MissEmmaGoodwin Command Line Addict

No access to WordPress CMS? Have FTP login? No Problem!

I was tasked with changing some details on a WordPress site. I only had FTP details and everything that needed to be changed involved logging in with a user which had Administrator privileges. Some of the changes were bug fixes and time was of the essence.

What I am about to show you is very much a 'dirty workaround'; there are much better ways of doing it (either programmatically in the code or even just asking for the admin password). But if you are on a very tight deadline, this will most certainly help you.

Creating a Super Admin user programmatically

Connect via FTP. Open up any .php file that gets called. I used wp-content/themes/active-custom-theme/header.php.
 
1. Create the user

/*******************************************************************************
* If ?adduser=true is set in URL, the following code will be executed.
* This ensures that only YOU see the code that is output from the php
********************************************************************************/
if($_GET['adduser'] == 'true') {

     /*************************************************************************
     * Create user
     **************************************************************************/
     wp_create_user('tmproot', '3029332', 'you@yourmailbox.com');

     /*************************************************************************
     * Print out a list of all users
     **************************************************************************/
     $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM wp_users");
     while($objResult = mysql_fetch_object($result)) {
          echo '<pre>' . print_r($objResult,1) . '</pre>';
     }
}

2. Retrieve the your user's ID
Go to wordpress-site.co.uk/?adduser=true and make a note of the ID of the user you just added.

 
3. Retrieve the serialized array of permissions for the Super Admin
Go back to your file and change the PHP to the following:

/*******************************************************************************
* If ?adduser=true is set in URL, the following code will be executed.
* This ensures that only YOU see the code that is output from the php
********************************************************************************/
if($_GET['adduser'] == 'true') {

     /*************************************************************************
     * Create user
     **************************************************************************/
     //wp_create_user('tmproot', '3029332', 'you@yourmailbox.com');

     /*************************************************************************
     * Print out a list of all users
     **************************************************************************/
     //$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM wp_users");
     //while($objResult = mysql_fetch_object($result)) {
          //echo '<pre>' . print_r($objResult,1) . '</pre>';
     //} 

     /*************************************************************************
     * Print out all the permissions
     **************************************************************************/
     $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM wp_usermeta");
     while($objResult = mysql_fetch_object($result)) {
          echo '<pre>' . print_r($objResult,1) . '</pre>';
     }
}

Save the file and refresh wordpress-site.co.uk/?adduser=true. Copy the value meta_value for ID 1 and make a note of your user's umeta_id.
 
4. Update your user's permissions
Go back to your file and change the code to the following:

/*******************************************************************************
* If ?adduser=true is set in URL, the following code will be executed.
* This ensures that only YOU see the code that is output from the php
********************************************************************************/
if($_GET['adduser'] == 'true') {

     /*************************************************************************
     * Create user
     **************************************************************************/
     //wp_create_user('tmproot', '3029332', 'you@yourmailbox.com');

     /*************************************************************************
     * Print out a list of all users
     **************************************************************************/
     //$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM wp_users");
     //while($objResult = mysql_fetch_object($result)) {
          //echo '<pre>' . print_r($objResult,1) . '</pre>';
     //} 

     /*************************************************************************
     * Print out all the permissions
     **************************************************************************/
     //$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM wp_usermeta");
     //while($objResult = mysql_fetch_object($result)) {
          //echo '<pre>' . print_r($objResult,1) . '</pre>';
     //} 

     /*************************************************************************
     * Update your user's privileges
     * There are a few other ways to do this. I tried $user->set_role($role)
     * but this didn't work for me. The following code did work:
     **************************************************************************/
     $perms = 'a:1:{s:13:"administrator";s:1:"1";}';
     $umeta_id = 101;
     $sql = "UPDATE wp_usermeta SET meta_value = '".$perms."' WHERE umeta_id = " . $umeta_id;
     mysql_query($sql);

}

Now go to wordpress-site.co.uk/wp-admin and login with your new user. Make all the changes you need to make.

5. Cleanup
Go back to the code and add the following to delete the user you created:

/*******************************************************************************
* If ?adduser=true is set in URL, the following code will be executed.
* This ensures that only YOU see the code that is output from the php
********************************************************************************/
if($_GET['adduser'] == 'true') {

     /*************************************************************************
     * Create user
     **************************************************************************/
     //wp_create_user('tmproot', '3029332', 'you@yourmailbox.com');

     /*************************************************************************
     * Print out a list of all users
     **************************************************************************/
     //$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM wp_users");
     //while($objResult = mysql_fetch_object($result)) {
          //echo '<pre>' . print_r($objResult,1) . '</pre>';
     //} 

     /*************************************************************************
     * Print out all the permissions
     **************************************************************************/
     //$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM wp_usermeta");
     //while($objResult = mysql_fetch_object($result)) {
          //echo '<pre>' . print_r($objResult,1) . '</pre>';
     //} 

     /*************************************************************************
     * Update your user's privileges
     * There are a few other ways to do this. I tried $user->set_role($role)
     * but this didn't work for me. The following code did work:
     **************************************************************************/
     //$perms = 'a:1:{s:13:"administrator";s:1:"1";}';
     //$umeta_id = 101;
     //$sql = "UPDATE wp_usermeta SET meta_value = '".$perms."' WHERE umeta_id = " . $umeta_id;
     //mysql_query($sql);

     /*************************************************************************
     * Delete the new user you just created
     **************************************************************************/
     $sql = "DELETE FROM wp_users WHERE ID = 10001";
     mysql_query($sql);

}

Refresh wordpress-site.co.uk/?adduser=true which will delete the user you created. Then go back to your php file and delete all the code you added.