WordPress Site Hacked? Help!

  • Brandon

    (@chuckledaddy)


    9 months, 3 weeks ago

    Hello,

    I just logged into my admin page, and almost all the dashboard links are missing. I don’t have Settings, Appearance, Plugins, Users, etc. I can’t even create a new page (though I can create a new post still).

    My password was not changed, nor was any content on my site. I’m getting the feeling that my site has been hacked and someone has taken over administrator privileges.

    I have another site that isn’t having this issue. I uploaded a screenshot of the dashboard to that site and posted it [at the link below]

    What can I do? I use Hostinger for hosting.

    Any help with this would be immensely appreciated. Thanks.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • r1k0

    (@r1k0)

    9 months, 3 weeks ago

    Hey @chuckledaddy,

    From the screenshot, it seems that your role was changed to “Author”. This could be another admin (known to you) who changed your user role or someone else with ill motives.

    Although this is a stressful situation, there is no need to panic. The first step would be to regain admin access. These steps will guide you on how to do this:

    • Login to your Hostinger account.
    • Access the database using phpMyAdmin via the control panel.
    • Head over to the wp_usermeta table, inside it, locate your username, take note of the user_id.
    • Look for the row where the wp_capabilities with the same user_id is.
    • Click the edit button, change the value of meta_value to 
    a:1:{s:13:"administrator";b:1;}
    • Click the Go button to save the changes.

    If you are not comfortable making changes to the database yourself, ask your hosting provider for support to help you do this.

    This should give you back admin privileges. Log in to your dashboard. The next thing would be to change your WordPress, Hostinger, and database passwords. Update WordPress, plugins, and themes.

    If you don’t already have one, install a security plugin and also add 2-factor authentication to your account. Finally, check for any suspicious users and remove them.

    If anything else feels out of place, consider following the WordPress “My site was hacked” guide. This will help you recover your site to normal.

    Hope this helps.

    Best of luck,
    Erick

    Thread Starter Brandon

    (@chuckledaddy)

    9 months, 3 weeks ago

    Erick, you are the man.

    I was able to get administrator access back. Thanks for the step-by-step instructions and security advice. I really appreciate it.

    All the best,
    Brandon

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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