StudioPress PROSE replaced with PROSE by CS THEMES?

[webcami]

Hi,

I've had two client sites suddenly have my PROSE styled themes replaced with a different theme called PROSE by CS themes. http://csthemes.com/

This completely disables my clients sites and all the formatting is lost.

Does anyone else have this happening? It happened on BLUEHOST and now on GODADDY. I want to make sure this doesn't happen to other clients!

Please advise!!!!

http://alkiartfair.org/

[AnitaC]

Can you provide the links to the client sites so we can have a look please?

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[webcami]

I've already installed Lifestyle on the client site but I'll create a screenshot of the theme page...
http://alkiartfair.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Capturethemechange.jpg

There's what PROSE looks like in my dashboard. This is what it links to: http://csthemes.com/theme/prose

And it rendered my site unusable and rewrote over all my PROSE theme files from your theme.

[webcami]

I found this on WordPress.org
http://wordpress.org/support/view/theme-reviews/prose

And here is their WHOIS:
http://www.whois.com/whois/csthemes.com

[mulgar]

Hi webcami,

I just want to say thank you for posting this information. My website died today following an auto update, I was busy at the time so had to leave it until this evening to troubleshoot. Was baffled by what was going on until I came across this and realised exactly what you mentioned had happened to me. After manually restoring to the original 'Prose' theme it fixed things up (although as you mentioned I lost all the formatting). But thanks, at least I'm one step closer.

Hope this issue can be resolved, this is probably one of the first major issues I've encountered from running the updates in many years, usually the Genesis updates are flawless.

[Summer]

That's really a question someone should ask the WP.org people... how their auto-updates system is matching a theme in their repository with a lower version number with a premium theme that has the same name but a higher version number (1.1 for the CS Themes version, 1.5.2 for the Genesis version).

I've just installed the Prose child theme on a test site, and will wait to see if it pops up with an "Update Available" message eventually.

This would also be an unexpected consequence of leaving WP's new auto-updates features on auto-pilot, and one major reason I have it turned off on all sites I'm responsible for 🙂

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WordPress / Genesis Site Design & Troubleshooting: A Touch of Summer | @SummerWebDesign
Slice of SciFi | Writers, After Dark

[webcami]

I've posted to WP.org - others have as well. Hopefully, they will get it straightened out. I'm nervous for all the clients I have using that theme!

[mulgar]

I don't think I had the auto updates enabled, they are disabled now anyway. Probably did not look carefully enough when hitting go on the update, will be something I look very carefully into from now though!

You are right, this is probably a WordPress.org thing, but it would be in the interest of Studio Press to push for answers on this as well.

webcami - do you mind sharing the link on your post to WP.org? Thanks.

[Summer]

@mulgar, that post is in the Support threads for the Prose theme, http://wordpress.org/support/theme/prose

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WordPress / Genesis Site Design & Troubleshooting: A Touch of Summer | @SummerWebDesign
Slice of SciFi | Writers, After Dark

[webcami]

Summer, thanks for posting. I didn't get a chance to respond yesterday.
http://profiles.wordpress.org/webcami/

[Hawkeye]

Whether this particular problem is purely accidental or not, it seems to have exposed a potential exploit that could be problematic for a lot of people -- particularly if the most heavily-used SP themes were affected/targeted.

I was a little nervous about allowing automatic updates when they were first initiated, and now as a result of this thread I've turned them off. Does StudioPress/CopyBlogger have a position on this?

Also, when I see that an update is available, how can I make sure that a theme update is coming from StudioPress and not some third party?

Mark

P.S. Regarding the loss of formatting that's being reported, checking your host directory for backups on a file-by-file basis might be worthwhile. I know any time I overwrite a file using FTP that a back-up of the overwritten file is created in the same folder/directory. Worth a look, at the very least.

[Author]

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