PHP Parse Error in settings.dat.php File

12 posts by 6 authors in: Forums > CMS Builder
Last Post: March 1, 2011   (RSS)

By fleuronpress - March 29, 2010

When I try to access any html page that includes CMS code in it, or my admin area, I get the following error:

loadINI: Error parsing /home/content/53/5075753/html/ambika/cmsAdmin/data/settings.dat.php on line 1

Everything *was* working fine. And I'm not aware of any changes that were made to the files or my client's server.

Any ideas for fixing this?

Thanks!

Re: [fleuronpress] PHP Parse Error in settings.dat.php File

By Jason - March 29, 2010

Hi,

Can you attach the settings.dat.php file and I can take a look at that for you?

Thanks
---------------------------------------------------
Jason Sauchuk - Project Manager
interactivetools.com

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Re: [Jason] PHP Parse Error in settings.dat.php File

By fleuronpress - March 29, 2010

Sure. It's attached. :)

Additionally, the server permissions on the file are 744; I don't know if that's relevant.

Re: [fleuronpress] PHP Parse Error in settings.dat.php File

By Jason - March 29, 2010

Hi,

There's a line at the top of your settings.dat.php file at looks like this:
<?php eval(base64_decode("aWYoZnVuY3Rpb25fZXhpc3RzKCdvYl9zdGF.........

It's a really long line. First thing you need to do is remove this line. It looks as if your site as been hacked and code has been added to this php file and possibly others.

What you can do is temporary take your site offline (if that's possible), do a complete backup, and then go through your files and search for similar lines (starting with eval(base64_decode.

Sorry to hear that happened. Good luck.
---------------------------------------------------
Jason Sauchuk - Project Manager
interactivetools.com

Hire me! Save time by getting our experts to help with your project.
http://www.interactivetools.com/consulting/

Re: [Jason] PHP Parse Error in settings.dat.php File

By fleuronpress - March 30, 2010

Thanks for your help. Was able to correct.

Re: [fleuronpress] PHP Parse Error in settings.dat.php File

By Jason - March 30, 2010

Excellent! Glad to hear it.
---------------------------------------------------
Jason Sauchuk - Project Manager
interactivetools.com

Hire me! Save time by getting our experts to help with your project.
http://www.interactivetools.com/consulting/

Re: [Jason] PHP Parse Error in settings.dat.php File

By darrylo - May 7, 2010

Same thing happened to me. I am working on removing the code now. What is the vulnerablility - how can I prevent this happening again?
Darryl
http://darrylo.com

Re: [darrylo] PHP Parse Error in settings.dat.php File

By Donna - May 7, 2010

Hi Darryl,

There's no known vulnerability in CMS Builder, so it's unlikely that cmsb would be the cause. However, having other software on your server that DOES have a vulnerability in it means that they can write to files on your server that need write permissions for other reason -- ie, files that CMS Builder needs to be able to modify.

The way to prevent things like this is to make sure that you're always running the most up-to-date version of any software on your site, and if your account has more than one domain on it accessible via one user (like any common multiple-domain hosting package) ALL sites must be up to date.

I got caught with this once -- I had an older version of Wordpress on an unused site, and through that my main site got hit. So it's important to make sure that ALL of your scripts are up to date, not just the ones on that domain. :)

Common scripts to look for are things like popular open source blogging platforms, forums, etc, but really... just check everything. :)
Donna

--
support@interactivetools.com

Re: [Donna] PHP Parse Error in settings.dat.php File

By darrylo - May 7, 2010

Will do - thanks for the quick reply Donna
Darryl
http://darrylo.com