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Wordpress Encrypted Footer Links

Discussion in 'WordPress' started by Dennis Wilson, Mar 30, 2009.

  1. #1
    Normally I find it quite easy to remove footer links from wp themes however I have a theme which has the following lines in the functions.php file

    <?php
    eval(str_rot13('shapgvba purpx_sbbgre(){$y=\'<n uers="uggc://jjj.fxvacerff.pbz/">Serr jbeqcerff gurzrf</n> ol <n uers="uggc://jjj.engrzlubfg.pbz/">Jro Ubfgvat Erivrjf</n>, <n uers="uggc://jjj.erongrurnira.pbz/vkjroubfgvat.ugzy">VKjroubfgvat</n> naq <n uers="uggc://jjj.jroubfgvatcnq.pbz/">Jro Ubfgvat</n>\';$s=qveanzr(__SVYR__).\'/sbbgre.cuc\';$sq=sbcra($s,\'e\');$p=sernq($sq,svyr fvmr($s));spybfr($sq);vs(fgecbf($p,$y)==0){rpub \'Guvf gurzr vf eryrnfrq haqre perngvir pbzzbaf yvprapr, nyy yvaxf va gur sbbgre fubhyq erznva vagnpg\';qvr;}}purpx_sbbgre();'));
    eval(str_rot13('shapgvba purpx_urnqre(){vs(!(shapgvba_rkvfgf("purpx_shapgvb af")&&shapgvba_rkvfgf("purpx_s_sbbgre"))){rpub(\'G uvf gurzr vf eryrnfrq haqre perngvir pbzzbaf yvprapr, nyy yvaxf va gur sbbgre fubhyq erznva vagnpg\');qvr;}}'));
    ?>

    any idea how i can get rid of this and still have a working footer?

    there is no actual encrypted text in the footer.php file however if i make even a slight change to the sponsored links, the theme will not work anymore

    Thanks
     
    Dennis Wilson, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  2. Panjabi

    Panjabi Peon

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    #2
    <?php
    function check_footer(){$l=\'<a href="http://www.skinpress.com/">Free wordpress themes</a> by <a href="http://www.ratemyhost.com/">Web Hosting Reviews</a>, <a href="http://www.rebateheaven.com/ixwebhosting.html">IXwebhosting</a> and <a href="http://www.webhostingpad.com/">Web Hosting</a>\';$f=dirname(__FILE__).\'/footer.php\';$fd=fopen($f,\'r\');$c=fread($fd,file size($f));fclose($fd);if(strpos($c,$l)==0){echo \'This theme is released under creative commons licence, all links in the footer should remain intact\';die;}}check_footer();
    
    function check_header(){if(!(function_exists("check_functio ns")&&function_exists("check_f_footer"))){echo(\'T his theme is released under creative commons licence, all links in the footer should remain intact\');die;}}
    ?>
    
    PHP:
    Try replacing footer with the above code
     
    Panjabi, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  3. hmansfield

    hmansfield Guest

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    #3
    hmansfield, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  4. Dennis Wilson

    Dennis Wilson Peon

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    #4
    Thanks. Do you mean to replace the function.php code with that? There is no encrypted text (that can be actually seen) in footer.php


     
    Dennis Wilson, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  5. Dennis Wilson

    Dennis Wilson Peon

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    #5
    Thanks. How would that work for functions.php ?

    There is no actual encrypted text that can be seen in the footer.


     
    Dennis Wilson, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  6. Panjabi

    Panjabi Peon

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    #6
    Just replace the code you posted in your first post, with the code i posted in your footer.php file.
     
    Panjabi, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  7. Dennis Wilson

    Dennis Wilson Peon

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    #7
    but that code i posted is in my functions.php file not my footer.php file

    I tried replacing the code you gave me with the code i had in functions.php but i got a error

    Warning: Unexpected character in input: '\' (ASCII=92) state=1 in /

    Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in
    any ideas? thanks for the help
     
    Dennis Wilson, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  8. hmansfield

    hmansfield Guest

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    #8
    The nature of the encrypted footer is that the code is elsewhere in the theme files. It's a misdirect so that you can't find it.

