IR-008 • Anonymized recovery report
.htaccess Redirect Recovery
Visitors were redirected before WordPress loaded.
Business impact
Visitors were redirected before WordPress loaded.
Symptoms observed
- Redirects continued after disabling plugins
- Suspicious rewrite rules
- Search visitors affected
Investigation
The investigation focused on confirming active compromise, mapping the infection scope and identifying whether the incident was caused by vulnerable software, compromised access, injected database content or persistent backdoor code.
Root cause
Malicious rewrite rules were added to .htaccess and combined with PHP persistence.
Recovery actions
- Backed up and rebuilt .htaccess safely
- Removed suspicious rewrite rules
- Checked for PHP that could rewrite the file again
- Reviewed file permissions and hosting access
- Verified clean behavior from multiple referrers
Hardening
After cleanup, the site should be hardened around the root cause: update or replace vulnerable components, rotate credentials, remove unnecessary administrators, review file permissions and add monitoring for recurring indicators.
Outcome
The redirect stopped and .htaccess regeneration risk was reduced.
FAQ
Is this a real client name?
No. Reports are anonymized to protect client privacy. The structure reflects real-world recovery scenarios and common incident patterns.
Can WP•FIX provide a similar report?
Yes. Business recovery cases can include a clear summary of symptoms, findings, recovery actions, likely root cause and hardening recommendations.
Why is root cause important?
Without root-cause work, malware can return through the same backdoor, vulnerable plugin, compromised account or hosting-level access path.
Need a recovery report for your incident?
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