Safe SVG

Description

Safe SVG is the best way to Allow SVG Uploads in WordPress!

It gives you the ability to allow SVG uploads whilst making sure that they’re sanitized to stop SVG/XML vulnerabilities affecting your site. It also gives you the ability to preview your uploaded SVGs in the media library in all views.

Current Features

  • Sanitised SVGs – Don’t open up security holes in your WordPress site by allowing uploads of unsanitised files.
  • SVGO Optimisation – Runs your SVGs through the SVGO tool on upload to save you space. This feature is disabled by default but can be enabled by adding the following code: add_filter( 'safe_svg_optimizer_enabled', '__return_true' );
  • View SVGs in the Media Library – Gone are the days of guessing which SVG is the correct one, we’ll enable SVG previews in the WordPress media library.
  • Choose Who Can Upload – Restrict SVG uploads to certain users on your WordPress site or allow anyone to upload.

Initially a proof of concept for #24251.

SVG Sanitization is done through the following library: https://github.com/darylldoyle/svg-sanitizer.

SVG Optimization is done through the following library: https://github.com/svg/svgo.

Technical: Upload Path Security

WordPress’s _wp_handle_upload( $file, $action ) function allows any $action value, which determines the filter hook name: {$action}_prefilter. Safe SVG hooks common actions like wp_handle_upload and wp_handle_sideload, but cannot hook arbitrary custom actions defined by third-party code. Since upload actions are unbounded and MIME allowances are global, we cannot guarantee sanitization coverage across all possible upload paths.

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  • Safe SVG Display the SVG icon

Installation

Install through the WordPress directory or download, unzip and upload the files to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory

FAQ

Can we change the allowed attributes and tags?

Yes, this can be done using the svg_allowed_attributes and svg_allowed_tags filters.
They take one argument that must be returned. See below for examples:

add_filter( 'svg_allowed_attributes', function ( $attributes ) {

    // Do what you want here...

    // This should return an array so add your attributes to
    // to the $attributes array before returning it. E.G.

    $attributes[] = 'target'; // This would allow the target="" attribute.

    return $attributes;
} );


add_filter( 'svg_allowed_tags', function ( $tags ) {

    // Do what you want here...

    // This should return an array so add your tags to
    // to the $tags array before returning it. E.G.

    $tags[] = 'use'; // This would allow the <use> element.

    return $tags;
} );

Can my theme style an inline SVG?

Mostly, yes. The Inline SVG block renders an SVG that carries its own <style> element inside a shadow root, because CSS inside an inline SVG is otherwise applied to the whole page rather than just the SVG. Stylesheets cannot reach into a shadow root, so theme CSS such as .entry-content svg { fill: red; } will not apply to those SVGs.

Inherited properties still cross the boundary, so setting color on an ancestor and using currentColor inside the SVG works, as do CSS custom properties. SVGs that do not contain a <style> element are rendered without the shadow root and can be styled by theme stylesheets.

To turn isolation off, at the cost of allowing an SVG’s CSS to affect the rest of the page:

add_filter( 'safe_svg_inline_use_shadow_dom', '__return_false' );

Why doesn’t Safe SVG globally enable SVG uploads?

Safe SVG only allows SVGs through upload paths it can actively sanitize. While most WordPress uploads use standard functions like wp_handle_upload() (which Safe SVG hooks), plugins and themes can create custom upload paths by calling WordPress’s underlying _wp_handle_upload() function with arbitrary action parameters.

Globally enabling the image/svg+xml MIME type would allow SVGs through all upload paths—including custom ones Safe SVG cannot intercept and sanitize. This would create security vulnerabilities where unsanitized SVGs containing malicious scripts could be uploaded.

This is a deliberate design decision: Safe SVG prioritizes guaranteed sanitization over broad compatibility. SVGs are only allowed when we can ensure they’re safe.

Where do I report security bugs found in this plugin?

Please report security bugs found in the source code of the Safe SVG plugin through the Patchstack Vulnerability Disclosure  Program. The Patchstack team will assist you with verification, CVE assignment, and notify the developers of this plugin.

Reviews

ഓഗസ്റ്റ്‌ 6, 2026 1 reply
Must use plugin, well maintained, installing almost every time and just now I’ve realized, that I didn’t review it. Keep it up and thanks!
മാർച്ച്‌ 11, 2026 1 reply
Needed SVG upload support, and this plugin did the job. Very lightweight and easy to use. No issues so far. Some additional settings would be nice, but overall, it’s quite solid.
ജൂൺ 21, 2025 1 reply
Would have given a 5 star, but it seems support is missing for the taxonomy / terms section (like in categories) upload for SVG images. Keep getting an error that the upload isn’t supported. Hopefully this will be fixed in a future update. Will update once this is added. Cheers!
ഏപ്രിൽ 30, 2025 1 reply
Great plugin! very usefull, but please can you add the possibility to add an inline SVG on the block pasting svg code? Thanks!
Read all 79 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“Safe SVG” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

“Safe SVG” has been translated into 30 locales. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.

Translate “Safe SVG” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

2.5.0 – 2026-09-07

2.4.0 – 2025-09-22

2.3.3 – 2025-08-13

2.3.2 – 2025-07-21

2.3.1 – 2024-12-05

2.3.0 – 2024-11-25

2.2.6 – 2024-08-28

View historical changelog details here.