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Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Pages Not Showing UpHello, bhavyacolumbuz, & welcome. I’m not certain that what I’m going to say is gospel truth, but I will say these are fairly classic signs of a site compromise.
You may wish to check w/your host to see if they have a backup of the database from a couple days ago–maybe yesterday might not even be too late if it was working then. You may also want to check the trash to see if your posts may be there. Having said that, though, repairing the site isn’t much use unless you also kick the bad guys out.
A resource you can go to is:
http://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/FAQ_My_site_was_hackedWhen dealing w/a site compromise, the objectives are twofold:
1) Fix the site; &
2) Fix backdoors that the hacker used to gain entrance into your site, so this hopefully will not happen again.Most people place great emphasis on objective #1, but, in truth, the 2nd one is actually the most important, as, without it, your site will continue to be reinfected.
Here are the steps to take.
First, notify your host, as this might be a serverside hack as opposed to simply a site compromise. Also, if you’re on shared hosting, the hack has the potential to compromise the entire server. Additionally, you may wish to take the site offline, & your host can help you do this. They might not help you–then again, they might. You won’t know unless you notify them. If they say it’s not their responsibility, (& it really may not be), then please continue reading.
Second, scan any devices you will use to log onto your website for malware. It does no good to change credentials, etc., which you will need to do, if malware phones them home to their command & control center. It’s actually better to do more than 1 scan, each using a different program, as no single malware scanner can detect everything.
Third, secure your network. Definitively use secure FTP as opposed to regular FTP. The port used for secure FTP varies from host to host. Many use port 22, some 2222, while others use different ports altogether. Check their knowledge base or call their support. You can ask this question when you notify them of the compromise in the first step.
Never log onto your site using a public hotspot, such as those in hotels, cafes, etc. Make sure you’ve changed the default password, Ssid, (&, if applicable) the username on your router/modem. If you don’t use wireless, turn it off in your router’s options.
All these steps are required to ensure that no one can snoop your credentials, etc.
Now that the device you’ll use to fix your site, as well as your network, is secure, it’s time to direct your attention to actually fixing your site.
Next, please log into your website control panel from a secure connection and change all passwords, including those to any databases you may have set up. This includes your control panel/FTP credentials & your WordPress database. Also, change your salt keys as per the instructions in wp-config.php to log out all users. Please make the passwords long, containing upper & lowercase letters, numbers, & punctuation.
Next, take a backup of your website’s files. Be certain to label it such that the label contains both the date you backed it up on, as well as the word “hacked”–we certainly don’t want you accidentally restoring this backup! This can be helpful, though, in terms of perhaps being able to determine how this occurred, though my feeling is that it likely did so because of an outdated site. Probably you should just back up your web root. Depending on your host, it might be called public_html, htdocs, www, or /. If you don’t wish to back up the entire root, then at least back up your uploads folder, as well as others that might contain content that can’t be replaced.
Please also back up your database as well. The article at
http://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/Backing_Up_Your_Database
shows you how to do that, in case you need it. The section regarding phpMyadmin is likely the most relevant to your case. It’s going to be necessary to search that database file to see if any evidence of the hack exists there. That can be done by opening the file in a text editor. To start off with, consider searching for the words:<script <? php; base64; evalpreg_replace
strrevThis is not an exhaustive list, nor is the presence of any of these words conclusive proof of a site compromise, though some are more suggestive than others.
You might also wish at this point to backup your WordPress content. To do that:
* Log into your WordPress dashboard.
* Go to ‘Tools > Export’.
* Choose to export all content.While in your dashboard, go to ‘Users > All Users’ and delete any users there that you don’t recognize, especially administrators. A WordPress account should never contain the username ‘admin’. If yours does, make an administrative account that does not contain the word (don’t forget to use a very strong password), then delete the old admin username account.
Also be advised that sometimes supposed image files can contain code, so open all your image files, particularly in your uploads folders, to ensure they really are images & don’t contain code. Better yet, if you have the images on your machine, replace files in the uploads folders with them.
