Thanks for flagging this, good news, these two files are not malware, they’re created intentionally by SureMail itself as a security measure.
When SureMail sets up its uploads folder (wp-content/uploads/suremails/ and the attachments/ subfolder, where email attachments are temporarily stored), it adds a small index.php file containing:
<?php // Silence is golden. http_response_code( 403 ); exit;
This is a standard WordPress hardening technique used by many plugins to block directory listing and prevent direct access to files in that folder. It doesn’t execute any user input and has no functionality beyond returning a 403. Alongside it, SureMail also drops .htaccess, .user.ini, and (on IIS) web.config files in the same folders for the same reason, extra layers of protection around your attachments.
Most malware scanners flag any PHP file inside wp-content/uploads/ by default, since that directory is a common target for malicious uploads, but they typically don’t inspect the actual file content before flagging. If you open the file and see just the snippet above, it’s safe and expected.
If your scanner lets you whitelist specific files/paths, you can safely exclude these two. Let us know if you have any other questions!
