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As long as you are using the same firmware as the devs at xda (as verified by the md5 checksums) then you are as safe as you (as a user) are ever going to be.

Thanks for the tip. So you’re fairly confident that the stuff posted on xda-developers isn’t a cover for malware authors looking to spread their creations?

Very sure. Reputation is everything in the open source community and newbies' code is looked at very closely until they prove their worth and their honesty.

That's not to say you can't brick your phone by flashing it with some stuff you find on that site. My recommendation: look into TWRP (twrp.me) TWRP is software that lets you try out new kernels and ROMs without actually putting them on your phone. You'll need a separate computer to run ADB (Android Debug Bridge) and TWRP on and you'll need to make sure the latest and greatest version of TWRP (3.2 I think) supports your phone, but then you can talk your phone into booting and running off of software images residing on your work computer and not have to worry about bricking your baby while you try new things out.

PM me if you get stuck on something and I'll be glad to give you a hand.

Standard disclaimer: if you brick your phone, I don't know you and we've never talked.