Did I get hacked??

[s10sakota]

Hi all,

I have a forum at www.ransclan.com\forums

I?m not sure if I got hacked or maybe a file or something got corrupted.

The first issue we had was that I tried to reply to a thread, no matter what I typed, I got an error saying that it was too short.

Now, any thread I click on just gives me a bunch of code. Obviously the forum is currently worthless like this.

Would an experienced vB?er please take a quick look and give me an idea if this can be fixed?

I would very much appreciate any help. I?d sure hate to lose these forums after 11 years!

Thank you,

Mark Pensenstadler

[Dave]

What kind of code did it display?

[s10sakota]

Dave,

It?s a HUGE list of jibber-jabber. Below i will post just a bit of it as it might give you an idea...

Function name must be a string on line 1566 in /home1/ransclan/public_html/forums/includes/class_bbcode.php
#0 /home1/ransclan/public_html/forums/includes/class_bbcode.php(1021): vB_BbCodeParser->parse_array(Array, 1, 1, 0)
#1 /home1/ransclan/public_html/forums/includes/class_bbcode.php(542): vB_BbCodeParser->parse_bbcode('[B][SIZE=4]Welc...', 1, 1, 0)
#2 /home1/ransclan/public_html/forums/includes/class_bbcode.php(456): vB_BbCodeParser->do_parse('[B][SIZE=4]Welc...', 0, 1, 1, 1, true, false, 'on_nl2br', false, 1)
#3 /home1/ransclan/public_html/forums/includes/class_postbit.php(1231): vB_BbCodeParser->parse('[B][SIZE=4]Welc...', 6, '1', false, NULL, NULL, false, 'on_nl2br')
#4 /home1/ransclan/public_html/forums/includes/class_postbit.php(329): vB_Postbit_Post->parse_bbcode()
#5 /home1/ransclan/public_html/forums/showthread.php(1096): vB_Postbit->construct_postbit(Array)
#6 {main}


Fatal error: Function name must be a string on line 1566 in ..../includes/class_bbcode.php in ..../vb/vb.php on line 286
#0 vb_error_handler(256, Function name must be a string on line 1566 in ..../includes/class_bbcode.php , ..../vb/vb.php, 286, Array ([exception] => Error Object ([*message] => Function name must be a string,[Errorstring] => ,[*code] => 0,[*file] => /home1/ransclan/public_html/forums/includes/class_bbcode.php,[*line] => 1566,[Errortrace] => Array ([0] => Array ([file] => /home1/ransclan/public_html/forums/includes/class_bbcode.php,[line] => 1021,[function] => parse_array,[class] => vB_BbCodeParser,[type] => ->,[args] => Array ([0] => Array ([0] => Array ([type] => tag,[name] => b,[name_orig] => B,[option] => ,[closing] => ),[1] => Array ([type] => tag,[name] => size,[name_orig] => SIZE,[option] => 4,[delimiter] => ,[closing] => ),[2] => Array ([type] => text,[data] => Welcome:),[3] => Array ([type] => tag,[name] => size,[name_orig] => SIZE,[option] => ,[closing] => 1),[4] => Array ([type] => tag,[name] => b,[name_orig] => B,[option] => ,[closing] => 1),[5] => Array ([type] => text,[data] =>

[Dave]

Doesn't necessarily have to be caused by a hack. If your host suddenly upgrades the PHP version to something higher then it can cause issues like this.

[s10sakota]

I’m using 4.2.2, would upgrading to 4.2.5 fix the issue to be more compatible if the host did upgrade the php?

Thank you,

Mark

[scottkoz20]

I think Dave is onto something... my host upgraded me to PHP7 and had to go back to PHP5.6 with 4.2.5.

As for upgrading to 4.2.5 - if you are running an early version of 4.2.2, I recall there being a security patch that was needed (patch 6?? )

[Dave]

It's always a good idea to upgrade to the latest version as it also contains bug fixes.
If you upgrade to the latest vBulletin 4 version and verify that you are running PHP 7, things should work.

If they don't work, it's possible you have a plugin installed that doesn't work properly with your current (newer) PHP version.

[In Omnibus]

I think Dave is onto something... my host upgraded me to PHP7 and had to go back to PHP5.6 with 4.2.5.

As for upgrading to 4.2.5 - if you are running an early version of 4.2.2, I recall there being a security patch that was needed (patch 6?? )

There were several that were needed but I recall that being one of them.

[Daryn]

You'll need a supported version of PHP to do the upgrading anyway, o I would see if you can get PHP 5.6 running for the time-being. Once that's working upgrade to 4.2.5 for the bug fixes and security improvements. Then, I'd switch to PHP 7.1 which is the highest PHP version vb4 can use. PHP 7 offers a lot of performance improvements, so it's worth the hassle to get it going.

[s10sakota]

You guys are amazing and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help and guidance. I had Bluehost reset the php to 5.6 and now the forums work!

I will upgrade the forum vB software and then up the php to 7.1 per your suggestions.

I have another question which is probably related to this issue. I also run another vB forum and at about the same time, that forum completely disappeared except for the bottom of the forum where it tells you about the Users. Everything else is completely gone! That is version 4.2.5

Any idea what happened there and if there is a way to recover this forum?

It is located at: www.titanaircorps.com/tacforums/forum.php

If you want, you can click and take a look at what I mean about it all being gone except the bottom!

[Dave]

Looks like something went wrong with the cache.

Try these 2 things in the admincp:
1. Go to Maintenance > Clear System Cache
2. Go to Forums & Moderators > Forum Manager > Scroll down and click on "Save Display Order" to reset the forum cache.