Actually I've figured out what's going on... my site has been exploited... appears to be script kiddie and an older exploit...
access log reads
207.210.112.209 - - [23/Mar/2008:17:18:55 -0700] "HEAD /wp-admin/ HTTP/1.1" 200 - "-" "-"
[24/Mar/2008:22:28:10 -0700] "POST /wp-admin/options.php HTTP/1.0" 500 1313 "http://agwired.com/wp-admin/options.php" "Opera"
[24/Mar/2008:22:28:10 -0700] "POST /wp-admin/options.php HTTP/1.0" 302 342 "http://agwired.com/wp-admin/options.php" "Opera"
[24/Mar/2008:22:28:11 -0700] "POST /wp-admin/upload.php?style=inline&tab=upload&post_id=-1 HTTP/1.0" 500 1219 "http://agwired.com/upload.php?style=inline&tab=upload&post_id=-1" "Opera"
[24/Mar/2008:22:28:12 -0700] "POST /wp-admin/upload.php?style=inline&tab=upload&post_id=-1 HTTP/1.0" 302 - "http://agwired.com/upload.php?style=inline&tab=upload&post_id=-1" "Opera"
[24/Mar/2008:22:28:12 -0700] "POST /wp-admin/options.php HTTP/1.0" 500 1293 "http://agwired.com/wp-admin/options.php" "Opera"
[24/Mar/2008:22:28:13 -0700] "POST /wp-admin/options.php HTTP/1.0" 302 342 "http://agwired.com/wp-admin/options.php" "Opera"
[24/Mar/2008:22:28:13 -0700] "GET /wp-admin/upgrade.php?step=1 HTTP/1.0" 200 60971 "-" "-"
That's where initial damage was done... and I do have in my possession a 14k php script that was placed in temp, but that I am not sure if it was run.
Rows were altered in my wp_options other than upload path, which lead to pages being turned into posts / disappearing from manage page... All of my plugins were deactivated because the offender "activated" this "plugin" and it was listed in options table as the first of all activated plugins... I'm clueless as to how he / she would then access such a "faceless plugin" or whether or not they were able to.. I didn't catch any calls that "activated" the plugin.. and unfortunately had mysql logging turned off. Not sure what I'm going to do from this point forward?
running wordpress 2.3.3
I've found others faced with a similar exploit in previous version but not this recent version: http://justaddwater.dk/2007/11/15/justaddwaterdk-hacked/