{"id":1522,"date":"2019-02-08T10:35:57","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T10:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.hostinger.io\/support\/2019\/02\/08\/1583339-how-to-fix-a-malware-infected-wordpress-website-at-hostinger\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T04:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T04:12:09","slug":"1583339-how-to-fix-a-malware-infected-wordpress-website-at-hostinger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/1583339-how-to-fix-a-malware-infected-wordpress-website-at-hostinger\/","title":{"rendered":"How to fix a malware-infected WordPress website at Hostinger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fix a malware-infected WordPress website at Hostinger by identifying signs of infection, removing malicious content, and preventing future attacks.<\/p><h2 id=\"h-signs-of-a-malware-infection\">Signs of a malware infection<\/h2><p class=\"no-margin\">There are a few things to look for that can indicate a potential malware infection:<\/p><ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Unexpected deny rules on your .htaccess file.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Files on your website&rsquo;s root folder that you did not create either manually or via a custom script\/cron job.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Files such as index.php containing large amounts of unreadable code.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Your WordPress admin page does not load the style properly.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Your website is redirected to another site which you don&rsquo;t recognize<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>A fake Cloudflare verification screen prompts you to copy and run a command in your terminal or Run dialog<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Our Malware Scanner has identified and removed compromised or infected files<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><div class=\"intercom-interblocks-callout\" style=\"background-color: #e3e7fa80;border-color: #334bfa33\">If your account or site shows broader signs of compromise beyond WordPress specifically, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/1583390-what-to-do-if-your-account-or-site-has-been-hacked-at-hostinger\/\">what to do if your account or site has been hacked<\/a>.<\/div><h2 id=\"h-remove-the-malware\">Remove the malware<\/h2><p class=\"no-margin\">At Hostinger, on our Web Hosting and Cloud Hosting plans, we have an automatic <a class=\"intercom-content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/6197555-how-to-use-the-malware-scanner-at-hostinger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Malware Scanner<\/a> that will help identify and remove malicious files on your account.<\/p><div class=\"intercom-interblocks-callout\" style=\"background-color: #e3e7fa80;border-color: #334bfa33\">\n<p class=\"no-margin\">If you want to clean up your website manually, you can use security plugins such as <a class=\"intercom-content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wordfence.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WordFence<\/a> or <a class=\"intercom-content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/gotmls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Anti-Malware Security<\/a>. Here&rsquo;s a step-by-step tutorial on how to clean up an infected WordPress site using the WordFence plugin: <a class=\"intercom-content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wordpress-malware-removal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WordPress Malware Removal Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><p class=\"no-margin\">If your website presents <b>issues after cleanup<\/b>, you can consider <a class=\"intercom-content-link\" href=\"\/support\/4283700-how-to-restore-backups-at-hostinger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">restoring it from a backup<\/a>. Please note that this would revert any changes you made after the backup date.<\/p><h2 id=\"h-prevent-future-infections\">Prevent future infections<\/h2><p class=\"no-margin\">Keep in mind that only removing the infected files <b>may not be enough<\/b> to contain the infection. It is very important that you tackle <b>the reason <\/b>why the infection occurred in the first place. In order to eliminate any vulnerabilities and keep your websites safe, please do the following steps:<\/p><ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Use strong passwords: unique, with more than 8 characters using letters, numbers, and special characters<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Keep <b>WordPress<\/b>,<b> <\/b>themes, and plugins <b>updated<\/b> to the <b>latest stable version<\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Avoid plugins and themes <b>from unknown or third-party providers<\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Protect your website&rsquo;s contact\/registration\/login forms with <a class=\"intercom-content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/recaptcha\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reCAPTCHA<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\"><a class=\"intercom-content-link\" href=\"\/support\/5981435-how-to-download-backups-at-hostinger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Generate and download backups of your website periodically<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Scan your local device with an antivirus software such as <a class=\"intercom-content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Malwarebytes<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><p class=\"no-margin\">Learn more:<b> <\/b><a class=\"intercom-content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/how-to-secure-wordpress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Keeping your WordPress website safe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Removing malware from WordPress and preventing infections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":581,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"include_on_kodee":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-website-security"],"hreflangs":[{"locale":"en-US","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/1583339-how-to-fix-a-malware-infected-wordpress-website-at-hostinger\/","default":1},{"locale":"es-ES","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/es\/support\/1583339-como-arreglar-un-sitio-de-wordpress-con-malware-en-hostinger\/","default":0},{"locale":"fr-FR","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/fr\/support\/1583339-comment-reparer-un-site-wordpress-avec-des-logiciels-malveillants-hostinger\/","default":0},{"locale":"id-ID","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/id\/support\/1583339-cara-memperbaiki-wordpress-dengan-malware-di-hostinger\/","default":0},{"locale":"lt-LT","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/lt\/support\/1583339-kaip-pataisyti-wordpress-svetaine-nuo-kenkejiskos-programos-hostinger-platformoje\/","default":0},{"locale":"pt-BR","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/br\/support\/1583339-como-corrigir-um-site-wordpress-com-malware-hostinger\/","default":0},{"locale":"uk-UA","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ua\/support\/1583339-------wordpress-hostinger\/","default":0}],"include_on_kodee":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/581"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1522"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15162,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions\/15162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}