If you find nothing, either in your database or in your /uploads folders, then the next step is to delete, then completely reinstall WordPress, as well as any plugins or themes you were using. I also advise creating an entirely new database w/a new user & password. You can then import your content into the newly reinstalled site.
Please also let someone knowledgeable look at your .htaccess file so they can make certain no backdoor code exists there.
In summary, here are the steps:
1) Back up your WordPress files, including core, themes, & plugins;
2) Back up your database using PhpMyadmin;
3) Look through the database to insure there is no evidence of the hack;
4) Search the uploads folders for image files that contain code;
5) Let someone knowledgeable look at your .htaccess file.
6) If you have doubts about your database, please have a professional take a look.Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Posts re-post themselvesZero20two, please inform us as to what plugins you have running.
Hello, luminarycrush. I didn’t mean to bail on you–however, right around the time we were doing this, our newest (& only) grandaughter arrived. Things got pretty hectic, as you might well imagine, & not hearing anything, I thought you’d resolved this. Evidently not. Apologies.
Ok, so let’s start again. Your permissions should be 0755 for files & 0644 for directories, generally speaking.
Your Apache user may not actually be an FTP user, & you should check for that.
You might wish to check this:
https://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/Changing_File_PermissionsHow are you running PHP, ie, fast_cgi, as an Apache module, etc?
Can we please see your Apache conf file? & what, if anything, are your error logs saying?
Forum: Accessibility
In reply to: Wordfence accessibility broken@lakenh, I have pretty much abandoned trying to use Wordfence. It’s sad when what seems to me to be a fairly major player in the WordPress arena lacks this kind of understanding, as you so aptly pointed out in your previous reply. 🙂 I already love you & I don’t even know you lol. I hope they allow you to contribute, but I’m not terribly optimistic.
For any screen reader users out there who need a security plugin & who might be interested in any suggestions I may have, I’m recommending Sucuri’s plugin for now unles & until something better comes along.
@lakenh, if you ever need anything, hit me up. I do Slack despite it being a PITA accessibility-wise, so you can DM me there. Please don’t hesitate.
Forum: Accessibility
In reply to: Wordfence accessibility broken@lakenh, thank you *so* much! *Finally!* someone who actually understands what I’m saying. I was going to have a look at the code to see if I could point out the problem, but, even then, I didn’t feel I was going to make much headway.
Thanks again! You just made my day. I don’t feel quite as much like I’m yelling down the proverbial sewer pipe now.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Reinstall Hack Need HelpThen, unfortunately, that’s your problem right there, rcarp13. Your solution is either to find a different host, a different hosting plan such as VPS, which requires considerable technical expertise to administer, or to scale down your operation. If you do seek a different host, you might wish to ask them if they have a limit on database queries.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Reinstall Hack Need HelpPlease paste your .htaccess file into this reply, rcarp13. You can enclose it in backticks (
), like this:line 1 line 2Forum: Accessibility
In reply to: Wordfence accessibility brokenFolks, it is becoming increasingly evident that you’re not understanding what I’m saying &, furthermore, that you do not understand what web accessibility is (specifically, WCAG 2.0) or how to implement it. Since WordPress core is implementing these standards to the AA level, it would be to your advantage to at least understand what these standards are as well as how to implement them.
So, to break it down for you just a bit, accessibility, as used in this context, is the ability of a particular program to be used by those w/disabilities. That can include those who use assistive technology devices, such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, switches, voice, etc. It can also include those who do not, ie, the estimated 8% of the world’s male population who experience some form of color blindness, for example. One of the major parts of accessibility is that the program can be used w/both a mouse & keyboard. Another is that color alone not be used to convey information. The concept of contrast is also important.
For more information, please consult the following:
https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag
https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/glance/
This provides a quick overview.
http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/
https://www.wuhcag.com/wcag-checklist/& here’s a tool that can help assess accessibility w/o a screen reader, for use in the Firefox browser:
https://www.marcozehe.de/2018/04/11/introducing-the-accessibility-inspector-in-the-firefox-developer-tools/Since my difficulty w/the plugin involves screen readers, I will try to explain, *again*, what the major problems are.
