readme.txt when they install the plugin. While not an optimal patch, we have considered this sufficient and recommend users proceed to use the plugin with caution.

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Jeff Starr Simple Download Counter simple-download-counter allows Stored XSS.This issue affects Simple Download Counter: from n/a through <= 2.2.

The Simple Download Counter plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Read in all versions up to, and including, 2.0 via the 'simple_download_counter_download_handler'. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Author-level access and above, to extract sensitive data including any local file on the server, such as wp-config.php or /etc/passwd.

The Simple Download Counter plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the plugin's shortcodes in versions up to, and including, 1.6 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user supplied attributes like 'before' and 'after'. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor-level permissions and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.