    Just follow that tutorial that I posted, I have used it a million times.
    I use FF, so it has the "view page source" option when you hit your right click on a page.

    You will need that to view the code on the page, and then you will be able to follow the tutorial pretty easily...it will walk you right through it.
     
    hmansfield, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  9. Houdy

    Houdy Peon

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    #9
    Why not just leave the link in the footer for the author of the FREE WP theme you are trying to use. Why jump through so many hoops to delete the link of the person who gave you something for free, even going as far as to ask others to help you to be a leeching looser? That perplexes me, and what perplexes me even more is that there are people that know how to and will help you to be a leeching looser.
     
    Houdy, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  10. Dennis Wilson

    Dennis Wilson Peon

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    #10
    Thanks. Ive followed it but it but it does not work because there is no encrypted text actually in the footer.

    now if there was a way i could do the same thing for functions.php???


     
    Dennis Wilson, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  11. Dennis Wilson

    Dennis Wilson Peon

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    #11
    wow, how are you? thanks for stopping by :D


     
    Dennis Wilson, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  12. Houdy

    Houdy Peon

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    #12
    I am fine and thank you for thanking me for stopping by. I do come around now and again, and if I must I do apologize for calling out people like you that contribute nothing more than garbage online.
     
    Houdy, Mar 30, 2009 IP
    Dessyjal likes this.
  13. hmansfield

    hmansfield Guest

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    #13
    Dude:

    Open your index.php file and look for this code:
    <?php get_footer(); ?>

    Put this on either side of it:
    <!--Our dear footer starts here-->

    &

    <!--Our dear footer ends here-->

    Now open your site in the browser and view the page source.

    Everything in between is the actual footer code...copy it, and replace your footer.php code with it.

    Now edit the footer.php any way you like.
     
    hmansfield, Mar 30, 2009 IP
  14. internetmarketingiq

    internetmarketingiq Well-Known Member

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    #14
    Or you could contact the author and make a donation and he'd probably help you.

    This may sound kind of strange to the people out there who expect other people to sit at their desks all day coding away "free" thing for their own personal use.

    There is no FREE lunch. The guy who made the theme deserves to be compensated in the way he chooses to be compensated. And if they feel the need to encrypt a footer because it suits there method of compensation then why do people feel entitled to try and "steal" from that coder?

    If they guy wants to give away a theme that is not encoded and let you strip out anything you want then fine. But if not then leave it or find another theme.

    Do you work on your sites for the Good of mankind or are you trying to make a buck too?
     
    internetmarketingiq, Mar 31, 2009 IP
  15. hmansfield

    hmansfield Guest

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    #15
    I can certainly agree on this one, and I do think that you should show love to the theme designer on your blog. If I remove a footer link, it's normally because it's to a spam site, or some kind of insurance or pharmaceutical site, which a lot of theme designers do, and even then, I'll still link on my about page to the theme designer and the theme's sponsors.

    However, Part of releasing a theme under creative commons means that you allowing people to use it in what ever way they see fit. You can't have it both ways.

    The right thing to do is leave the authors credits, but I will not leave spam links, links to installs, or links to adult stuff or dating in the footer. Especially on a free theme with out any support , or updates that you are basically on your own to use at your own risk.
    Wordpress.org will not allow any sponsored themes to be offered for free.

    If that's wrong, so be it...I buy most of my themes anyway, but some designers are asking too much with some of the links the leave behind on an average theme with nothing more than a colorful header, that I'm going to change anyway.

    They would be better off selling the theme and not claiming "Creative commons".
     
    hmansfield, Mar 31, 2009 IP
  16. eddieb

    eddieb Peon

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    #16
    Hey guys,
    I've read your responses and it appears I have a footer that's a little different. It doesn't have the normal encryption. Any time I try to modify it gives me the normal error. Also, I tried the method mentioned above and it doesn't seem to work. Could someone check into this theme.

    This is the one I'm trying to modify.

    http://www.gothemes.com/index.php?loadpage=./includes/viewtheme.php&themeid=1219

    thanks!
     
    eddieb, Feb 16, 2010 IP
  17. wassupady

    wassupady Peon

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    #17
    That's the wright answer!

    ..but there is a very simple way. I decode all my wp theme which are coded in footer, and i do this things for 5$ :)
     
    wassupady, Feb 16, 2010 IP
  18. hmansfield

    hmansfield Guest

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    #18
    No it's not.
    I don't use free themes anymore and this is one of the reasons. It's either free to use under Creative Commons or it's not.

    Yes, common courtesy say's not to remove the links if you are going to use it, but, if leaving the 'hosting' and 'insurance' links is part of the stipulation for using the theme, then say so..some people will be fine with it and others will just move on and find something else.

    But don't tell me that on the one hand you can claim "Creative Commons"and claim that users have the right to distribute, edit, and use however they see fit...and then on the other say "But you have to link to my stuff"...that's ridiculous and they know it, that's why they try and encrypt the links.
     
    hmansfield, Feb 16, 2010 IP
  19. Web4Guru

    Web4Guru Peon

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    #19
    Good job bringing back an old topic Eddie! How old is too old and when should we just start a new thread? I don't know.

    Are you asking about the active theme on your site gothemes.com, or the Caffeine theme on the page you linked to? The caffeine theme has no encryption in the footer that I can see (although some encrypted code in the functions.php). However, the gothemes.com theme footer appears partially broken though, and the page you linked to has the sidebar pushed below the content. Can you clarify?
     
    Web4Guru, Feb 16, 2010 IP
  20. Web4Guru

    Web4Guru Peon

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    #20
    Ok, I got it figured out Eddie. I love that I learned something new! But first, I want to say that I completely agree with everything in post 15.

    In your case, you can simply delete the encrypted functions and then it lets you remove the links in the footer.php and not get the creative commons message. There may be another function somewhere that checks for those encrypted functions, if so, we have to find that one too.

    A little explanation goes a long way. The encryption is what is called a rot13 encryption, a simple encryption where all alpha (non-symbol, non-numeric) characters are shifted 13 characters (half of the 26) in the alphabet. Decoding is just as simple since you just shift the characters another 13 characters and you've made a complete loop through all 26 characters, so the shifted characters are back to where they started. There are several free encoder/decoder pages, you can Google rot13 if you want.

    The guy from the first reply that got banned was partially correct, but could have explained things better. Simply replace the encrypted code with the unencrypted code, and then you can see what is going on and make the necessary changes. In both cases, you would actually find the encrypted codes are functions (and calls to those functions) that check for the links in the footer and display an error message if they are missing, so you simply delete the functions and then you can delete the links in the footer.php and you will not get the creative commons message error message.

    Since you have to decode the encrypted functions before you can understand what they do, here is how that process works. In your case Eddie, the two functions are in different locations, so you have to do this twice, once for each occurance (you could do it all together, but lets keep it simple).

    So at the end of the functions.php, you have this:
    <?php eval(str_rot13('shapgvba purpx_sbbgre(){
    $y=\'Qrfvtarq ol 
    <n uers="uggc://jjj.serr-jbeqcerff-gurzr.arg/">Serr Jbeqcerff Gurzrf</n>.
     Pbqr ol <n uers="uggc://whqtrfcbg.pbz/">Erivrj Guvf Fvgr</n> | 
    <n uers="uggc://jjj.qvrggbfhpprff.pbz/" 
    gvgyr="Ybj pneo, Jrvtugjngpuref naq bgure urnygul 
    jrvtug pbageby qvrgf qvfphffrq urer">Urnygul Qvrg Sbehz</n> | 
    <n uers="uggc://jjj.orfgqvrgcvyyf-1.pbz/serr_ozv_pnyphyngbe.cuc">
    Serr OZV Pnyphyngbe</n>\';
    $s=qveanzr(__SVYR__).\'/sbbgre.cuc\';$sq=sbcra($s,\'e\');
    $p=sernq($sq,svyrfvmr($s));spybfr($sq);
    vs(fgecbf($p,$y)==0){rpub \'Guvf gurzr vf eryrnfrq haqre perngvir pbzzbaf yvprapr, nyy yvaxf va gur sbbgre fubhyq erznva vagnpg\';qvr;}}purpx_sbbgre();'));?>
    PHP:

