Title: Problem with index.php file Last modified: August 22, 2016 --- # Problem with index.php file * [AngMcG](https://wordpress.org/support/users/angmcg/) * (@angmcg) * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-indexphp-file/) * I started by getting notices from my host that I was using too much CPU. Now I’ve hit my resource limit, and I think we’ve narrowed it down to a problem with the index.php file. It seems to be running an automated cron task over and over. * Here’s the raw data of the current running processes: * souther6 138565 1.2 0.1 143920 26732 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/ public_html/wp-cron.php souther6 138576 1.2 0.1 144516 24788 ? R 09:32 0:00 / usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/wp-cron.php souther6 138582 1.2 0.1 144516 25212 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/wp-cron.php souther6 138585 1.2 0.1 143920 26480 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/ wp-cron.php souther6 138613 1.1 0.1 143452 24932 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php / home/souther6/public_html/wp-cron.php souther6 138617 1.2 0.1 143408 25472 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138620 1.1 0.1 143148 25404 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index. php souther6 138624 1.3 0.1 143352 25772 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/ public_html/index.php souther6 138626 1.3 0.1 145692 25588 ? S 09:32 0:00 /usr/ bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138627 1.2 0.1 143620 24992? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138628 1.3 0.1 145692 24992 ? S 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index. php souther6 138635 1.3 0.1 143352 25716 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/ public_html/index.php souther6 138636 1.3 0.1 143352 25832 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/ bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138652 1.2 0.1 142296 25224? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138653 1.2 0.1 142032 25328 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index. php souther6 138657 1.2 0.1 142300 24336 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/ public_html/wp-cron.php souther6 138658 1.1 0.1 142064 25356 ? R 09:32 0:00 / usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/wp-cron.php souther6 138666 1.2 0.1 141428 24104 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138667 1.1 0.1 140648 23772 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/ index.php souther6 138682 1.1 0.1 140172 22216 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/ souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138709 1.0 0.1 138756 21568 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/wp-cron.php souther6 138791 1.2 0.1 135108 19416 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index. php souther6 138792 1.1 0.1 134964 19160 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/ public_html/index.php souther6 138865 1.0 0.1 132388 17764 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/ bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138900 0.8 0.0 128896 14184? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/wp-cron.php souther6 138937 0.5 0.0 127560 12332 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/wp- cron.php souther6 138938 0.5 0.0 127560 12384 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/ souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138942 1.0 0.0 127288 11884 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138943 0.6 0.0 127288 11876 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138947 0.6 0.0 126680 11160 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/ public_html/index.php souther6 138954 0.6 0.0 125864 9952 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/ bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138958 0.6 0.0 123232 8424? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index.php souther6 138961 0.6 0.0 122812 7736 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/public_html/index. php souther6 138964 0.0 0.0 108788 1072 ? R 09:32 0:00 /usr/bin/php /home/souther6/ public_html/index.php * Any insight into what may be causing this, and how to fix? * Thanks! Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total) * [Brett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdeaton108/) * (@bdeaton108) * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-indexphp-file/#post-5870454) * Have you tried changing themes and see if the problem persists? * Thread Starter [AngMcG](https://wordpress.org/support/users/angmcg/) * (@angmcg) * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-indexphp-file/#post-5870501) * I’ve disabled the theme now, and went to a basic theme. It’s been switched over an hour, and the cpu is still spiking. * Any other ideas? I’m monitoring now with every plugin disabled and the theme switched to a blank theme. I also disabled wp-cron, and enabled it to run every hour through c-panel. * But I still see index.php over and over from the server side raw logs the web host is sending me. * Could that be part of the problem? * Thread Starter [AngMcG](https://wordpress.org/support/users/angmcg/) * (@angmcg) * [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-indexphp-file/#post-5870642) * In case anyone else finds this thread, I found the problem. My site had been hacked with some type of php spam mailer that was in hidden files. When I switched hosts, as a last ditch effort to correct the problem, the new host did a security scan that found the infected files. The previous scans for hacked files I had done with free services found nothing. Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total) The topic ‘Problem with index.php file’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [cron](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/cron/) * [index.php](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/index-php/) * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 3 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [AngMcG](https://wordpress.org/support/users/angmcg/) * Last activity: [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-indexphp-file/#post-5870642) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics