Incorrect Uninstall

  • Resolved churchgoer8629

    (@churchgoer8629)


    3 years, 9 months ago

    I was trying out different security plugins yesterday when I made an error.
    With Sucuri, I had a “Core WordPress Files Were Modified alert” for wordfence, it might have been wordfence-waf.php (ex. https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/core-wordpress-files-were-modified-false/).

    I ran a backup before doing so. I have little knowledge about this stuff but am young so I can learn. I spent 14 hours trying to fix this issue. My site is down and I can only use the BlueHost features (File Manager, phpMyAdmin). Before and after running the backup, I have the same error in /public_html/wp-admin/error-log/:
    ——————————–
    [[…]] PHP Warning: Unknown: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in Unknown on line 0
    [[…]] PHP Warning: Unknown: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in Unknown on line 0
    [[…]] PHP Fatal error: Unknown: Failed opening required ‘/home3/[user…]/public_html/wordfence-waf.php’ (include_path=’.:/opt/cpanel/ea-php74/root/usr/share/pear’) in Unknown on line 0
    ——————————–
    (the […] is date, time, and username)

    I tried to do the steps you have on your website,
    “1. Remove extended protection manually [Learn more]
    2. Remove the “wordfence” plugin folder located in wp-content/plugins
    3. Remove the wflogs folder located in wp-content
    4. Remove wordfence-waf.php located in the root of you WordPress installation
    5. Remove all Wordfence related database tables from the database, using for example phpMyAdmin.”
    https://www.wordfence.com/help/advanced/remove-or-reset/
    https://www.wordfence.com/help/firewall/optimizing-the-firewall/#removing-the-optimization

    In doing this, I have the following issues/questions:
    1. I don’t know in what ways Sucuri interacted with any changes to WordPress Core and if Step 1 is complete, or what challenges there could be.
    2. Does it make sense that a manual import of my backup still have the same error (error posted above)?
    2. I am really uneducated about this and cannot find “.htaccess, .user.ini, and php.ini, all in the site’s main directory.”
    3. “4. Remove wordfence-waf.php located in the root of you WordPress installation” I don’t know where this is. First, is this in File Manager or phpMyAdmin? I do a search in both and they are not there. I find wordfence.php but that is in the wordfence folder under plugins.
    4. After performing the backup, it still has the error. Is it easier to erase the problem by erasing things or fixing it? How do I do either because 14 hours of stress is taking it’s toll. My website was not Active and I do not make money from it, it is meant to be a blog.
    5. Will my website come back on immediately after performing the fix or should I wait a few minutes before freaking out?

    I duly appreciate any help. I am new but I already have a lot of respect for what you do.

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

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Thread Starter churchgoer8629

    (@churchgoer8629)

    One more thing, my wordpress sign-in seems to not be working anymore into these forums. It says password is incorrect and then none of my emails receive the password change email. so I created this one using an old gmail. Is this problem going to be fixed when the issue is fixed? if you aren’t familiar with this issue, that is okay. there is one way to find out! haha. I made backups with Updraft Plus free version, and then I compressed and downloaded both my database and the public_html before starting to do any modifications.

    Plugin Support wfpeter

    (@wfpeter)

    Hi @churchgoer8629, thanks for your messages.

    Firstly, we at Wordfence don’t have access to user account management on the www.ads-software.com forums, so any problems with your account’s registered email will need to be directed to them.

    Secondly, there’s a lot of changes here you describe, especially with a 14 hour period where you may have changed things I’m unaware of. I felt at first read that restoring the backup made immediately before would be the path of least resistance for you, but there’s something still wrong (maybe the database content still being the post-change version rather than pre-change version) as you’re describing PhpMyAdmin which is your database administration tool. Did you backup the site AND database together to perform a full site restore?

    As this problem seems to be loosely related to Wordfence there’s only so much I can suggest and if the hosting environment itself is no longer loading the site your best course of action is to consult your host’s support. They may just suggest removing the site, re-adding it so you can have a clean httpdocs folder, install a fresh WordPress, and then restore your backup to the clean environment… but it’s worth checking with them first to see if they have a backup of your entire site from before the changes.

    The error:

    [[…]] PHP Fatal error: Unknown: Failed opening required ‘/home3/[user…]/public_html/wordfence-waf.php’ (include_path=’.:/opt/cpanel/ea-php74/root/usr/share/pear’) in Unknown on line 0

    seems related to still having auto_prepend_file set in your .htaccess despite the fact you’ve removed Wordfence, so your site is still looking for the firewall file even though it’s removed. Take this line out to prevent it looking for wordfence-waf.php. You can find the .htaccess file in your site’s root directory using your hosting control panel’s file browser or FTP if you have access through that. However, the other PHP errors may still persist after making this change and they’re not particularly descriptive.

    Let me know how you get on, I’m sure the host can point you in the right direction.

    Thanks,

    Peter.

    Thread Starter churchgoer8629

    (@churchgoer8629)

    I was concerned about what sort of support requests were customary and what I shouldn’t bother them with. Thank you for your support. I passed on your comment’s to the host’s support team and my website is operational again. Thank you so much Peter!

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