June 05, 2017

Move Login Plugin

Change your login URL for something like https://example.com/login and stop login brute-force attempts.

This plugin forbids access to https://example.com/wp-login.php and creates new urls, like https://example.com/login or https://example.com/logout.
This is a great way to limit bots trying to brute-force your login (trying to guess your login and password). Of course, the new URLs are easier to remember too.

Also remember: the use of this plugin does NOT exempt you to use a strong password. Moreover, never use “admin” as login, this is the first attempt for bots.

By the way, if you are looking for a complete security solution, take a look at SecuPress: Move Login is included inside.

Multisite

Yes! The plugin must be activated from your network.
Note 1: this plugin deals only with wp-login.php, not with wp-signup.php nor with wp-activate.php (yet). That means https://example.com/register will still redirect to https://example.com/wp-signup.php. I think this will be the next step though, but no ETA.
Note 2: if users/sites registrations are open, you shouldn’t use this plugin yet. There are some places where the log in address is hard coded and not filterable. A bug ticket is open.

Requirements

As of version 2.4, at least PHP 5.3 is required.
You will need a FTP access: if the .htaccess/web.config file is not writable (you will need to add the given rules manually), or if something is wrong and you can’t log in anymore (see the FAQ in that case).
Should work on IIS7+ servers but not tested (I guess you should probably save a copy of your web.config file before the plugin activation).
For Nginx servers, the rewrite rules are not written automatically of course, but they are provided as information in the plugin settings page.

Installation

Extract the plugin folder from the downloaded ZIP file.
Upload the sf-move-login folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
If you have another plugin that makes redirections to https://example.com/wp-login.php (a short-links plugin for example), disable it or remove the redirection, otherwise they will conflict and you’ll be locked out. See the FAQ in case you’re not able to reach the login page (make sure to have a FTP access to your site).
Activate the plugin from the “Plugins” page.
If the plugin can’t write your .htaccess file or web.config file, you’ll need to edit it yourself with a FTP access, the rules are provided in the plugin settings page.

Screenshots

The settings page.

FAQ

Installation Instructions

Extract the plugin folder from the downloaded ZIP file.
Upload the sf-move-login folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
If you have another plugin that makes redirections to https://example.com/wp-login.php (a short-links plugin for example), disable it or remove the redirection, otherwise they will conflict and you’ll be locked out. See the FAQ in case you’re not able to reach the login page (make sure to have a FTP access to your site).
Activate the plugin from the “Plugins” page.
If the plugin can’t write your .htaccess file or web.config file, you’ll need to edit it yourself with a FTP access, the rules are provided in the plugin settings page.

Can I set my own URLs?

Since the version 1.1, yes. And since the version 2.0, you don’t need any additional plugin for that.

I’m locked out! I can’t access the login page!

You’re screwed! No, I’m kidding, but you need a FTP access to your site. When logged in with your FTP software, open the file wp-config.php located at the root of your installation. Simply add this in the file: define( 'SFML_ALLOW_LOGIN_ACCESS', true ); and save the file. This will bypass the plugin and you’ll be able to access https://example.com/wp-login.php. Another plugin may conflict, you’ll need to find which one before removing this new line of code.

Does it really work for Multisite?

Yes. Each blog has its own login page (but the customized slugs are the same for each blog though). The plugin must be activated from the network.

Eventually, try the WordPress support forum (best), or check out my blog for more infos, help, or bug reports (sorry folks, it’s in French, but feel free to leave a comment in English).

Changelog

2.5.3

2017/06/05
New: preview your URLs while typing.
New: you can leave a field empty to set its default value.
Improved URL duplicates detection.
Fixed the “Lost Password” redirection (and others).
Dev stuff: fixed the filters in sfml_is_apache(), sfml_is_iis7(), and sfml_is_nginx().
Nerd stuff: improved the whole plugin code quality by updating the Coding Standard rules and applying new ones. Changed a few things in the class SFML_Options.

2.5.2

2017/05/25
New: a new option is available. Instead of redirecting to the a “WordPress” 404 error page, you can choose to directly trigger the 404 error. Pro: the user is not directed, the URL doesn’t change. Con: the user sees the browser error page, it probably is a simple white page (but do we really care?).
Fixed the blank page that was displaying instead of redirecting the user to the new login URL.
Dev stuff: you can now add custom options to the two existing radio groups.
Nerd stuff: in case the plugin has trouble determining your server technology, take a look at sfml_is_apache(), sfml_is_iis7(), and sfml_is_nginx(): returned values can be filtered with a MU plugin.

2.5.1

2017/05/14
Added missing functions for compatibility with WordPress < 4.4.

2.5

2017/05/09
New: some files from WordPress core were still able to redirect a logged out user to the new login URL. Now Move Login filters every redirection to prevent it.
Dev stuff: the hook sfml_wp_admin_error is now deprecated. Please use the filter sfml_login_redirect_location instead.

2.4.3

2017/03/26
Fixed an error preventing the plugin uninstallation. My diabolical plan to be on every website has been discovered 👿
Updated some translations to exclude non-translatable strings and as many HTML tags as possible.
Use WP_Filesystem_Direct to write files.

2.4.2

2017/02/04
Fixed a simple PHP warning.

2.4.1

2017/01/07
Added missing test for PHP version :s

2.4

2017/01/03
Move Login now requires PHP 5.3 at least!
New: tell cache plugins not to cache the login pages (constant DONOTCACHEPAGE).
Improved: nginx support should be fine now.
I’ve revamped the plugin with what I’ve done on SecuPress (lots of things have changed internally).

