WordPress URL changing itself?

  • I am having a very strange problem with one of my customer’s sites. The original set up was fine, but recently, I am unsure when, the WordPress URL in the General Settings changed to a url that is actually one of that customers domains and that is mapped onto the main domain. My customer maintains that neither he nor the other person who has access to the administration area has made this change and I certainly haven’t. After I asked them about it, I went in and it was back to the correct url, but now it has changed again. I’m really confused.
    We can access the admin area by using the url that it’s set to but I want to change it back so that all is correct. My questions are these:
    1. Are there any repercussions to simply changing it to the correct url from within the admin area?
    2. Could this possibly be a sign that he admin area has been hacked? I find it difficult to believe since the only change is to a domain owned by the site owner.

    Many thanks for any light anyone can shed on this strange issue.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • 1. Yes. The site can stop working or can be displayed with out any CSS. There is also no access to the wp-admin area any longer.

    2. I find that highly unlikely, too. Might be worth having a word with the hosts to see if there’s anything on their end that could have caused this.

    Thread Starter NFWRo

    (@nfwro)

    Thanks for the quick reply esmi.
    1. So even though I would be changing the WordPress url back to what it should be, ie the path to where the core files actually lie, it could still break the site?
    2. I have asked the hosting company and they assure me that this could only have been manually changed by someone with access to the admin area.

    1. Yes. The correct ways to change site urls are listed in Changing_The_Site_URL.

    2. They’re right. The only proviso might be if an older database backup was restored that included the wrong urls – possibly after a server issue. Unlikely but worth checking up on.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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