Title: Got hacked..
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# Got hacked..

 *  Resolved [arjunprabhu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/arjunprabhu/)
 * (@arjunprabhu)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/)
 * Hi folks,
 * my wp 1.5.1 setup got hacked yesterday. I dont think its a problem with wp, but
   maybe my setup was bad. (its back to normal now)
 * I was analyzing the log, and found that the hackers had used this…at the start
   of the hack. Any idea what it does..?
 * [Moderated – string removed.]
 * (it was in hex format, which i decoded).
 * and then a POST call to /wp-admin/wp-users.php!
    and then the person is in..my
   admin panel!
 * Here is the detail….
 * —————-
    GET /blog/ HTTP/1.0 GET [Moderated – line removed] HTTP/1.1 POST /blog/
   wp-admin/users.php HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-
   admin/users.php?action=promote&id=4&prom=up HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.
   php HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php?action=promote&id=4&prom=up HTTP/1.1
   GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php?action=promote&
   id=4&prom=up HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/
   users.php?action=promote&id=4&prom=up HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php HTTP/
   1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php?action=promote&id=4&prom=up HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/
   wp-admin/users.php HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php?action=promote&id=4&
   prom=up HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.
   php?action=promote&id=4&prom=up HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php HTTP/1.1
   GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php?action=promote&id=4&prom=up HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-
   admin/users.php HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php?action=promote&id=4&prom
   =up HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php?
   action=promote&id=4&prom=up HTTP/1.1 GET /blog/wp-admin/users.php HTTP/1.1 GET/
   blog/admin.php HTTP/1.0 GET /blog/ HTTP/1.0 GET /blog/wp-login.php HTTP/1.0 GET/
   blog/wp-admin/wp-admin.css HTTP/1.0 GET /blog/wp-images/wp-small.png HTTP/1.0
   GET /blog/wp-images/fade-butt.png HTTP/1.0 POST /blog/wp-login.php HTTP/1.0 GET/
   blog/wp-admin/wp-admin.css?version=1.5.1.1 HTTP/1.0 GET /blog/wp-images/header-
   shadow.png HTTP/1.0 GET /blog/wp-admin/ HTTP/1.0 —————- after this, they enabled
   file upload, and loaded some files on the server…….. —————-
 * hope this is useful….in case its a security issue.
 * btw, the only mistake (big mistake……yieeeeks) i had done was, given 777 on /blog
   folder so that the sitemap.xml file could be created by the sitemap plugin. (
   and then i forgot to remove the 777.
 * the hackers luckly did not make any harm, but only left the following message..
 * <———————>
    Hacked By Status X
 * Admin, please change this blog, man…you don’t want to get hacked again:))) Ok,
   nothing is destroyed, I just changed the index, all the database and blog is 
   fine…. Greetz to soooo secure WordPress :)))))
 * Specail Greetz to: 1dt.w0lf and RST team. and also to [http://xtools.org](http://xtools.org)
   team, and [http://antichat.ru](http://antichat.ru) Russian Hack always rulez :))
 * PS: to view the blog just go to /blog/index.php 🙂
    <———————>

