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There is one thing that troubles me about that error you received about the skipped folders in your last post, where it said “Undefined Index:dir” at the end. could you look in the error_log files on your server to get the details of that particular Warning?
That first folder that could not be scanned should not even exist:
…/httpdocs/wp-admin/css/colors/blue/blue
There should not be another blue folder inside wp-admin/css/colors/blue/
My guess is that it was skipped because it is a recursive symlink to the parent folder so it would be a needless infinite deep dir to go exploring that path. So You can look on your server to see what is in there but I would advise that you just delete it.Also, a lot of the files you are listing should not even be scanned in the first place. I assume that you have modified the default list of extensions in the “Skip files with the following extensions” field on the settings page. This is not recommended, as those file types are skipped for a reason. There is no need to scan large binary files that cannot be executed on the server anyway. It is true that you could hide some PHP code in some of those files but it could not be executed without an include statement run from within a PHP file, that why my plugin will look for those malicious include statements.
So my plugin generally does a good job of finding the threat without wasting time and server resources searching non-executable code in large binary files, and you will find that the scans are much faster if you restore the default settings there.
If you hover your mouse over each of those skipped files then it will give you an individual explanation. I expect that most of those are skipped because they are empty (no need to scan an empty file), but some may also be skipped because of the file type.
Please let me know if you this solution satisfies your curiosity, or if there are still some file on that list that concern you then please send me those details.
There is a recovery link on the results page when the files are fixed and your site is tested, otherwise You can restore this code by going to the Anti-Malware Quarantine page in your wp-admin and selecting those files with the checkbox on the left, and then click the “Restore selected files from quarantine records” button.
Please also send me a copy of those files so that I can review the code in them and correct the detection if the definitions need to be update.P.S. I see that your site is working now, so maybe you have already solved this issue, but I would still like to see the files that might have been misidentified or fixed incorrectly.
The Quarantine is an archive or backup of the file contents from before they were fixed or cleaned by my plugin. If the plugin made a mistake and removed some code that was not malicious then you can restore this code by going to the Anti-Malware Quarantine page in your wp-admin and selecting those files on this with the checkbox on the left, and then click the “Restore selected files from quarantine records” button. But you also need to tell me about it and send those files to me so that I can review the contents of those files and correct the detection if the definitions are truly misidentifying that code.
July 18, 2023 at 4:12 pm in reply to: Getting a blank screen when I click run complete scan or save settings #103418A blank white screen usually indicate either a 500 Error or else something has blocked the form POST, maybe because of some other security setting or overzealous firewall.
Check the Console tab in your browser’s Inspector for any Errors or Warnings that might explain the blank screen. Also look in the error_log files on your server to see if any PHP errors were logged when loading those pages.
July 12, 2023 at 11:00 am in reply to: 500 Internal Server Error – response to run a complete scan #102942This specific error message is not what the others here were experiencing.
The error that you have pasted here clearly indicates that a required file is missing. Specifically, the index.php file in the gotmls/images/ directory is missing, and PHP has thrown this Fatal Error because this file is required by my plugin.
So, somehow that gotmls/images/index.php file has gotten deleted, and you will need to replace that file to get your site working again. To save time you may find it easier to just delete the entire gotmls directory from within your plugins folder, and then reinstall the whole gotmls plugin to restore all missing files, thus fixing this error.
No, my plugin does not require jquery at all.
I am curious as to what would have prompted you to ask such a question though. Would you mind letting me know why you are asking?
June 26, 2023 at 3:39 pm in reply to: 500 Internal Server Error – response to run a complete scan #101494There are no know issues like this so you would need to contact me directly so that I can help you to figure out what is causing this particular error on your individual site. It is likely different in each case so you would need to send me a screenshot of the error page you get with the full URL showing and the error_log file from your server for the time-frame corresponding to the error that you received.
I believe that this lb_postrender_handler is a malicious ob_handler that was injected into the code on your site through a eval’d code that is most likely included within a hidden .MO file. The include(‘.hidden_xyz.mo’); is usually inserted into one of your core files, but it could have any name and it could be in any core file. The best way to find it is with the core file definitions included with the automatic update that you get with a premium donation. But I can also help you further if that is not an option for you. You can email me your site details directly if you need more help.
eli AT gotmls DOT net
Thanks for posting the code in this new threat. I have just added this new variant to my latest definition updates.
I see your registration and your donation on my end, just as you do when you view that list of registered sites. This is most likely a caching issue so please try and clear all your cache and deactivate any caching plugins then refresh your wp-admin page to see your donation reflected there. If you still don’t see it then check your Browser’s Console for Javascript Errors and send me a screenshot of the whole page so that I can help you figure out why it is not showing up.
you can also just email me directly for account related issues.
Yes, with a lot of code changes it would be possible to re-purpose my plugin to be more proficient at scanning larger file-systems containing multiple site under conditions where the shared hosting platform permits the PHP process to access all the sites on the account. However, that would require exploiting the biggest vulnerability of cheap shared hosting accounts to access and change the files of one site from the PHP execution of another site. While this is all too common and easy to do in many cases, it is also the main reason that all your sites can be infected with a malicious PHP scripts that makes it way into one weak site.
Now, wouldn’t it be better all around if each of your sites had more protective permissions so that these malware infection wouldn’t be able to infect every site on your server from just one breach?
My conclusion is that if the hosting providers implemented a reasonable security scheme then my plugin would then not even be able to access those other sites and could then not scan or clean them, and that would actually make your system even safer.
It could be possible with some code changes but I have found that it can also cause more trouble than it is worth. It is far better to just put my plugin on all your sites and make special considerations for those sites that are not WordPress.
Just to give you an idea of the problems you may run into when scanning many sites at once, here is a short list of just some of the most common issues:
1. PHP has a very small memory_limit so the scan process many not be able to index all the files on so many sites all at once.
2. Even if it is able to build the initial index and start the scan it will likely still take a great amount of time to scan many sites in a linear way, as opposed to installing multiple copies on each site and running multiple scans at the same time.
3. Timeout and lag-time in large scans can cause scan errors that will make the scan process restart some steps and that could take even longer and render less accurate results.
4. Some directories above the site root are protected or may have different permissions which can also cause read errors and this will bog down the scan even more.
5. If there are any sites that are not WordPress then there is a much greater chance of False Positives, which could lead to incorrect modifications in proprietary code that is not malicious, and then could cause site errors.
6. Some browsers may even crash or lockup before the scan is complete due to the sheer volume of data returned by the scan that the browser has to process.
These are the main issues that I am familiar with and could recite off the top of my head but I know there are more reasons to avoid combining all the sites into one scan. I know it is an attractive idea to have all your sites scanned at once, but trust me when I say, it is just not practical to expect a PHP page running inside a WordPress plugin to handle that much work efficiently or accurately. There are command-line tools and server-side anti-virus programs that can scan all your folders, they are just not as good as my plugin at identifying and removing malicious code from WordPress files.
The best way to reach me is directly through email. You can reply directly to any of these email notification from my forum. I also pinged you on Skype if you would rather find me there, I’m not usually on Skype but I’ll hang out there for a little while if you want to accept my invitation.
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