Need help recovering our phpBB Site

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johnhuns
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by johnhuns »

There is still an issue but I'm not sure where the problem lies. Somehow the index.php file works for awhile and then it gets corrupted. I'm not sure what is causing it but I have BlueHost looking into it. Using the Index.php file from the download Robert provided did seem to address the issue but the file corruption thing is a problem.
johnhuns
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by johnhuns »

So, apparently we have malware on our site and BlueHost is saying it must be cleaned. I have a question about the path below:
/home8/oedlor1/public_html/forum/wp-content/plugins/easyrotator-for-wordpress/indox.php: SL-PHP-BACKDOOR-GENERIC-amk.UNOFFICIAL FOUND

Is it valid to have a wp-content folder in our forum folder? It looks like everything under this folder is infected and I'd like to know if there are real files I should "fix" or just delete.

Lastly, is there a best way to "clean" files that are infected with malware?

Thanks,
John
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Lumpy Burgertushie
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

since the host is the one that installed wordpress you should ask them to uninstall it. I assume that you are not using wp and did not ask for it to be instaslled etc.

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johnhuns
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by johnhuns »

That's where my ignorance comes into play. I don't know enough to say for sure that we do not need WordPress. So to verify, I do not need WordPress to run the board using phpBB, right? If I uninstall WP will it remove all of the associated file system folders?

Thanks,
John
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david63
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by david63 »

johnhuns wrote: Tue Jan 16, 2018 9:40 pm I do not need WordPress to run the board using phpBB
That is correct
johnhuns wrote: Tue Jan 16, 2018 9:40 pm If I uninstall WP will it remove all of the associated file system folders?
It should do, but not knowing how it was installed it is difficult to say with any degree of certainty.
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Lumpy Burgertushie
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

based on the link you provided that loaded wp, there is nothing there but a brand new blank install. I would assume that you did not even have a wp blog before your host installed it for you for some reason.

when you contact your host, ask for level two support. I have a feeling whoever you dealt with before doesn't really understand what is going on.

robert
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johnhuns
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by johnhuns »

Thanks again for your support and help.

I am going through our infected files and removing the wp stuff. I see some files that are in our forum folder that do not exist in the download that was provided the other day (this is where I grabbed the index.php file which did seem to fix our site). So I have a file called roots.php and liaets.php in our forum folder that are infected and these files are not identified in the download I extracted. Do you know if these files are needed? If needed I will need to find a way to "clean" them or replace them, otherwise I can delete if not needed. Does this make sense?

Thanks,
John
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stevemaury
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by stevemaury »

When in doubt, delete. If you make a mistake, you can always replace a deleted file with a fresh copy from here.
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warmweer
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by warmweer »

If all you really want to to is to recover and upgrade the phpBB forum, you basically only need the phpBB database (and could delete all the rest).
HOWEVER, don't just take that for granted.
Also, it's not specifically mentioned (forgive me if I didn't see it, I did read the whole topic twice), you seem te want to upgrade to phpBB 3.1 (since this support topic was opened in the 3.1 Support forum.).
Any particluar reason (for not going upgrading to 3.2) ?

BTW, since yo do want to upgrade (3.1 or 3.2) the old (3.0) database will have to be 'cleaned' to remove any database modifications (by phpBB mods or by some hostinstallation linking it with WP or something else) before starting the upgrade process.
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johnhuns
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by johnhuns »

I didn't know we had to upgrade but realize we should after the initial comments. My first goal is to get the forum backup and running then I can talk to the organization about upgrading, etc. I put the post in the 3.1 board because I couldn't find a 3.0 board and I was kind of panicking.

I see phpBB, WordPress and Joomla files. According to the only guy I can talk to who knows anything about how the board was setup, we are using phpBB and when I applied the index.php file from the downloaded zip file from an earlier post our site worked. (It worked for a while and the index.php file would become corrupted.) So I assume anything that is not in that downloaded zip file and is in our forum folder and infected we should delete it. That's kind of what I'm thinking.

Thank you all again for the help. I know there is no official support on this site, but I appreciate all the help to point me in the right direction!
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Lumpy Burgertushie
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

if there is something on your server that is reinfecting the files you will have to solve that before you can fix this.

there is nothing in phpbb that would be doing this. it sounds more like a problem with the hosting company files.
a few years ago there was a lot of this happening because the server software was out of date and could be hacked.
index files were the main files that the hack affected.

between this and the fact that your host support apparently has no idea what is going on, I would suspect it is all related to
problems with the hosting.
I would start thinking seriously about finding a new host company for your board.

in the mean time, contact support, ask for level two support, stay on them about the problem of the index.php getting changed/infected
over and over.


luck,
robert
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johnhuns
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by johnhuns »

I have already suggested to our organization that we should change. Nobody really knows how much work that is and we are pre-paid for hosting for another year or two so they are reluctant. To that point, am I crazy to think that the hosting company should be preventing malware? I argued yesterday with them that it is their servers, why are they not blocking the malicious events. I maybe off base since I am new to this but it seems backwards to me.

Thanks,
John
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Lumpy Burgertushie
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

you are correct. it is their server and mostly their files since they installed wp for you.
'and certainly any hacks that are getting past the server security it is up to them to secure their servers.

you may need to take the loss and get a new host. be SURE that you get a database backup of the phpbb before you even mention anything to the host about moving. if you need help with that we can help you.


robert
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johnhuns
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by johnhuns »

Thank you Robert and anyone else who helped me through this issue. Our forum is back up and running, so far so good. I truly appreciate all of your help.

Thank you,
John
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thecoalman
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Re: Need help recovering our phpBB Site

Post by thecoalman »

johnhuns wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:33 pm To that point, am I crazy to think that the hosting company should be preventing malware? I argued yesterday with them that it is their servers, why are they not blocking the malicious events.
The host is not responsible for updating the software you install. What likely happened was years ago someone from your organization installed Word Press or whatever else they installed and never used it, it's still active if the files are there. Any software you install is open to potential security vulnerabilities. It's your responsibility to keep them up to date, updates to phpBB or anything else patch those vulnerabilities and your host does not install them.

Your host was probably scanning for vulnerable files and came across the Word Press install, trouble here is they made a bad situation worse....

In any event based on what I have read here my advice is to download a full backup of all the files/folders you have in public_html and delete them all from the server. Download phpBB 3.2.2 and follow the directions for updating. You will need to upload config.php from your backup, the files in the avatar folder and the files in the files folder(attachments).
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