Hi Anthony,
I could not reproduce your issue using Mac Chrome 39.0.2171.99 (64-bit). That is, as instructed, I went to http://www.anthonypeyper.com. Then deleted the www. part and hit the enter key. When I did this the browser was just redirected to http://www.anthonypeyper.com/.
If you saw something else, especially an odd page that stated “Are Fast Cash Advance Loans Good Solutions to Bad Problems? fast cash advance loans”, then I would think it is (or was) some kind of attack. And if that’s the case, then you should read this:
http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_My_site_was_hacked
But, I would first make sure the issue is reproducible using a browser that has had it cache (aka, browsing data, etc.) completely wiped. Because the browsers themselves could have stored something in them that redirected them to the odd page. Oh, what was the strange landing page’s URL?
Meanwhile, I will try to reproduce your issue with a with more browsers and let you know my findings.
Hope this helps!
Sincerely,
Randy
Oddly enough, given your findings above, I was able to reproduce your issue using Mac Firefox 35.0. So we can rule out it’s a local (i.e., your computer, etc.) issue. I still contend that it might be some kind of hack. Do be sure to read the My Site Has Been Hacked FAQ. It can be quite helpful.
Thread Starter
acp73
(@acp73)
Thank you Randy!
I have a few friends test as well from other locations and it seems to be occurring with them too. Very strange because my site URL remains the same so it’s not redirecting to another site – seems to be loading from my server in some way or another. I’m not too clued up with all this.
I’ll check the section you mentioned and see if I can come up with a solution and post it here for interest sake.
Also deactivated all my plugins one by one but nothing solved the issue.
I Googled around and found this WordPress related post that included the line “Are Fast Cash Advance Loans Good Solutions to Bad Problems?” in it:
https://make.wordpress.org/support/trouble/section-2-breakfix-lessons/php-hack/
Might I suggest switching, momentarily, back to the default WordPress theme (e.g., Twenty Fifteen) and well as deactivating all your plugins. This way we’ll have a better idea if whatever has happened to your site affected your WordPress core files or not.
If not, meaning after switching back to a default WordPress install the issue cannot be reproduced, then it will just be a simple matter of turning back on your theme/plugins one by one until the issue is reproducible.
Then, once the culprit theme/plugin(s) are is/are figured out, the next step would be to download them again and see if the issue remains reproducible. If the answer is yes, then you’ll need to contact the them/plugin(s) author(s) and let them know your findings. If no, then problem solved but still read the link about the WordPress site being hacked. It can help instruct you on how to harden your site against future attacks.
In regards to deactivating your plugins one by one, what you want to do right now is switch your theme back to a default theme (e.g., Twenty Fifteen) and deactivate ALL your plugins. Then test. Where the one by one part comes in is once you’ve been able to no longer reproduce your issue. Then turning the theme/plugins back on one by one until you can reproduce the issue. Then, finally, turn everything back off except the last theme or plugin turned on and see if the issue still occurs. That’s when you’ve caught the misbehaving 3rd party product!
Interestingly, I was able to reproduce your issue just a moment ago using Mac Firefox 35.0 when you had switched over to a default WordPress theme. Then, just now, I tried again and could NOT reproduce the issue. Both with and without the default theme being used. So, it looks as though something you’ve done made the issue, at least for me, not reproducible using a browser which up until now hit the bug 100 percent of the time! 🙂
Thread Starter
acp73
(@acp73)
Think I am getting closer to the issue! Your trouble shooting seems to be helping me get closer to the issue. Will report back ASAP with my final findings!
Thread Starter
acp73
(@acp73)
Hi Randy!
Found the culprit … or so it seems. Maybe you can confirm from your end as well. It’s a plugin W3 Total Cache which i installed a few months ago.
I’ll contact the developer and see what he has to say and check if anybody else has experienced something similar.
Thanks again for your help. Really appreciate it.
Cheers,
Anthony
Cool!
Note that I just performed a browser sweep with the following bowsers and could NOT reproduce your issue. WHoot!
Mac Chrome 39.0.2171.99 (64-bit)
Mac Firefox 35.0
Mac Safari 8.0.2
Win Chrome 39.0.2171.99 m
Win Firefox 35.0
Win IE 11
Looking forward to your final findings!
Hi Anthony, ah yes, a caching issue. You might want to try to completely flush the contents of your W3 Total Cache and try again. The interesting question is how the heck did whatever it was get into that plugin??? That is, W3 Total Cache is super popular and used by I believe millions of sites. So, WOW, yeah, do report your findings to the W3 people even if flushing its cache fixes the issue. In fact, you might want to leave things as is until you contact them being that they will have an easier time figuring out what happened if the corrupted data is in tact. 🙂
P.S., LOL, my post above was most likely written moments before or possibly after you wrote your last comment. Talk about timing!
Thread Starter
acp73
(@acp73)
Good idea! I’ve enabled it again for testing, flushed the cache and the problem is back again!
Will definitely update here with the answer…in case you want to follow… or incase I forget to update here – the new thread is located on the URL below:
https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-landing-page-1?replies=1#post-6456663
Fingers crossed I can get to the bottom of this ASAP.
I also posted the following on your new support thread:
Okay, just now, I was also able to reproduce your original issue (i.e., seeing a page that simply states “Are Fast Cash Advance Loans Good Solutions to Bad Problems? fast cash advance loans”) using Mac Firefox 35.0 following only one step:
1. Using Mac Firefox, go to http://anthonypeyper.com/
Hope this helps!
Also posted on your new support thread:
Oh my, talk about the madness! Here are my most current findings. Although, where before it was fairly easy to reproduce the issue, now it is nearly impossible!
== bug report below ==
Steps to reproduce:
1. Go to http://www.anthonypeyper.com/
2. Delete http://www. portion of URL
3. Hit Enter key
–> bug
Expected page to resolve to http://www.anthonypeyper.com/.
Instead, page remained at http://anthonypeyper.com/, displayed an all white page, and the only text on the page stated, “Are Fast Cash Advance Loans Good Solutions to Bad Problems? fast cash advance loans”. Where “fast cash advance loans” was a link pointing to http://tinyurl.com/t0inpay.
Reproducible? Intermittently
Occurs:
Mac Firefox 35.0 (see NOTES below)
Win IE 11 (very intermittent)
Doesn’t occur:
Mac Chrome 39.0.2171.99 (64-bit)
Mac Safari 8.0.2
Win Chrome 39.0.2171.99 m
Win Firefox 35.0
NOTES: Performed a sanity check using a different machine running OS X and Firefox 35.0. Was NOT able to reproduce issue.
== end ==
Hope this helps!
P.S., All tests conducted by me were done with browsers that had had their cache wiped back to the beginning of time. Just in case anyone is curious! 🙂
One last comment for the evening Andrew, I Googled for W3 Total Cache and PHP Injection and came up with this dated but apropos WordPress support thread. Especially the comments by the plugin’s author Frederick Townes:
https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-w3-total-cache-w3-total-cache-and-security?replies=30