A “dirty little secret” of accessibility is that objects must expose themselves. No, we’re not talking about exhibitionism here. This simply means they must reveal value, state, etc. The checkboxes, as currently implemented in Wordfence, simply do not reveal their state, ie, whether they are checked or unchecked. This has nothing to do w/password-protected directories, @zimou13 (it isn’t, btw, I know better than that). It has to do w/code that does not conform to even the most rudimentary of accessibility standards. The other problem is that dropdown lists should open w/the alt+downarrow keystroke in order to access the items inside. The ability to do so in this release is problematic.
Folks, please do not reply to me again until you’ve at least provided me the courtesy of reading & understanding what I’ve presented to you. Whether it’s your intent or not, these replies feel condescending & disrespectful, as they clearly don’t address the issue at hand, nor seemingly do they attempt to. It seems to me that developers ought to at a minim be aware of these concepts, but, evidently not.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Reinstall Hack Need HelpIf your .htaccess file is getting changed w/o your doing so, rcarp13, then we have to seriously look at the possibility that your site has been compromised.
What you uploaded to Pastebin is not a .htaccess file, please believe me.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Reinstall Hack Need Helprcarp13, this is what a .htaccess file should look like.
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On # Begin WordPress RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /index.php [L] #End WordPress </IfModule>The backticks (
) are not included in the file but only used to enclose the code.As you can see, it does not begin with:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">What you’ve posted here seems to be some sort of IPage login or something, but it is not a .htaccess file, & your site will never work properly if that is what your .htaccess file looks like.
.htaccess files are hidden. Please go to your file manager, ensure that the option to view hidden files is enabled, then edit it & replace the contents w/what I’ve pasted here. Alternatively, you could rename the file & then create a new .htaccess file. Please ensure that the filename contains a leading . as in .htaccess & be sure the file is hidden.
This is really really important.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Reinstall Hack Need HelpLet’s have a look at your .htaccess again, rcarp13. I admit to being pretty surprised by that last 1.
What are the url’s in your dashboard settings?
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Reinstall Hack Need Helprcarp13, when I last used IPage for hosting (which has been years ago), they had an aplet in their control panel which allowed you to view your database. Please go there & view the db for your WordPress install. Please ensure that all tables in the database have the prefix ‘wp_owxv_’.
Please also make sure that your wp-config.php file matches the database you’re using, including database name, username, pw, & host (my recollection is that IPage does not use localhost, so please make certain you have the right entry there).
1 query I do have for you–is this a recent site migration? If so, then it is possible that not all url’s in the database have been fixed.
Lastly, it could be that you’re exceeding the number of database queries that IPage can handle in a given time. I can’t recall whether IPage had an aplet in its control panel where you could view server errors, but somehow I think not, though, again, it’s been several years since I used them, & things could change markedly since then, so please check, as taking my word on that would not be a good idea. (sorry for the run-on sentence :(. You could always call or email them to ask whether this is indeed the case if you can’t iew server errors directly.
If all else fails, I could offer you a staging area on my server where you can test to see if the same problems occur. If not, then you can be pretty certain it’s a hosting issue, ie, too many database queries, exhausting your memory, etc.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Reinstall Hack Need HelpI apologize, rcarp13. I inadvertently missed a line while I was copying & pasting. It should rather look like this:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
# Begin WordPress
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ – [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
#End WordPress
</IfModule>Again, I sincerely apologize for my cut-&-paste error. I thought something looked weird about it, but couldn’t quite figure it out till I went & did something else & then came back to look at it again.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Reinstall Hack Need Helprcarp13, that isn’t a .htaccess file. Plese rename it htaccess,ie, w/o the leading period, & replace it w/this 1.
# Begin WordPress
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ – [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]#End WordPress
</IfModule>
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Reinstall Hack Need HelpWell, when I type in typetwodiabetes.us it is now redirecting to wp-admin/install.php. Please delete the wp-config.php file you put in the wp-admin folder.
Please open your wp-config.php file in your hosting control panel file manager or via FTP (preferably secure FTP) & change wp_debug from ‘false’ to ‘true’. Then try logging in & copy any errors displayed.
Please also let us see your .htaccess file.