ListMessenger Logo
ListMessenger For Joomla 1.5.x WordMark
Home FAQ Turbo! Blog About Contact

Small script to prevent hacking in PHP Scripts

Hi All.

FIRSTLY THERE IS NO KNOWN SECURITY HOLE IN JOOMLA TODAY - What I am saying here is JUST BECAUSE I want to be over cautious

Today my site was subject to some guy trying to use urls to gain access to my site and scripts.

The guy was using a well know method of accessing badly written scripts using a hacking script embedded in a fack image. You can see if you have been targeted by looking in your web logs for requests that include gif&cmd= and txt&cmd=

I am not going to post te exact method or how to use that to exploit unsecure scripts - (Joomla IS SECURE)

However we all have other scripts, including 3rd party Components, Modules and mambots that may have not been written to the great standard Joomla is. Therefore this patch is still extreamly helpful.

The following code can be inserted in any PHP script. However for Joomla I have inserted it in index.php and index2.php as those arethe files the hackers have been attempting to gain access through.

if (
ereg('gif\?cmd',$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) ||
ereg(’gif&cmd’,$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) ||
ereg(’jpg\?cmd’,$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) ||
ereg(’jpg&cmd’,$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) ||
ereg(’txt?cmd’,$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) ||
ereg(’txt&cmd’,$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'])
)
{
// following line can be used to block IP Addresses if you use APF on a linus server
// passthru(’apf -d ‘.$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
$msg = “There was an hacking attempt by “.$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'].” trying to load “.$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
mail(’hacking@phil-taylor.com’,'HACKING ATTEMPT at ‘.$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'],$msg);
die(’Stop hacking!’);
}

Im not saying this is perfect or even complete - however it suits my needs and I thought I would share it.

Thread on Joomla Forum

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment


Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.
This is not an official Joomla! Site, or Product. The use of the
word Joomla! is intended to describe what the product is designed
for and should not be considered an endorsement by the Joomla Project.