Admin login attempt shows wp-login.php file contents

  • Resolved mdkennedy

    (@mdkennedy)


    3 years, 1 month ago

    Running WordPress latest release, host OS is Ubuntu 18.04.6, hosting provider is DigitalOcean. I have SSH remote console root access. I keep the host OS updated using “apt-get update” and “apt-get upgrade”. Our web site is an eCommerce store, we sell products. We use the WooCommerce Storefront theme, no child theme. Our site is stable and I have not made changes to anything WordPress/WooCommerce or plugins related in several weeks. Though I previously enabled several plugins to auto-update.

    Yesterday, when I browsed to my admin login page, the page appears to be displaying the contents of the wp-login.php file. I cannot login. Only my wife and I have the administrator login credentials. SSH remote console root access is working.

    I don’t know how to troubleshoot/fix this problem. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

    Thank you in advance!

    • This topic was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by mdkennedy.
    • This topic was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by mdkennedy.
    • This topic was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by James Huff. Reason: link moved to proper field

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

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    This may be a plugin or theme conflict. Please attempt to disable all plugins, and use one of the default (Twenty*) themes. If the problem goes away, enable them one by one to identify the source of your troubles.

    If you can install plugins, install and activate “Health Check”: https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/health-check/
    It will add some additional features under the menu item under Tools > Site Health.
    On its troubleshooting tab, you can Enable Troubleshooting Mode. This will disable all plugins, switch to a standard WordPress theme (if available), allow you to turn your plugins on and off and switch between themes, without affecting normal visitors to your site. This allows you to test for various compatibility issues.
    There’s a more detailed description about how to use the Health Check plugin and its Troubleshooting Mode at https://make.www.ads-software.com/support/handbook/appendix/troubleshooting-using-the-health-check/

    Thread Starter mdkennedy

    (@mdkennedy)

    Thank you for replying. I don’t think you understand what my problem is. I cannot login to my site’s administration dashboard page. I have SSH remote console access only to our site. I do not have the knowledge how to disable plugins via command line console. I do not know how to access the health-check plugin from command line console. By the way, the Health-Check plugin is installed and I know how to use it from the Dashboard page – but I cannot get to that page.

    Guests to our site see the site fine and I’m worried someone will purchase something that I won’t be able to ship since I cannot access the Dashboard.

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by mdkennedy.
    • This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by mdkennedy.
    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Try manually resetting your plugins (no Dashboard access required). If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one individually until you find the cause.

    If that does not resolve the issue, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel (consult your hosting provider’s documentation for specifics on these), navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and rename the directory of your currently active theme. This will force the default theme to activate and hopefully rule-out a theme-specific issue (theme functions can interfere like plugins).

    Thread Starter mdkennedy

    (@mdkennedy)

    Our site’s problem had nothing what so ever to do with plugins. What a waste of my time!

    On January 24th PHP released a bug fix version 8.1.2. I applied that update on Jan 26th. Our site was running WP 5.8.3 at that time. Version 5.9 of WP released on Jan 26. The PHP update broke wp-login.php causing all my problems. Discovering this information took me many more hours than it should have, troubleshooting software issues is NOT my day job.

    The PHP update also broke WP-CLI so I was not able to manually update our site to WP 5.9. Our website has WP audo-updates enabled but that didn’t apply until last night.

    Administrator login is now working fine again. Such is life when living on the edge of technology evolution.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Ok, thanks for sharing that crucial information, we’re not psychic here.

    I’ll mark this as resolved, glad it’s fixed for you.

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