Emergency Restore | SeenSecure Help

Emergency Configuration

This section configures the emergency restore system. It is independent of WordPress and generates a standalone PHP control file at the root of your WordPress installation (see details below).

⚠️ Important: The emergency restore system should NOT be confused with backups. Backups create periodic copies. This system allows you to ACCESS those copies when WordPress is unavailable.

Status & Activation

Master switch that enables or disables the entire emergency system. When enabled, a standalone PHP file is generated at the root of your WordPress installation (alongside wp-config.php, not inside wp-admin, wp-includes, or wp-content) with its own authentication system. If server permissions prevent writing there, it tries one level above, outside the site's public folder. This file allows access to backups even if WordPress's own code is completely down or corrupted.

⚡ Recommendation: Keep it ENABLED and configured. Deactivate only when not needed to avoid unnecessary exposure of the emergency URL.

Notification Email

Email address that receives the emergency links. This address must be accessible even if the site is down (e.g., an external email like Gmail or Outlook). When the system is first activated or links are regenerated, an email is sent with the emergency control URL.

📧 Tip: Use an email address outside the site domain. If the site is down, you will not be able to receive emails at addresses on the same domain.

Emergency Password

Password to access the standalone emergency page. It is CRITICAL because it is the ONLY protection for the URL. It must be a strong, unique password not used on any other service. If someone discovers the URL and guesses the password, they will have full access to all site backups.

The Resend Emergency Links button resends the emergency control URL and access instructions by email. Useful if you lost the original email or need to share access with another trusted administrator.

❗️ Security warning: The emergency password is the only barrier between an attacker and all your backups. Use a password of at least 16 characters with uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols. Do not reuse it anywhere else. Store it in a password manager.

Brute Force Protection

A setting lets you choose the maximum number of failed password attempts allowed on the emergency page (between 1 and 10, default 3).

⚠️ Verify the actual behavior: We could not confirm in the code exactly what happens once that limit is exceeded (temporary block, warning, etc.). Before relying on a specific number of minutes or hours of lockout, test the real behavior on your install by trying a few wrong passwords in a row.

Emergency Control Link

Unique copyable URL to the standalone control panel. From this panel you can execute the following actions:

👁 Monitor Mode

Inspects site status and backups without making changes. Useful for diagnosing problems without risk of modifications.

❌ Disable Completely

Safely disables all of SeenSecure and the emergency system. Useful if you need to disable the entire plugin to resolve conflicts.

📈 Activate SeenSecure

Reactivates all SeenSecure protections. Useful after temporarily disabling it to fix an issue.

🚫 Manage Blocked IPs

Manages the list of IPs blocked by the firewall. Allows unblocking specific IPs or clearing the entire list.

🔒 URL privacy: The emergency URL is a unique and unpredictable path, but it is still a publicly accessible URL if discovered. Real security depends on the emergency password. Do not share this URL unless absolutely necessary and only with fully trusted people.

Emergency System Information

⚙️ How it works

The emergency restore system generates a standalone PHP file placed at the root of your WordPress installation (alongside wp-config.php, as a sibling of wp-admin, wp-includes, and wp-content, not inside them). This file has its own password-based authentication, independent of WordPress credentials, and to connect to the database it does not go through WordPress's normal bootstrap (wp-load.php): it reads the connection details (host, database name, user, password) directly from wp-config.php itself and opens its own database connection, without depending on any plugin, theme, or the WordPress core loading correctly.

Because it doesn't depend on WordPress's code loading, it remains accessible even if a plugin or theme causes a white screen, a fatal PHP error, or even if the wp-admin or wp-includes folders have been damaged. To list available backups it first tries querying the backups table in the database (richer info: date, size, type); if that query fails because the database isn't responding, it automatically falls back to scanning the backups folder directly on the server's disk, so it stays useful even with a database that's down.

📌 When to use it

Broken WordPress: The site shows a white screen, fatal PHP errors, or does not load after a failed update.

Malware attack: Malicious code was detected and you need to restore a clean site version from a backup made before the attack.

Database corruption: The WordPress database is damaged and you cannot access the admin panel or the site.

Lost admin access: You cannot log into WordPress because you forgot the password or it was changed by an attacker.

💻 What you can do

View available backups: Complete list of all stored backups with date, size, and type.

Restore a backup: Select a specific backup and restore files, database, or both.

View backup details: Inspect the contents of a backup before restoring: plugin versions, themes, included files.

🛡️ Security

The emergency URL is a unique path that cannot be easily guessed, but it is a publicly accessible URL if someone discovers it (e.g., by reviewing server logs, DNS caches, or through social engineering). The ONLY real protection is the emergency password.

🔴 Critical: There is no attempt limit on the URL itself, only on the password. An attacker with the URL can try to guess the password indefinitely until the brute force system blocks them. This is why using an extremely strong and unique password is vital.

📝 Recommendations

Save the confirmation email securely: The email with the emergency URL is your backup key. Do not delete it and store it in a secure location (password manager, external email, offline copy).

Test it periodically: Access the emergency link at least once a month to verify the system still works and you know the procedure before a real emergency.

Keep backups active: The emergency system is only useful if you have backups available. Make sure automatic backups are configured and working.

Deactivate when not needed: If you do not need emergency access for extended periods, deactivate the system to remove the URL and reduce the attack surface.

💡 Difference from Backups: Emergency Restore does NOT create backups. Backups are created from the Backups & Rollback section of the SeenSecure panel. Emergency Restore is the system that lets you ACCESS and RESTORE those backups when WordPress is unavailable. Without prior backups, the emergency system has no data to restore.