• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

DOJ takes action against 22-year-old running RapperBot Botnet

 | 

Google fixed Chrome flaw found by Big Sleep AI

 | 

Pharmaceutical firm Inotiv discloses ransomware attack. Qilin group claims responsibility for the hack

 | 

A hacker tied to Yemen Cyber Army gets 20 months in prison

 | 

Exploit weaponizes SAP NetWeaver bugs for full system compromise

 | 

Allianz Life security breach impacted 1.1 million customers

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Trend Micro Apex One flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

AI for Cybersecurity: Building Trust in Your Workflows

 | 

Taiwan Web Infrastructure targeted by APT UAT-7237 with custom toolset

 | 

New NFC-Driven Android Trojan PhantomCard targets Brazilian bank customers

 | 

Cisco fixed maximum-severity security flaw in Secure Firewall Management Center

 | 

'Blue Locker' Ransomware Targeting Oil & Gas Sector in Pakistan

 | 

Hackers exploit Microsoft flaw to breach Canada ’s House of Commons

 | 

Norway confirms dam intrusion by Pro-Russian hackers

 | 

Zoom patches critical Windows flaw allowing privilege escalation

 | 

Manpower data breach impacted 144,180 individuals

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office Excel, and WinRAR flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Critical FortiSIEM flaw under active exploitation, Fortinet warns

 | 

Charon Ransomware targets Middle East with APT attack methods

 | 

Hackers leak 2.8M sensitive records from Allianz Life in Salesforce data breach

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Hacking
  • Malware
  • Crooks leverages .htaccess injector on Joomla and WordPress sites for malicious redirects

Crooks leverages .htaccess injector on Joomla and WordPress sites for malicious redirects

Pierluigi Paganini May 27, 2019

Security researchers are monitoring a new hacking campaign aimed at Joomla and WordPress websites, attackers used .htaccess injector for malicious redirect.

Researchers at Sucuri are warning Joomla and WordPress websites admins of malicious hypertext access (.htaccess) injector found on a client website. The website was used by attackers to redirect traffic to advertising sites that attempted to deliver malware.

“During the process of investigating one of our incident response cases, we found an .htaccess code injection. It had been widely spread on the website, injected into all .htaccess files and redirecting visitors to the http[:]//portal-f[.]pw/XcTyTp advertisement website. ” reads the report.

.htaccess files are configuration files for web servers running the Apache Web Server software. These .htaccess files can be used to alter the configuration of the Apache Web Server software to enable/disable additional functionality and features. The features include the redirect functionality, content password protection or image hot link prevention.

Sucuri spotted threat actors abusing the URL redirect function of the .htaccess file to redirect visitors of compromised websites to phishing sites, sites delivering malware, or simply to generate impressions.

At the time is not clear how attackers gain access to the Joomla and WordPress websites, we only know that they inject the malicious code onto some of the website’s index.php files.

“Below is the code within the ./modules/mod_widgetread_twitt/ index.php file on a Joomla website. This code is responsible for injecting the malicious redirects into the .htaccess files:“

htaccess redirect

“This code is searching for an .htaccess file. If found, this code will place malicious redirects in the file immediately after “# BEGIN WORDPRESS”.” continues the report.

A warning message from endpoint antivirus software when users try to visit malicious site redirected by Joomla and WordPress sites.

This .php code also searches for more files and folders, trying to search nested folders.

It’s not uncommon to see hackers targeting websites through .htacccess file, including, in October 2018 a security researcher discovered a zero-day vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2018-9206, in older versions of the jQuery File Upload plugin since 2010. Attackers exploited the issue to carry out several malicious activities, including defacement, exfiltration, and malware infection.

alled jQuery File Upload placed 7,800 different software applications at potential risk for compromise and remote code-execution.

The root cause of the problem is that Apache disabled support for .htaccess in version 2.3.9 to improve performance (the server doesn’t have to check for this file every time it accesses a director) and to prevent users from overriding security features that were configured on the server.

The side effect is that the technical choice left some developers and their projects open to attacks.

“While the majority of web applications make use of redirects, these features are also commonly used by bad actors to generate advertising impressions, send unsuspecting site visitors to phishing sites, or other malicious web pages.” concludes Sucuri.


If you appreciate my effort in spreading cybersecurity awareness, please vote for Security Affairs in the section “Your Vote for the Best EU Security Tweeter”

Thank you

[adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – .htaccess, hacking)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

Hacking htaccess information security news Joomla malware Pierluigi Paganini Security News Wordpress

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini August 20, 2025
Britain targets Kyrgyz financial institutions, crypto networks aiding Kremlin
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini August 20, 2025
DOJ takes action against 22-year-old running RapperBot Botnet
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    DOJ takes action against 22-year-old running RapperBot Botnet

    Cyber Crime / August 20, 2025

    Google fixed Chrome flaw found by Big Sleep AI

    Security / August 20, 2025

    Pharmaceutical firm Inotiv discloses ransomware attack. Qilin group claims responsibility for the hack

    Data Breach / August 20, 2025

    A hacker tied to Yemen Cyber Army gets 20 months in prison

    Cyber Crime / August 20, 2025

    Exploit weaponizes SAP NetWeaver bugs for full system compromise

    Security / August 20, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT