Automattic / Automattic/VIP-Coding-Standards

Inconsistent treatment of translated strings

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Dominant language
PHP
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Description

## Bug Description

We seem to have some inconsistencies when looking at `_e()` and `_ex()` vs `echo __()` and `echo _x()`, for example. Note that none of these functions are escaped.

When the minimal code snippet below is checked with severity 5, only 2 violations for `__()` and `__x()` appear.

When it's severity 1, then violations for all 4 lines appear.

Screenshot 2020-10-26 at 11 48 11

Seems to originate from [this line](https://github.com/Automattic/VIP-Coding-Standards/blob/bfc7fc56e18bec55a3830de06d1d3be0443585dd/WordPress-VIP-Go/ruleset.xml#L222-L224) where we drop severity for some WPCS violations, as we apparently trust translations.

The [unsafe printing functions](https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress-Coding-Standards/blob/2f098354173a9e8487b0e8672fde8c526c7daf52/WordPress/Sniffs/Security/EscapeOutputSniff.php#L70-L73) are `_e()` and `_ex()` .

## Minimal Code Snippet

```php

## Tested Against `master` branch?

- [x] I have verified the issue still exists in the `master` branch of VIPCS.
- [x] I have verified the issue still exists in the `develop` branch of VIPCS.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start with ruleset.xml around lines 222-224 and compare its severity handling with WordPress/Sniffs/Security/EscapeOutputSniff.php around lines 70-73. Reproduce the supplied PHP snippet at severities 1 and 5, then verify that the four translated-string cases receive consistent treatment for the reported error codes.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
php
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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