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I have not updated any plugin or installed anything new. Since today, there is a strange Popup ad appearing on my Wordpress admin dashboard. The permalinks of all the pages (except homepage) became invalid, but that problem I solved by going to Settings->Permalinks->"Press Save".

I read this blog, which mentions that two infectious plugins are doing the same thing but I have checked my wp-content/plugins and have not found any strange folder inside it.

Furthermore, on the page Appearance->Widgets, I am not able to change/click any widget.

Screenshot of My current Dashboard:

enter image description here

Update-1: I found one plugin which I have definitely not installed. But I am not sure if this is the cause. The plugin name is stop-ref-spamers but it's not activated. I don't know if a plugin can harm even if it's not activated.

enter image description here

PS: I do have Google Adsense script in one or two posts and a Google Adsense script in Custom HTML widget.

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  • Have you translated the text of the message?
    – Steve
    Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 12:35
  • @Steve: Yes, I did. The translation says. It's easy and simple Even the beginner will cope First earnings in 30 minutes Detailed free technique
    – skm
    Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 12:41

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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It seems like a malware activity.

To find who is generating that pop-up you can deactivate all other plugins, revert to a default theme like TwentySeventeeen and test again. Then, simply activate them back one-by-one checking each time the installation process until you get the pop up again.

The plugin you mentioned shouldn't be the problem since it's not active.

You can also scan your site with this site to confirm.

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  • I will try but except this plugin, all the plugins (just very few and basic ones) were installed previously as well and did not create any problem.
    – skm
    Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 12:55
  • Sure, but it can be a malware on the theme, so switching to a default theme will help you understand who is causing the problem.
    – Castiblanco
    Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 12:56
  • I have deactivated all the plugins still, the malicious Ad is coming. I also tried to use the default theme (in local backup) but still the Ad is coming. I checked my wp-load.php file and it seems completely different to that of my first wp-load.php file. Seems like somebody has penetrated the site and did it intentionally.
    – skm
    Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 14:27
  • Go to: Appearance > Themes > Add New and add, for example, Twenty Seventeen. In case you already have it, just activate it.
    – Castiblanco
    Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 14:29
  • yes, already did it. Please check my updated comment above. I switched to Twenty Sixteen.
    – skm
    Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 14:30

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