diff --git a/plugins/star-rating/api/api.js b/plugins/star-rating/api/api.js
index 4ca7d12cc21..0cf6ca3380c 100644
--- a/plugins/star-rating/api/api.js
+++ b/plugins/star-rating/api/api.js
@@ -1321,6 +1321,19 @@ function uploadFile(myfile, id, callback) {
      * @apiDescription: Get feedback widgets with or without filters 
      * @apiParam: 'app_key', app_key of related application provided by sdk request
      */
+    //These two lookups serve the sdk, so they answer without a session and without an
+    //app_id to scope by, and they have to keep doing that or widgets stop rendering.
+    //What they must not do is hand out the fields the app-scoped /feedback/widgets
+    //deliberately withholds: targeting, which is the audience segmentation query, and
+    //cohortID, which that handler fetches only to test membership and then deletes with
+    //the comment "no need to return more data than needed".
+    //
+    //Excluded rather than allow-listed on purpose. These endpoints render every widget
+    //type, so an allow-list drawn from the rating-only projection above would drop the
+    //fields surveys and nps need, and the caller is an sdk in the field that cannot be
+    //redeployed. Naming the internal fields cannot break rendering.
+    const WIDGET_INTERNAL_FIELDS = {targeting: 0, cohortID: 0};
+
     plugins.register('/o/feedback/multiple-widgets-by-id', function(ob) {
         var params = ob.params;
         var collectionName = 'feedback_widgets';
@@ -1339,7 +1352,7 @@ function uploadFile(myfile, id, callback) {
                 _id: {
                     $in: widgetIdsArray
                 }
-            }).toArray(function(err, docs) {
+            }, {projection: WIDGET_INTERNAL_FIELDS}).toArray(function(err, docs) {
                 if (!err) {
                     if (docs.length) {
                         common.returnOutput(params, docs);
@@ -1501,7 +1514,7 @@ function uploadFile(myfile, id, callback) {
 
         common.db.collection(collectionName).findOne({
             "_id": widgetId
-        }, function(err, doc) {
+        }, {projection: WIDGET_INTERNAL_FIELDS}, function(err, doc) {
             if (err) {
                 common.returnMessage(params, 500, err.message);
             }
diff --git a/test/unit-tests/plugins.star-rating.widget-by-id-fields.js b/test/unit-tests/plugins.star-rating.widget-by-id-fields.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fc9be367c0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit-tests/plugins.star-rating.widget-by-id-fields.js
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+require("should");
+var fs = require("fs");
+
+// /o/feedback/multiple-widgets-by-id and /o/feedback/widget answer the sdk without a
+// session and without an app_id to scope by, so they cannot be gated without breaking
+// widget rendering. What they can do is stop returning the fields the app-scoped
+// /feedback/widgets deliberately withholds: targeting, the audience segmentation
+// query, and cohortID, which that handler deletes with "no need to return more data
+// than needed".
+//
+// Asserted against the source because both handlers are registered on a plugin bus at
+// load time and their bodies are not reachable as functions from a unit test.
+
+describe("feedback widget by-id lookups", function() {
+    var src = fs.readFileSync(__dirname + "/../../plugins/star-rating/api/api.js", "utf8");
+
+    it("declares the internal fields as excluded", function() {
+        src.should.match(/const WIDGET_INTERNAL_FIELDS = \{targeting: 0, cohortID: 0\}/);
+    });
+
+    it("applies the exclusion to the batch lookup", function() {
+        var batch = src.slice(src.indexOf("'/o/feedback/multiple-widgets-by-id'"));
+        batch = batch.slice(0, batch.indexOf("plugins.register", 10));
+        batch.should.match(/\$in: widgetIdsArray[\s\S]{0,80}projection: WIDGET_INTERNAL_FIELDS/);
+    });
+
+    it("applies the exclusion to the single lookup", function() {
+        var single = src.slice(src.indexOf("'/o/feedback/widget'"));
+        single = single.slice(0, single.indexOf("plugins.register", 10));
+        single.should.match(/"_id": widgetId[\s\S]{0,60}projection: WIDGET_INTERNAL_FIELDS/);
+    });
+
+    it("excludes rather than allow-lists, so widget types beyond rating still render", function() {
+        // an inclusion projection here would drop the fields surveys and nps need, and
+        // the caller is an sdk in the field that cannot be redeployed
+        var decl = src.match(/const WIDGET_INTERNAL_FIELDS = \{[^}]*\}/)[0];
+        decl.should.not.match(/: 1/);
+    });
+});