Locked your Keys Out? Creating admin user or resetting passwords programmatically

I published some of my MODX utility scripts on GitHub:
https://github.com/craftsmancoding/modx_utils

There a script there to create a new admin user, a script that resets a password, and a script to test your MODX configuration (useful for checking for typos in your config file).

Hope these are useful to the community.

Excellent Everettg, Thanks

Wow Everett!

Those are both scary and brilliant all at the same time. Really nice though.

Now how do we prevent someone from uploading one of these without permission?

Frogabog: security is a huge topic, but the lesson here is that if someone has FTP or shell access to your site, you are hacked. I recommend the following as a short check-list:

1. Use un-guessable usernames for your site and its services
2. Use long and strong passwords that do not appear in any hacking dictionary, and make sure you do not use the same password on multiple sites!
3. Install and maintain intrusion detection counter-measures

And 4, I generally like to turn off FTP altogether and instead use SSH keyed logins instead since they are practically impervious to brute force hacks.

Thank you Everett. Do you have any tips for intrusion detection counter-measures?

Generally, your host will provide this for you, so find a good host or a good sysadmin. I like having the ModSecurity module installed on my servers. Keep your sites updated, and make sure the code you're adding to your site is clean (no dumpster diving for plugins).

Here's the article I wrote for the docs on hardening: http://rtfm.modx.com/display/revolution20/Hardening+MODX+Revolution

And always: keep incremental backups of your site so you can roll back.