Joomla plugins get regularly disabled

Question

I've got a Joomla 1.5.17 web site, with the following components installed:

• JCE 1.5.7
• Jcomments 2.1
• JoomFish 2.0.4
• JoomlaPack
• Kunena Forum 1.5.11
• Xmap

For some unknown (to me) reason, some of the plugins get regularly disabled. I'm not doing it, it just keeps on happening every few weeks. When I notice it, I just go to the backend and re-enable them.

The JoomFish plugin call Jfdatabase is particularly concerned by this weird behavior. Other plugins seem to be randomly disabled too, but this is always a part of the disabled ones.

I know the site is outdated, but I don't have the time right now to update it. I'd just like for it to keep on running smoothly for a few months, without having to fix it up every other week.

Any help is welcome!

Answer 1

There's not magic that is going to make database values change without running some code. Something is running code. It sounds like you may have a compromised site. Are you sure those plugins are working? Because there was one release in the 1.5 series that automatically disabled plugins that failed; in addition to the security audit I'd do an audit of all those plugins and make sure you are on the current releases.

Answer 2

Maybe try checking your file permissions. Folders should be set to 0755 and files should be 0644.

The free version of Akeeba Admin Tools can help check and reset file file permissions throughout your website.

See https://www.akeebabackup.com/compatibility.html for the appropriate version of Admin Tools for your version of Joomla and PHP version.