Recover the website—not just the homepage
A compromised WordPress installation can contain much more than one visible malicious file. Attackers may add hidden administrators, database payloads, scheduled reinfection tasks, modified plugins, altered core files, malicious redirects, spam pages, credential stealers, or backdoors placed outside the obvious web root.
RecoveryPress is structured around a complete incident-response workflow: contain the damage, identify the entry point, preserve what matters, remove malicious persistence, restore trusted software, rotate access, harden the environment, and verify that the website stays clean.
WordPress malware removal
Find and remove malicious PHP, JavaScript, database injections, spam content, rogue users, scheduled jobs, and hidden persistence.
Hacked WordPress recovery
Stabilize the site, restore trustworthy code and data, repair availability or reputation issues, and coordinate a controlled return to service.
Security hardening
Reduce the likelihood and impact of repeat compromise with access controls, updates, file protections, logging, and attack-surface reduction.
Symptoms that deserve immediate investigation
- Visitors are redirected to unrelated, adult, gambling, pharmacy, or scam pages.
- Google results show Japanese keywords, fake products, or pages you never created.
- Your host, browser, security vendor, or Google Search Console reports malware.
- Unknown administrator accounts or unfamiliar plugins appear in WordPress.
- PHP files reappear after deletion or timestamps keep changing unexpectedly.
- Email delivery, server load, disk usage, or outbound traffic suddenly increases.
- The site becomes blank, slow, inaccessible, or intermittently returns errors.
Do not start by deleting random files.
Unstructured cleanup can destroy evidence, remove legitimate customizations, break the website, or leave the actual persistence mechanism untouched.
- Restrict exposure where practical.
- Preserve current files, logs, and database state.
- Document alerts, dates, symptoms, and recent changes.
- Avoid sharing credentials by email or contact form.
A disciplined six-stage response
Contain
Limit further damage without unnecessarily destroying evidence or availability.
Diagnose
Determine scope, persistence, affected accounts, vulnerable components, and likely entry points.
Clean
Remove malicious code and data while preserving known-good content and required custom work.
Restore
Replace untrusted core, plugin, and theme files from verified sources and repair damaged configuration.
Harden
Rotate credentials, update software, reduce privileges, protect files, and close the exploited path.
Monitor
Watch for reinfection, unauthorized changes, suspicious traffic, and renewed reputation alerts.
What website owners ask after a compromise
Can a hacked WordPress site be cleaned without rebuilding it?
Often, yes. The right choice depends on the scope of compromise, quality of available backups, amount of custom code, hosting access, and whether reliable components can be restored from trusted sources. In severe cases, a clean rebuild and controlled content migration is safer.
Why did the malware return after someone cleaned the site?
Reinfection usually means the original entry point or a persistence mechanism survived. Common causes include a vulnerable plugin, stolen hosting credentials, hidden administrator accounts, scheduled tasks, database payloads, modified server configuration, another infected site in the same account, or an overlooked backdoor.
Will changing the WordPress password fix the hack?
Password rotation is important, but it is only one part of recovery. Hosting, SFTP, SSH, database, email, CDN, DNS, API, and administrator credentials may also need rotation. Existing malware can remain active after every password has been changed.
What access is normally needed?
Typical recovery requires hosting or server access, WordPress administrator access, database access, DNS or Cloudflare access when relevant, and any clean backups that are available. Credentials should be exchanged through an approved secure channel after scope and authorization are established.
Describe the symptoms and the access you still have.
Share the affected URL, the warning or behavior you observed, when it began, and whether the website is currently online. Do not include passwords or recovery codes.