How to detect Malicious code in nulled or Free WordPress Themes and Plugins

[sahydian]

Apart from Official WordPress repository there are hundreds and thousands of websites which provides free WordPress themes and Plugins but the problem is you can not trust them always.

Yes, Most of them add a malicious code to themes and plugins which is not too easy for you to find out.

Before learning about the cure lets discuss about the cause.

Here is why they add their custom codes

To get backlink from your blog unknowingly
To get access to your blog
To redirect your blog to spam links
To add their advertisements and banners.
or to simply get your website down
Not only free themes and plugins also the premium nulled plugins and themes that you have download from DOWNLOAD and torrents may also infected by these malicious codes.

My Confessions

Did you wonder what triggered me write this article ?

Yes, I too fell prey to these free plugins.Few days back, I was desperate to download a very famous nulled plugin from DOWNLOAD and after installing it in my blog I got to know that the plugin was infected and it redirects my blog to a spam blog.

I immediately disabled the plugin and checked for the code that caused the redirection in plugin files. After an hour I found the code and immediately removed it [ I don't use that plugin now ]

This incident taught me very important thing.

Never trust nulled WordPress plugins and themes

However many of you might want to use those nulled or free plugins and themes for God’s Sake, If you are one of them then read the remaining article

Detecting Malicious codes

After downloading the plugin or theme,The first thing you should do is to check for virus,trojans and other worms that you may not like it.

Check for Virus and Trojans

Go to VirusTotal.com and upload the zip file to check for virus.

If your file is infected you will get a red signal and if not then you can move on to next step.

VirusTotal Scan result
VirusTotal Scan result
Check for unwanted codes in Plugins



Now lets check for unwanted codes in plugins using another WordPress plugin called Exploit Scanner,which can be securely downloaded from WordPress website.

After installing it go to Dashboard >> Tools >> Exploit Scanner and run the scan.It will take some time to complete the scan and the time depends on number of plugins you have installed.

After the scan you can see a list of codes that are suspected.You can use the browser search function to find the plugins that you installed from outside WordPress repository.

Exploit Scanner

[mybox]Note : This plugin will also scan themes but you might to be interested to try the tip that I am about to give next.[/mybox]

Check for Theme authenticity

Adding a backlink in a free theme is very common technique but you can easily find those exploited themes by the plugin called Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC).

Check for Theme authenticity

Adding a backlink in a free theme is very common technique but you can easily find those exploited themes by the plugin called Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC).

Install the plugin and go to Dashboard >> Appearance >> TAC

You can see the list of themes installed with their authenticity result.It will give a warning if any encrypted links are found in a theme.

Install the plugin and go to Dashboard >> Appearance >> TAC

You can see the list of themes installed with their authenticity result.It will give a warning if any encrypted links are found in a theme.



Security is in your hands

Its very rare to get hacked unless,We make mistake.So,security is in your hand : Either Act wisely or get fooled easily.

[kafirbaz12]

Long time awaited Thread. Rep+++++

[punkim]

Thank you for the usefull information. Repped

[sahydian]

thanks for comments guys and gals!

[TheAuthority]

i would ask the mods to Please make this a sticky thread to save people from malicious code..OP, YOU ARE A LIFE SAVOR!

[Expl0rer]

I would also suggest you perform all these tests in a test environment, never do it on your live website.

It's always a bad idea to use nulled scripts on your live websites, but if you have to, then perform all these steps locally and once you make sure the files are clean, then move ahead and install it on your live website.

[HighProxies]

Excellent tutorial you have supplied us with! Will come in handy.

[Walt The Heavyweight]

Great post my man.

[SHINOBI NINJA]

So far one of the more useful (in the sea) posts.

[sahydian]

(07-24-2016 08:42 AM)goran1977 Wrote:  So far one of the more useful (in the sea) posts.

thank you for comment goran :)