Title: Weird SQL fail with website link
Last modified: October 10, 2024

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# Weird SQL fail with website link

 *  [tedt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tedt/)
 * (@tedt)
 * [1 year, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/weird-sql-fail-with-website-link/)
 * My error.php log keeps showing 2 errors that looks like someone trying to sell
   me something on their website. Have no idea where this is coming from. Here is
   one error, other looks similar.
 * [10-Oct-2024 05:14:46 UTC] WordPress database error Illegal mix of collations(
   utf8mb3_general_ci,IMPLICIT) and (utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci,COERCIBLE) for operation‘
   like’ for query SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS  wp_posts.ID
 *                                                                              
   FROM wp_posts
 *                                                                              
   WHERE 1=1  AND (((wp_posts.post_title LIKE ‘%Oracle – Valid 1z0-1038-22 Valid
   Study Plan 💳 Go to website ⮆ [http://www.pdfvce.com](http://www.pdfvce.com) 
   ⮄ open and search for ⏩ 1z0-1038-22 ⏪ to download for free 👉1z0-1038-22 Latest
   Study Guide%’) OR (wp_posts.post_excerpt LIKE ‘%Oracle – Valid 1z0-1038-22 Valid
   Study Plan 💳 Go to website ⮆ [http://www.pdfvce.com](http://www.pdfvce.com) 
   ⮄ open and search for ⏩ 1z0-1038-22 ⏪ to download for free 👉1z0-1038-22 Latest
   Study Guide%’) OR (wp_posts.post_content LIKE ‘%Oracle – Valid 1z0-1038-22 Valid
   Study Plan 💳 Go to website ⮆ [http://www.pdfvce.com](http://www.pdfvce.com) 
   ⮄ open and search for ⏩ 1z0-1038-22 ⏪ to download for free 👉1z0-1038-22 Latest
   Study Guide%’)))  AND (wp_posts.post_password = ”)  AND ((wp_posts.post_type 
   = ‘attachment’ AND (wp_posts.post_status = ‘publish’)) OR (wp_posts.post_type
   = ‘page’ AND (wp_posts.post_status = ‘publish’)) OR (wp_posts.post_type = ‘post’
   AND (wp_posts.post_status = ‘publish’)) OR (wp_posts.post_type = ‘product’ AND(
   wp_posts.post_status = ‘publish’)) OR (wp_posts.post_type = ‘testimonial’ AND(
   wp_posts.post_status = ‘publish’)))
 *                                                                              
   GROUP BY wp_posts.ID
 *                                                                              
   ORDER BY (CASE WHEN wp_posts.post_title LIKE ‘%Oracle – Valid 1z0-1038-22 Valid
   Study Plan 💳 Go to website ⮆ [http://www.pdfvce.com](http://www.pdfvce.com) 
   ⮄ open and search for ⏩ 1z0-1038-22 ⏪ to download for free 👉1z0-1038-22 Latest
   Study Guide%’ THEN 2 ELSE 6 END), wp_posts.post_date DESC
 *                                                                              
   LIMIT 0, 10 made by require(‘wp-blog-header.php’), wp, WP->main, WP->query_posts,
   WP_Query->query, WP_Query->get_posts

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Moderator [threadi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/threadi/)
 * (@threadi)
 * [1 year, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/weird-sql-fail-with-website-link/#post-18066150)
 * That looks like spam via the public search to me. The search term obviously contains
   characters that belong to different character sets. This causes the error message.
 * Does your website use the public search? Is there an input field for it? If so,
   you should perhaps look into adding anti-spam protection here.
 * If you are already using a plugin that somehow influences the search, deactivate
   it as a test.
 *  Anonymous User
 * (@anonymized-15279534)
 * [1 year, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/weird-sql-fail-with-website-link/#post-18066189)
 * First impression may look like a SQL injection, but **it’s just SEO spam** trying
   to generate backlinks to their URLs using your search result page.
   It’s works
   very easy: they link to your website’s search function with the spam text includings
   links and keywords as search string, and your search page returns something like“
   nothing found for: {here comes the spam text}”
 * **Make sure your search result page is NOINDEX**, and maybe also NOFOLLOW.
   Check
   your Google Search Console if those search results are already indexed. If so,
   remove from the index all URLs beginning with: `yourdomain/?s=` and `yourdomain/
   search/`Maybe use a security plugin or filter snippet to suppress unwanted search
   queries (and/or the output of those searches), like containing links or emojis.
   Or block searches with external referrers, in the .htaccess or with a WAF / security
   plugin.
 * And:
 * **To fix the “WordPress database error Illegal mix of collations”**, the easiest
   way is to use this plugin: [https://wordpress.org/plugins/database-collation-fix/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/database-collation-fix/)–
   but make a backup first, as the plugin recommends in the FAQ.
   The error itself
   is mostly harmless, and is caused here by the emojis in the search string.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Weird SQL fail with website link’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: Anonymous User
 * Last activity: [1 year, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/weird-sql-fail-with-website-link/#post-18066189)
 * Status: not resolved

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