PHP 8 Released Nov 26

The latest update to PHP, the programming language which powers a lot of WordPress, was released on Nov 26, 2020. We can expect a

We can expect a lot of changes as WordPress and the plugin and theme developers incorporate the extensive code changes they’ll be required to make – and we’ll see a much more secure PHP. It has been predicted that a good number of plugins and themes will not be compatible, and that some developers will drop support of their creations rather than go through the work required to make them function.

Fortunately it’ll be a while before PHP8 hits at the user level, though WordPress 5.6 (currently scheduled for release December 8th +/- a few days) aims to be PHP8 compatible. But most web hosts will still need to test PHP8 versions on their equipment before rolling it out for general consumption, and plugin and theme developers will also need to do extensive testing and possibly rewrite a lot of code.

PHP is on a 2-year upgrade cycle; version 8 will be actively updated for the next two years and will then get one year of security upgrades after that.

more details on the WordFence blog

more details on PHP.net

False Positive Vulnerability Report on Events Manager

The popular calendar plugin Events Manager was reported as containing a Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability, which turned out to be a false positive (no such vulnerability). Several vulnerability reporting sites are still listing it as vulnerable, and if you have it installed you may have been notified.

However, it is not an actual problem and you can safely continue using version 5.9.8.1 or later.

A common .htaccess hack

We see this problem a fair bit, both on new hack repair client’s sites and being discussed on places like Facebook. So I figured I’d give a quick tutorial on how to identify and fix the problem.

The Symptom

When you look up your site on a search engine, you find your web address associated with a list of sites which are definitely not yours.

The Exploit

This is often caused by a hacker getting into your site and making changes to a special hidden file in the root level of your site named .htaccess

The .htaccess file can be used for a lot of things – blocking specific IP addresses or series of IP addresses, preventing directory listings, preventing hotlinking… and of course, redirecting traffic.

The hacker script inserts a few lines which redirect all traffic from the big search engines to other sites.

Immediate Solution

Log in to your web host’s cPanel or similar, and go to File Manager. (These steps can also be done via FTP if you have an account). Go to the root level of your WordPress installation. You should see your .htaccess file – if not, make sure that you have the ability to see hidden files (you may have to chat with your web host).

Open the .htaccess file and look for three lines similar to these:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (google|yahoo|msn|aol|bing) [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (google|yahoo|msn|aol|bing)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ antiquate-cashers.php?$1 [L]


The first two lines basically say “If anyone comes to your site from any of these major search engines….”
and the third line says “Go to this page”.  The file name in that third line is automatically generated by the hack script, and like the one above typically has a nonsense name.

When you go look at that page, it’s going to be 100% hacker code.

Delete those three lines from your .htaccess file, or put a # at the beginning of each line, which indicates that it’s a comment, not to be acted upon. Save .htaccess.

Check the creation date on that nonsense-named file. Chances are that there are a bunch of files strewn about your site structure which were created on the same date and contain similar looking hacker code. Delete them all. Consider uploading fresh, clean copies of WordPress, all your plugins, and your themes, as it’ll ensure that you didn’t miss any in those parts of your site. That will take care of most of the offending files, but you’ll also have to look around in other parts of your wp-content folder such as Uploads.

If you don’t get them all AND remove the security hole they got through in order to hack you in the first place, then the problem will just come back later.

Long term solution

The long term solution of course is to sign up here and we’ll do our best to keep your site from getting hacked in the first place! We’re also available to do hack repairs on your site if you’re in need. Contact us any time.