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

 *  [Michael Adams (mdawaffe)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mdawaffe/)
 * (@mdawaffe)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224475)
 * Upgrade to the most recent release: 1.5.1.2
    [http://wordpress.org/download/](http://wordpress.org/download/)
 *  Thread Starter [arjunprabhu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/arjunprabhu/)
 * (@arjunprabhu)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224483)
 * can anyone explained how the managed to get in?
 * I did further ananlysis and found they they were somehow able to loginto the 
   system. ie, get pass the wordpress security, and only then upload the file.
 * ie, my upload file feature was disabled.
 * They managed to login, create users, promote the user to level 10, and enable
   file upload.
 * and then ..uploaded the files…
 *  [Michael Adams (mdawaffe)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mdawaffe/)
 * (@mdawaffe)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224487)
 * This was a security issue that was fixed in 1.5.1.2
    [http://wordpress.org/development/2005/05/security-update/](http://wordpress.org/development/2005/05/security-update/)
 * EDIT: Oh, and you might change your admin user’s password. I imagine someone 
   else will see this thread and tell you if there’s something else you need to 
   do.
 *  Thread Starter [arjunprabhu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/arjunprabhu/)
 * (@arjunprabhu)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224491)
 * Thanks for the info mdawaffe. I have changed my admin password now.
 * I also deleted the additional users created by the hackers.
 * BTW, i am NOT running the default theme. (so 1.5.1.2 wont make major difference
   right?)
 *  [davidhouse](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidhouse/)
 * (@davidhouse)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224498)
 * The admin has nothing to do with what theme you’re using. 1.5.1.2 was a security
   fix that will make sure this doesn’t happen again.
 *  Thread Starter [arjunprabhu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/arjunprabhu/)
 * (@arjunprabhu)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224500)
 * Thx David.
 * But are you sure about 1.5.1.2 will fix it for sure?
    I did a manual fix. (as
   mentioned, added a line of code to the file mentioned). Is that fine?
 * Are you sure that the hackers were able to add more users and gain admin access
   because of the security problem in 1.5.1.1 ? sure..? Or is it some new security
   issue ???
 * I just need confirmation….
 * Thanks in advance.
 *  [davidhouse](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidhouse/)
 * (@davidhouse)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224508)
 * I’m 90% sure 1.5.1.2 will fix your blog. The problem with 1.5.1.1 was that it
   just accepted anything at all for the ‘cat’ parameter. This was then passed into
   a SQL query, and so by including some SQL in the ‘cat’ parameter, the hackers
   were able to display your username and password. Although the development blog
   said ‘if you’re running the default theme’ and you’ve stated you weren’t, I guess
   you’re running some derivative on the default theme that was still vunerable.
 * Anyway, in the future a good idea to protect yourself against a lot of hacks 
   is to change your table prefix. This involved renaming your tables to something
   like arj_users, arj_posts, arj_comments and so on (instead of wp_users, wp_posts,
   wp_comments), then change the ‘tableprefix’ bit in your wp-config.php file.
 *  Thread Starter [arjunprabhu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/arjunprabhu/)
 * (@arjunprabhu)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224509)
 * Thanks for the info David. I have already added that extra line of code to wp-
   includes/template-functions-category.php file. Hope that should be fine enough.
 * Thanks again. Now some relief!
 *  [iand](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iand/)
 * (@iand)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224513)
 * You might want to look at the bad behavior plugin too – it seems to block all
   GET requests, so might dissuade people from testing your security again.
 *  [Beer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/beer/)
 * (@beer)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224526)
 * If possible, use .htaccess to prevent anyone except you from accessing your wp-
   admin directory.
 * Maybe a
    Deny from All Allow from 1.2.3.4
 * where 1.2.3.4 is your ip#
 * You might also get your host or whoever to install mod_security
 *  [kickass](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kickass/)
 * (@kickass)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224528)
 * Just a speculation–
    “This involved renaming your tables to something like arj_users,
   arj_posts, arj_comments and so on (instead of wp_users, wp_posts, wp_comments),
   then change the ‘tableprefix’ bit in your wp-config.php file.” How hard would
   it be in a future version of wordpress to include an option for installer to 
   set the tableprefix? Is this possible? Or would it involve too many changes? 
   Might give a bit of added security to future installs. But I’m not a programmer
   by any means, so I don’t know.
 *  Thread Starter [arjunprabhu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/arjunprabhu/)
 * (@arjunprabhu)
 * [21 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224529)
 * Thanks for the input IanD -> Installed bad-behaviour.
 * Beer, …… no static IP. So, might not able to do that.
    Would be a good idea to
   make wp-admin a secure area (password protected ?), using .htaccess
 *  Thread Starter [arjunprabhu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/arjunprabhu/)
 * (@arjunprabhu)
 * [21 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224572)
 * ok. Finally came to know how exactly they broke in!… , and how wp 1.5.1.2 prevents
   it!
 * Mostly some one executed a handy readymade script to break in.
 *  [presto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/presto/)
 * (@presto)
 * [21 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224723)
 * Beer:
 * Thanks for your post to this thread. I went through my log files and someone 
   outside of my IP range has been trying to get into my blog via the login pages.
 * I do not have the capability to allow/deny by IP address because of not having
   a static IP address like arjunprabhu stated nor do I have SSH, but you did mention.
   htaccess which made me remember .htpasswd and I was able to password protect 
   the entire wp-admin directory to block access to my login screen.
 * Plus to be even more secure, it recommended to protect the file “wp-login.php”
   in the root directory your blog is located at because WordPress allows you to
   login to the admin station of the blog from that file. Therefore, I went into
   my .htaccess file and added :
 * [code]
    AuthUserFile /full/path/to/username/.htpasswd AuthName "Message to go
   on user's login screen" AuthType Basic Allow from all <Files wp-login.php> Allow
   from all Require user username1 </Files> [/code]
 * and uploaded .htaccess and .htpasswd and that helps

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

The topic ‘Got hacked..’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [hacked](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/hacked/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 14 replies
 * 7 participants
 * Last reply from: [presto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/presto/)
 * Last activity: [21 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/got-hacked/#post-224723)
 * Status: resolved

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