Phantom admin user

  • BartelsJuice

    (@bart086c)


    10 years, 7 months ago

    Phantom admin user

    A long time ago, when the earth was still cooling, and I installed WP… after the install, I established some administrator level users, I then deleted the default admin user that WP installs.

    (This was also a recommended procedure during the WP attacks of April 2013)

    I just noticed that when I look at the Users page in the Dashboard and filter for Administrators, the count is one higher than the listed admins.

    My first thought is a break-in. But on searching the SQL db on the tables:

    wp_users
    and
    wp_usemeta

    I find that in the users table indeed user ID#1 is gone, and there are only the correct number of users with UserLevel 10. However, the usemeta table still lists user ID#1 with several attribute fields. I tried deleting them but they reappeared. I then set the wp_user_level (for user ID#1) to Null. I tried editing the value (which was 10) but could not.

    I also optimized the tables.

    Back at the Dashboard, Users filtered for Administrators still shows one more than listed.

    Any ideas…????

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  • Thread Starter BartelsJuice

    (@bart086c)

    10 years, 7 months ago

    SOLVED:

    It seems that the number of users listed in Dashboard > Users when filtered for Administrators comes from wp_usemeta table. When I deleted those rows for user ID#1 singly rather than as a group they deleted. Then when I checked the Dashboard again the user count was correct for Administrators.

    Now this raises a question. Do attributes remain in the wp_usemeta file for all users that get deleted? And, if true, is it true when the delete is by either an admin, or the user themself?

    If true, it would seem that the wp_usemeta table would just, over time, continue to grow.

    Any ideas??

    bc

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