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$_GET['pagenow'] and $_GET['widget'] unsanitized in dashboard AJAX handler - #11540

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rajeshcpr:rajeshcpr-patch-5
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rajeshcpr wants to merge 3 commits into
WordPress:trunkfrom
rajeshcpr:rajeshcpr-patch-5

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@rajeshcpr

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$_GET['pagenow'] and $_GET['widget'] unsanitized in dashboard AJAX handler

Both values are read directly without sanitize_key(). While the switch/comparison limits damage, unsanitized
superglobal access violates WordPress coding standards unconditionally.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/65054
Fixes #65054

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This Pull Request is for code review only. Please keep all other discussion in the Trac ticket. Do not merge this Pull Request. See GitHub Pull Requests for Code Review in the Core Handbook for more details.

…ndler

Both values are read directly without sanitize_key(). While the switch/comparison limits damage, unsanitized
  superglobal access violates WordPress coding standards unconditionally.
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github-actions Bot commented Apr 9, 2026 •

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The following accounts have interacted with this PR and/or linked issues. I will continue to update these lists as activity occurs. You can also manually ask me to refresh this list by adding the props-bot label.

Core Committers: Use this line as a base for the props when committing in SVN:

Props rajeshcp, mukesh27, manishxdp.

To understand the WordPress project's expectations around crediting contributors, please review the Contributor Attribution page in the Core Handbook.

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github-actions Bot commented Apr 9, 2026

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Test using WordPress Playground

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@mukeshpanchal27 mukeshpanchal27 left a comment

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A Modern and clean version

require_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php';

$pagenow = $_GET['pagenow'];
$pagenow = isset( $_GET['pagenow'] ) ? sanitize_key( $_GET['pagenow'] ) : '';

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Suggested change
$pagenow = isset( $_GET['pagenow'] ) ? sanitize_key( $_GET['pagenow'] ) : '';
$pagenow = sanitize_key( $_GET['pagenow'] ?? '' );

}

switch ( $_GET['widget'] ) {
$widget = isset( $_GET['widget'] ) ? sanitize_key( $_GET['widget'] ) : '';

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Suggested change
$widget = isset( $_GET['widget'] ) ? sanitize_key( $_GET['widget'] ) : '';
$widget = sanitize_key( $_GET['widget'] ?? '' );

@manishdhorepatil-art

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@mukeshpanchal27
I had one question while reviewing this. Since these values come from $_GET, should we consider using wp_unslash() before sanitize_key() to follow the usual WordPress input-handling pattern, or is omitting it intentional here because sanitize_key() already normalizes the accepted characters?

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3 participants