2.3

2016/04/04
Tested with WP 4.5.
Code quality improvements.
Fixed a notice with php7.
Mark the option “Do nothing, redirect to the new login page” as not recommended.
If not logged in, deny access to wp-signup.php and wp-register.php (mono-site installations).
When blocking access, use a 501 error code instead of 500.
Added compatibility with websites that are not using port 80 and 443.

2.2.2

2015/11/22
Login over https on a non https site should finally work (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و

2.2.1

2015/10/04
The URL used in the password protected posts form (slug postpass) is back in the rewrite rules: this URL can be discovered by inspecting the form code, so it must not use the login URL.
Bugfix: the URL used in the password protected posts form and those used to retrieve a password are working fine again.

2.2

2015/09/18
Removed postpass, retrievepassword and rp from the rewrite rules: they are useless and they can be used to find the login page.
Fixed a bug in multisite where rewrite rules were inserted after the WordPress rules.
The plugin will not display a message ON EVERY BLOODY UPDATE anymore, only if the .htaccess/web.config file needs to be updated and it is not writeable. Well, too bad… it is the case this time. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
The code box after the settings form is now hidden by default and can be shown by clicking a button.
Some code cleanup.

2.1.5

2015/08/26
Back-compat is getting annoying. Last try before dropping support of old versions of WP.

2.1.4

2015/08/26
Bugfix for WP < 3.6: Call to undefined function wp_is_writable().

2.1.3

2015/08/05
New: ready for the new WordPress 4.3 headings in admin screens (but you won’t see any difference).

2.1.2

2015/07/23
Bugfix: Added missing base URL in rewrite rules for Nginx when the site is not installed at the domain root.
Bugfix: php warning in settings page.

2.1.1

2015/06/08
Bugfix: Added missing semicolon in rewrite rules for Nginx.

2.1

2015/03/01
New: Installations where WordPress has its own directory are now supported. (〜￣▽￣)〜
New: For multisite, the log in address in the “new site” welcome email is now filtered. Unfortunately there are some other places where the log in address can’t be changed, regarding the user/site registration messages. A bug ticket is open.
Improvement: All rewrite rules have been improved. Feedback from Nginx users are welcome (as you may know, I’m a Nginx n00b).
Improvement: Better handling of network_site_url().
Bugfix: slugs were not stored in SFML_Options::get_slugs() before being returned. Trivial perf improvement.
The filter ‘sfml_options’ can’t be used to add options, only to modify existing values.
Removed some unused global vars.

2.0.2

2015/02/24
Same as below… Fingers crossed. >_>

2.0.1

2015/02/24
Fixes a fatal error for multisites.

2.0

2015/02/22
Most of the plugin has been rewritten.
New: you don’t need my framework Noop to have a settings page anymore (yes, you can uninstall it if it’s not used elsewhere). ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ The bad news is there are no settings import/export/history anymore (and it won’t come back). Make sure your settings are ok after upgrading.
New: the plugin disable some WordPress native redirections to administration area and login page. For example, https://example.com/dashboard/ was leading to https://example.com/wp-admin/. This should solve a bunch of bugs.
New: the rewrite rules for Nginx servers are now provided in the plugin settings page as information. Thank you Milouze.
Improvement: bugfix for IIS servers.
Improvement: better French translations.
Bugfix: fix double slash in network site url (used for lostpassword).

1.1.4

2014/04/28
Plugins can now add their own action to Move Login more easily with the filter sfml_additional_slugs. Even without doing anything, Move Login handle custom actions added by other plugins, but the url can’t be customizable. Now, these plugins can add a new input field to let users change this new url, and it’s very simple.
Side note: I’ve just released a new version for my framework Noop (1.0.6). Now you can import and export your settings via a file, see the new tab in the “Help” area.

1.1.3

2014/04/01
Bugfix for php 5.4.

1.1.2

2014/03/29
Bugfix: don’t block users accessing the script admin-post.php.
Changed i18n domain.
If Noop is not installed, add a link in the “settings” page.
Added a direct link to download Noop, some users may not be able to install plugins directly.
Code improvements and small bugfixes.

1.1.1

2013/12/17
Bugfix.

1.1

2013/12/16
Code refactoring.
Requires WordPress 3.1 at least.
New: the URLs can be customized, with a filter or a settings page. The settings page needs another plugin to be installed, it’s a framework I made (Noop). See the Move Login row in your plugins list, there’s a new link.
New: support for custom actions in the login form (added by other plugins).
New: choose what to do when someone attempts to access the old login page.
New: choose what to do when someone attempts to access the administration area.
New: enabling permalinks is not required anymore.
Todo: provide rewrite rules for Nginx systems.

1.0.1

2013/09/30
Very minor bug fix: messed the author link -_-‘

1.0

2013/09/20
First stable version.
New: 1 new action called sfml_wp_login_error is now available for the wp-login.php error message, you can use your own wp_die() or redirect to another error page for example.

1.0-RC2

2013/09/12
Bugfix: activation for multisite with not writable .htaccess file, a wrong message was shown, preventing activation (was I drunk?).
tested on multisite with subdomain.
SecuPress is joining the project 🙂

1.0-RC1

2013/09/11
New: Multisite support (must be “network” activated).
Enhancement: updated the set_url_scheme() function to the one in WP 3.6.1 (used for WP < 3.4).
Enhancement: better rewrite rules.
Bugfix: The plugin rewrite rules are now really removed from the .htaccess file on deactivation.

0.1.1

2013/06/04
Bugfix: php notice due to a missing parameter.
Bugfix: incorrect network_site_url filter.

0.1

2013/06/03
First public beta release
Thanks to juliobox, who’s joining the project 🙂