Need help, site is running 2.6.5 but can't click on the Update option in Manager

Hi,

Need help very badly. I think our website was affected by last week's attacks. So, we requested our web host to update our website to 2.6.5. They installed it I think but I got an email saying that they can't click on the Upgrade Existing Install option from Setup link.

See attached.



What do I do to restore/update site?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Rom
[email protected]

That's a sign that MODX can't find the config.inc.php file. Proceeding would wipe out your site.

They are probably using a built-in script to update the site (such as Softaculous). Those are notoriously unreliable. Here's a method that should work: https://bobsguides.com/modx-upgrade-faq.html

My Manager screen is blank, I can't update the Extras.

Please help.

Thank you.

Quote from: BobRay at Jul 30, 2018, 05:50 AM

That's a sign that MODX can't find the config.inc.php file. Proceeding would wipe out your site.

They are probably using a built-in script to update the site (such as Softaculous). Those are notoriously unreliable. Here's a method that should work: https://bobsguides.com/modx-upgrade-faq.html

Thank you, Bob. I checked and I'm not sure if I can do it, but I will try.

All the pages in Modx Manager are blank now, as you can see in the screen. Current version is 2.5.0-pl.

Worst case scenario, I will have to re-do the entire website and upload a static website as a quick solution.

I just realized I can't abandon the CMS since there's a login area and a lot of users are in there. I really need to fix the problem. Anybody who can try to help? Please email me at [email protected] with your fee offer, and some info/credentials? Thank you

Quote from: BobRay at Jul 30, 2018, 05:50 AM

That's a sign that MODX can't find the config.inc.php file. Proceeding would wipe out your site.

They are probably using a built-in script to update the site (such as Softaculous). Those are notoriously unreliable. Here's a method that should work: https://bobsguides.com/modx-upgrade-faq.html

Hello Bob, quick question, re:

Go into that directory — you should see the assets, core, manager, and setup directories

I downloaded the 2.6.5 but I don't see the "assets" folder there. I can see connectors, core, manager, setup folders only. Should there really be an "assets" folder from the zip?
Thanks,
Rom

There is no assets folder in the downloaded zip file. I think the assets folder BobRay is describing in that guide is the (cleaned) assets folder from a back up of your site files to accompany the unzipped modx folder. That's the way I read it but it might be worth confirming.

Technically, you don't need an assets folder (and it can be renamed), so don't worry about that.

See if there's a config.core.php file in that directory. That tells MODX where the core directory is. See if it contains a correct path to the core.

Also, see if there's a core/config/config.inc.php file and if it contains the correct paths to the core, manager, and connectors directories.

What version of MODX were you running?

Is it possible that you were running a version of MODX Evolution? That can't be upgraded directly to MODX Revolution.

BTW, just upgrading your site to 2.6.5 will not help at all if the site has already been hacked. One option is to wipe the files and remove all DB tables, then restore a backup from before the hack.

Hi Bob,

I'm using MODx 2.50.

Without doing the restore instructions, I was able to "recover" the website by re-uploading the JS files and website looked and links were okay again. I noticed that the JS files in /js folder were all "0" size after the hack.

Problem is that I can't view the Manager section. All pages inside Manager are blank. See posted screenshot above. So I still can't edit the site. I also tried to re-upload the JS files inside Manager > Assets > ext3 but the Manager pages are still blank.

I plan to update to 2.6.5 by using your guide (Bob's Guide) to fix the hack and update to latest. Will it work?

And then I read somewhere that I need to unzip and merge files and not overwrite the directories. I only have Filezilla. Will Filezilla "merge" the files/folders? I also checked the Cpanel file manager, I click on files there but I don't see the merge options. I'm not that good with handling databases and files, I'm worried I will just make it worse.

I don't have the latest back-up of the site, that's why I'm in deep trouble now.

Anyway, any other tips and guide on how do I fix the hack?

Regards,
Rom

PS I see the config.core.php in the /root folder. I also see there's a core/config/config.inc.ph file.


Quote from: BobRay at Aug 09, 2018, 02:32 AM

Technically, you don't need an assets folder (and it can be renamed), so don't worry about that.

See if there's a config.core.php file in that directory. That tells MODX where the core directory is. See if it contains a correct path to the core.

Also, see if there's a core/config/config.inc.php file and if it contains the correct paths to the core, manager, and connectors directories.

What version of MODX were you running?

Is it possible that you were running a version of MODX Evolution? That can't be upgraded directly to MODX Revolution.

BTW, just upgrading your site to 2.6.5 will not help at all if the site has already been hacked. One option is to wipe the files and remove all DB tables, then restore a backup from before the hack.

I plan to update to 2.6.5 by using your guide (Bob's Guide) to fix the hack and update to latest. Will it work?

Almost certainly not unless you empty all database tables, remove all files, and restore from a pre-hack backup.

I was not hacked yet (fingers crossed), so I'm not the best person to answer this.

If you have a backup from before the hack, you should be able to use UpgradeMODX to upgrade from a clean site, but don't skip any major versions (ending in .0) and be sure to remove the gallery plugin after the restore and before doing anything else. Don't install Gallery until you have a working 2.6.5 site.

If you don't have a backup from before the hack, I would probably save the files and DB somewhere safe, wipe the DB and all files, install a clean version of 2.6.5 and then begin cutting and pasting stuff from the hacked site after checking carefully to make sure each piece is clean.

You could try to clean the site instead, but from all reports, it's quite complicated and it's easy to miss one of the back doors left by the hacker.