Dashboard not working after removal of malware.

  • Hello, I’m going to be as thorough as possible with explaining my problem so that whoever can help knows exactly what’s going on.

    2 Days ago my site https://creativepiranha.com was apparently infected with malicious code. I received the following error when opening it:

    Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘<‘ in /home/creative/public_html/wp-includes/default-filters.php on line 229

    I contacted my hosting provider and they told me to remove all malicious software that is apparently on my local computer using MalwareBytes ( https://www.malwarebytes.org/ ) and TrendMicro’s online scan ( https://housecall.trendmicro.com/ ).

    After the clean was completed, I changed all my account passwords.

    They also removed the malicious code from my wordpress installation with the following message sent to me:

    Greetings
    I have fixed this file for you. I have also run clamscan and a base 64 search on your domain and cleaned all other instances of this exploit.

    According to the information we have from /var/log/messages the exploit was done using your ftp username

    May 4 20:57:55 an-vz1 pure-ftpd: ([email protected]) [NOTICE] /home/creative//public_html/wp-includes/default-filters.php downloaded (10611 bytes, 71433.69KB/sec)
    May 4 20:58:07 an-vz1 pure-ftpd: ([email protected]) [NOTICE] /home/creative//public_html/wp-includes/default-filters.php uploaded (12123 bytes, 23.55KB/sec)

    Then yesterday the site was working again but I couldn’t log onto the wp-admin. I received this error:

    Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/creative/public_html/wp-includes/default-embeds.php:54) in /home/creative/public_html/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 868

    I contacted the hosting support and they managed to remove that code too. I could log onto my wp-admin again last night.

    Now for my actual problem.
    1. My whole dashboard is malfunctioning. Parts of it aren’t working, like the left menu arrows to open up options in Links, Comments, Etc. 2. When I want to create a post or page, I can’t switch from HTML to Visual – both are open at the same time. I can’t use the HTML or Visual toolbars for changing fonts, inserting links, etc. The text box isn’t even allowing me to type.
    3. I can’t put in images or videos into the posts / pages.
    4. I can’t work with my widgets at all, because they won’t open when I click on them. I can’t add or remove them from my sidebars.
    5. When I want to edit the custom.css file from inside wordpress it wipes out the whole thing. The only reason my css is working is because I have uploaded the file via FTP again.

    Basically my whole dashboard is not working. This is very frustrating. Can someone please help me? Is there anything I can do or should I remove the site and do a fresh install?

    Best regards,

    Hugh McCabe

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    It’s possible that your hosting provider cleaned a little bit too much. Try downloading WordPress again and re-upload all of the files.

    Thread Starter hughmccabe

    (@hughmccabe)

    Thanks for replying macmanx. Is there anyway of keeping my design, content, pages and images and basically all the hard work I’ve done so far in place, or am I going to have to do everything from scratch again?

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Your content is stored in the database, so you won’t lose any of that. As for your design and images, don’t replace the /wp-content/ directory.

    Thread Starter hughmccabe

    (@hughmccabe)

    It’s working again. Thanks.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    You’re welcome!

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