Can’t login to Admin, debug doesn’t appear to be working

  • My wp sites were hacked/defaced over the weekend and then hacked again. I have:

    • installed securi & “hardened”
    • installed loginizer
    • changed database passwords

    and then my oldest site still had an “admin” user so I decided to rename it. Instantly logged out (no biggie, right?) but since then I haven’t been able to log back in. I have two admin user accounts and I’ve created a subscriber – none can get in.

    I have:

    • turned on debugging and logging, no log files appear to be created
    • reset the password
    • moved all plugins out of the plugins folder
    • renamed the child theme but the base theme was still active
    • renamed the child theme and the base theme and nothing gets output at all
    • tested on multiple browsers and cleared cookies and cache on those browsers
    • deleted and replaced wp-login.php
    • used ftp to delete and replace the core files

    What have I missed?

    wp: 4.9.8
    php: 7.1.20

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • This should be obvious but have you made sure that the folder and database you’re working are actually the correct ones?

    Try renaming the wp_options table to something and the entire folder (eg: public_html to something) and see if that instantly breaks it ?

    Thread Starter nzrhcom

    (@nzrhcom)

    lol, yeah, I ran your checks just because I’ve seen people make too many dumb errors in the past. I am pointing at the right files and the right database.

    Okay, what exactly happens when you try to login as admin?
    Does it show an error about invalid username or password or keeps on redirecting or what exactly?

    Thread Starter nzrhcom

    (@nzrhcom)

    before I deleted Securi it was logging that the login attempt was successful. What it actually shows me is “ERROR: The password you entered for the username daemon is incorrect”. I’ve reset the password using WP and using md5 on the database directly for one of the accounts.

    Curiously, after a password reset the form doesn’t throw errors, just returns to the login screen. If I select a different account I get the bad password message.

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by nzrhcom.
    • This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by nzrhcom.
    Thread Starter nzrhcom

    (@nzrhcom)

    It might be a red herring, but I thought it was odd that when the themes are renamed WP doesn’t automatically use twentyseventeen (as the docs say it should). Is that indicative of a broader problem?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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