    Working inside the PHP opening <?php and closing ?> tags, the encrypted string is between the opening eval(str_rot13(' and closing ')); characters. So the encrypted string is:
    
    shapgvba purpx_sbbgre(){
    $y=\'Qrfvtarq ol 
    <n uers="uggc://jjj.serr-jbeqcerff-gurzr.arg/">Serr Jbeqcerff Gurzrf</n>.
     Pbqr ol <n uers="uggc://whqtrfcbg.pbz/">Erivrj Guvf Fvgr</n> | 
    <n uers="uggc://jjj.qvrggbfhpprff.pbz/" 
    gvgyr="Ybj pneo, Jrvtugjngpuref naq bgure urnygul 
    jrvtug pbageby qvrgf qvfphffrq urer">Urnygul Qvrg Sbehz</n> | 
    <n uers="uggc://jjj.orfgqvrgcvyyf-1.pbz/serr_ozv_pnyphyngbe.cuc">
    Serr OZV Pnyphyngbe</n>\';
    $s=qveanzr(__SVYR__).\'/sbbgre.cuc\';$sq=sbcra($s,\'e\');
    $p=sernq($sq,svyrfvmr($s));spybfr($sq);
    vs(fgecbf($p,$y)==0){rpub \'Guvf gurzr vf eryrnfrq haqre perngvir pbzzbaf yvprapr, nyy yvaxf va gur sbbgre fubhyq erznva vagnpg\';qvr;}}purpx_sbbgre();
    
    PHP:
    Put that in an encoder/decoder, and you get:
    
    function check_footer(){
    $l=\'Designed by 
    <a href="http://www.free-wordpress-theme.net/">Free Wordpress Themes</a>.
     Code by <a href="http://judgespot.com/">Review This Site</a> | 
    <a href="http://www.diettosuccess.com/" 
    title="Low carb, Weightwatchers and other healthy 
    weight control diets discussed here">Healthy Diet Forum</a> | 
    <a href="http://www.bestdietpills-1.com/free_bmi_calculator.">
    Free BMI Calculator</a>\';
    $f=dirname(__FILE__).\'/footer.php\';$fd=fopen($f,\'r\');
    $c=fread($fd,filesize($f));fclose($fd);
    if(strpos($c,$l)==0){echo \'This theme is released under creative commons licence, all links in the footer should remain intact\';die;}}check_footer();
    
    PHP:
    However, there is still a code issue, which is why the first guy didn't succeed in replacing the code. The syntax highlighting shown in the code blocks above hint at the problem. Because the original encrypted string is used as an argument of the rot13 function, the single quotes are escaped (\'), which causes havoc, so the escape slashes need to be removed for the PHP code to terminate properly. (It also didn't help that the reply just said to replace it in the footer and continued referring to the footer.php, as did others with the tutorial which is useless in both cases.)

    So the proper code is supposed to be this:
    
    function check_footer(){
    $l='Designed by 
    <a href="http://www.free-wordpress-theme.net/">Free Wordpress Themes</a>.
     Code by <a href="http://judgespot.com/">Review This Site</a> | 
    <a href="http://www.diettosuccess.com/" 
    title="Low carb, Weightwatchers and other healthy 
    weight control diets discussed here">Healthy Diet Forum</a> | 
    <a href="http://www.bestdietpills-1.com/free_bmi_calculator.">
    Free BMI Calculator</a>';
    $f=dirname(__FILE__).'/footer.php';$fd=fopen($f,'r');
    $c=fread($fd,filesize($f));fclose($fd);
    if(strpos($c,$l)==0){echo 'This theme is released under creative commons licence, all links in the footer should remain intact';die;}}check_footer();
    
    PHP:
    Typically, you copy the result and paste it inside the PHP tags in place of the eval(str_rot13('[encrypted string]')); in your functions.php file. Of course the functions are what is causing the issue and are not needed so they can simply be deleted.


    I hope that helps everyone and provides an answer for those to come.:D

    Chris
     
    Web4Guru, Apr 30, 2010 IP