Wordfence alert: Critical Problems

  • Resolved Andrzej

    (@ukandrzej)


    2 years, 10 months ago

    I have an email dated today from Wordfence and confirmation in the Wordfence dashboard that there are critical problems:

    File appears to be malicious or unsafe: php.ini
    File appears to be malicious or unsafe: wp-content/php.ini
    File appears to be malicious or unsafe: wp-content/plugins/php.ini
    File appears to be malicious or unsafe: wp-content/themes/php.ini

    Sucuri site scan says nothing malicious found and the host IONOS 1&1 hasn’t been in touch.

    I have just changed user passwords on the site.

    I have two option in Wordfence: Delete all deletable files or Repair all repairable files, which I haven’t done because I don’t know if that’s safe. I have just backed up the site.

    Any advice greatly appreciated.

    • This topic was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Andrzej.

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Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Thread Starter Andrzej

    (@ukandrzej)

    I asked Wordfence to delete the files, which it did. The website continues to display fine. I’m still curious to know if this was a false positive.

    Plugin Support wfphil

    (@wfphil)

    Hi @ukandrzej

    IONOS / 1&1 has been known to automatically add a php.ini file in every directory that it finds in the WordPress file system. Their support team can confirm this for you.

    Thread Starter Andrzej

    (@ukandrzej)

    Many thanks for the information. If these files come back,I presume I can ask Wordfence to ignore them?

    Plugin Support wfphil

    (@wfphil)

    Hi @ukandrzej

    Yes, you can use the IGNORE option for that scan result.

    WebSprite

    (@contentsprite)

    Thank you for the info about IONOS duplicating the php.ini files. I’ve been using IONOS and Wordfence for several years and only starting in January has Wordfence been reporting these duplicate php files as a “critical error.” All 150+ of them.

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