After a first foothold, some attackers plant a circular mesh so cleanup fails. Sucuri, The Hacker News, and Monarx wrote up the October 2026 SC family: auto_prepend_file in .user.ini, hostile drop-ins (db.php, advanced-cache.php), theme functions.php fence code, the same fake plugin in must-use and plugins, hex ZIP restore bundles, hidden admins, and WordPress cron that puts the files back.

Bedrock hunts that mesh and locks the easy post-foothold paths. Stop AI attacks already turns off the theme and plugin editor (DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT) and blocks public REST user lists. Stop skilled attacks also blocks plugin and theme zip uploads from the dashboard and can quarantine a new unexpected drop-in. This is not DISALLOW_FILE_MODS. Updates still go through Plugins, Hub, or the host.

Cleanup order matters. First stub or remove auto_prepend_file so the mesh cannot reload. Then clear hostile options and WordPress cron. Then remove hidden administrators. Then delete the files in one pass. Shared-memory (shmop) and immutable (chattr +i) files need the host. Bedrock cannot purge those from PHP.

This cannot stop every loader that already ran before WordPress. It is not bulletproof. You never change DNS. Read the short note or Ask for a $199 cleanup.