Title: SQL validation limitations
Last modified: December 24, 2025

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# SQL validation limitations

 *  Resolved [chelminski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chelminski/)
 * (@chelminski)
 * [4 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-validation-limitations/)
 * Hello,
   I’m using Automator for WordPress and I’m running into a limitation related
   to the built-in SQL validation.When using actions that execute custom SQL, any
   query containing standard keywords like INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE is blocked with
   the message “Dangerous SQL keywords detected”. I fully understand the security
   rationale behind this, however in my case the SQL is fully controlled (no user
   input involved) and is used only for internal logging/synchronization within 
   my own plugin / WordPress environment.I’d like to ask:Is there any official or
   supported way to relax or bypass this validation for trusted/internal use cases?
   Are there filters, hooks, or recommended patterns (other than rewriting everything
   to PHP + $wpdb) intended for advanced users?If not, is there a roadmap consideration
   for allowing developers to explicitly opt in to trusted SQL execution?At the 
   moment, the only viable workaround seems to be executing all logic through custom
   PHP actions, which works but limits flexibility when designing Automator recipes.
   I’d really appreciate clarification on the intended approach for advanced / developer-
   level integrations.Thank you for your time and for the great plugin.Best regards,
   Dawid
 * ![](https://i0.wp.com/media.discordapp.net/attachments/1101190270567063625/1453436782933839913/
   image.png?ssl=1)

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  Thread Starter [chelminski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chelminski/)
 * (@chelminski)
 * [4 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-validation-limitations/#post-18766836)
 * > [View post on imgur.com](https://imgur.com/a/cNFVYDi)
 *  Plugin Support [Rohan Pokharel](https://wordpress.org/support/users/24ron/)
 * (@24ron)
 * [4 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-validation-limitations/#post-18771205)
 * Hi [@chelminski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chelminski/),
   Sorry for 
   the late response, and thank you for reporting this. You’re correct that the 
   validation is overly aggressive. We’ve identified that the keyword detection 
   uses simple string matching, which can falsely trigger on keywords appearing 
   inside string values (like ‘user.create’ containing CREATE).As a workaround, 
   please add this filter code to your child theme’s functions.php file or a code
   snippet plugin like WPCode.
 *     ```wp-block-code
       add_filter( 'automator_pro_sql_disallowed_keywords', function( $keywords ) {    return array( 'DROP', 'ALTER', 'EXEC', 'TRUNCATE' );}, 10 );
       ```
   
 * This customizes the blocked keywords to only the truly dangerous ones.
 * We’re working on improving this by implementing proper SQL parsing that only 
   detects dangerous keywords when they’re actual SQL commands, not within string
   literals. Let us know if this helps!
   Regards,Rohan
 *  Thread Starter [chelminski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chelminski/)
 * (@chelminski)
 * [4 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-validation-limitations/#post-18771266)
 * Hi,
   thank you so much. That was super helpful.
 * Greetings, 
   Dawid

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [chelminski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chelminski/)
 * Last activity: [4 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-validation-limitations/#post-18771266)
 * Status: resolved