Whitescreen, seemingly a parse error with Comet Cache free?

#1

Hi, I’m posting here as the WordPress.org forums seem a little neglected and the main CC site is for paying customers.

I use Comet Cache free on quite a few client sites. No issues so far until today when I went to update one site. It was fine when I last viewed it about a month ago but today it’s a whitescreen, no access to front or back end.

After enabling debugging I’m getting this:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /home4/XXXX/public_html/XXXX/wp-content/advanced-cache.php on line 8

which seems to indicate an issue with Comet Cache?

I’ve tried the usual whitescreen fixes with no joy. I’ve manually replaced WordPress and manually deleted Comet Cache, the latter then causes a different, but similar error from another plugin. I’ve replaced the site with the oldest available backup, same issue.

The most likely culprits are Comet Cache, Autoptimize or Bulletproof Security, and given the initial error I’m starting here. Does anyone have any ideas? One strange thing I’ve noticed is that there aren’t any htaccess files anywhere, where BPS adds them to root and wp-admin. Something weird has gone on but as I can’t reach the client I’m having to go in blind for now.

Any help or pointers very much appreciated.

#2

I’ve just run a Sucuri scan and it seems it may have been hacked. Just found the client is abroad so it looks like we’ll have to start from scratch.

#3

Thanks for the update, Jem. I’m sorry you had that happen. :worried:

Yes, this is the best place to get help. Post here again in the future when you need something, I’ll do what I can to help you.

#4

Thanks Cristián. The Sucuri references to hacked files seem to be to do with the debug message, I’m not convinced there’s been any malware injected - although the scan references possible malware, it also flags it as ‘moderate’ risk, which wouldn’t be the case if it had definitely been hacked. I’m just at a loss to know where to start diagnosing this, I’ve not seen anything like it before. I know how to deal with whitescreens/500 errors etc but none of that seems to make any difference and I can’t locate where the problem actually lies, aside from the initial error message referencing Comet Cache. I’ve heard from the client and they haven’t logged in since the last round of updates. It’s not helping they’re abroad on holiday. Any suggestions as to steps to follow?

#5

I’m guessing you don’t have a backup of the site, right? I’d roll back to the latest working one.

I don’t have experience with hacked sites… I’d start googling stuff like “wordpress hacked how to fix”, and other similar searches.

#6

If there is any possibility of a hack, you should really start by talking to the people at BPS, because that’s obviously what that plugin is attempting to prevent.

#7

As I say, I’d already replaced the site with the oldest backup.

Having had a terrible day yesterday I realised today what to do. I needed to manually remove Comet Cache before disabling all plugins. That got me into admin, which then allowed me to see that although the hosting control panel states they’re running PHP 7, in fact the site is running PHP 5.2.17 which means that a number of the installed plugins can’t run. The client will bring this up with them and will move to a better host if necessary.

Anyway, all good, thanks for your willingness to reply. Glad to see Comet Cache is still being looked after, I rate it very highly and it looked a bit abandoned there for a while.

#8

Good catch. Thanks for the update. I’m sure that improving the host will make a good difference for your client.

Yes, I’ll be working on it little by little, giving it some love and care. :slight_smile: