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why there is a folder with strange name?

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2016 1:25 pm
by baijianpeng
I installed VestaCP on CentOS 7 to offer web panel for my Joomla website.

Today I noticed that in the public_html folder, which is the web root of my website, there is a folder with strange name:

Code: Select all

[root@joomlacloud public_html]# ls
administrator                         components         includes     logs          remos_downloads
A;ٙr4O???x!?X"?*K?)>K6??7??[}????????  configuration.php  index.php    media         robots.txt
bin                                   demo               joomla.xml   modules       robots.txt.dist
bithost.htaccess                      downloads          language     php_errorlog  templates
build.xml                             fpa-en.php         layouts      php_mail.log  tmp
cache                                 htaccess.txt       libraries    plugins       web.config.txt
cli                                   images             LICENSE.txt  README.txt
[root@joomlacloud public_html]# 
Please not this folder name in above texts which were copied from my SSH terminal:

A;ٙr4O???x!?X"?*K?)>K6??7??[}????????

This folder will NOT be shown up if I check my website with FTP client. But on SSH terminal it will show up.

I tried to enter that folder with "cd" command to see what is inside that folder, but the cd command can not work for it.

I tried to delete it with "rmdir" command, then it was deleted.

But, I still have no idea how did that folder being created?

Does this means that my website was hacked?

Thank you.

Re: why there is a folder with strange name?

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2016 9:21 pm
by SS88
It could either mean:
  • Your website has been compromised or;
  • Your server has been compromised.
Very hard to tell unless you dig into the logs.

Re: why there is a folder with strange name?

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 12:02 am
by baijianpeng
OK. I have no idea how to investigate this.

The good news is, I deleted that folder with "rmdir" commander. It seems that it has not been re-created yet.

Thank you.

Re: why there is a folder with strange name?

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 9:23 am
by joem
baijianpeng wrote:OK. I have no idea how to investigate this.

The good news is, I deleted that folder with "rmdir" commander. It seems that it has not been re-created yet.

Thank you.
You really should check the logs in /var/log/ look for the files named access_log or auth.log I would start with ssh, vesta, proftp, and/or vsftpd access logs and see if you can find anything odd or related to the folder name. Also consider changing your root & admin passwords, configure ssh to a different port.

Re: why there is a folder with strange name?

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 9:44 am
by skurudo
baijianpeng wrote:OK. I have no idea how to investigate this.
The good news is, I deleted that folder with "rmdir" commander. It seems that it has not been re-created yet.
Best to change passwords ftp/ssh/db and update the scripts, if it's possible.