Cannot navigate to /administrator page - An error has occurred

[isac-webmaster]

When I try to navigate to my /administrator page, I get an error page:

An error has occurred.
2 Could not instantiate mail function.

I do not know when this started occurring. It is a long standing Joomla installation and the last time I successfully logged in was nearly a month ago.

I have had a look in the /logs/error.php and do not see any errors - just 3-4 failed login attempts

Joomla! Instance :: Joomla! 4.4.2-Stable (Pamoja) 9-January-2024
Joomla! Configured :: Yes | Read-Only (444) |
Configuration Options :: Offline: false | SEF: true | SEF Suffix: false | SEF ReWrite: false | .htaccess/web.config: No | GZip: false | Cache: false | CacheTime: 15 | CacheHandler: file | CachePlatformPrefix: false | FTP Layer: false | Proxy: false | LiveSite: | Session lifetime: 15 | Session handler: database | Shared sessions: false | SSL: 0 | Error Reporting: default | Site Debug: false | Language Debug: false | Default Access: Public | Unicode Slugs: false | dbConnection Type: mysqli | PHP Supports J! 4.4.2: Yes | Database Supports J! 4.4.2: Yes | Database Credentials Present: Yes |

Host Configuration :: OS: Linux | OS Version: 4.4.400-icpu-099 | Technology: x86_64 | Web Server: Apache | Encoding: gzip, deflate, br, zstd | System TMP Writable: Yes | Free Disk Space : 756.20 GiB |

PHP Configuration :: Version: 8.1.27 | PHP API: cgi-fcgi | Session Path Writable: Yes | Display Errors: 0 | Error Reporting: 22517 | Log Errors To: | Last Known Error: | Register Globals: | Magic Quotes: | Safe Mode: | Allow url fopen: 1 | Open Base: | Uploads: 1 | Max. Upload Size: 64M | Max. POST Size: 64M | Max. Input Time: -1 | Max. Execution Time: 50000 | Memory Limit: -1

Database Configuration :: Version: 5.7.42-log (Client:mysqlnd 8.1.27) | Database Size: 51.12 MiB | #of Tables with config prefix:  168 | #of other Tables:  0 | User Privileges : GRANT ALL

PHP Extensions :: Core (8.1.27) | date (8.1.27) | libxml (8.1.27) | openssl (8.1.27) | pcre (8.1.27) | sqlite3 (8.1.27) | zlib (8.1.27) | bcmath (8.1.27) | bz2 (8.1.27) | calendar (8.1.27) | ctype (8.1.27) | curl (8.1.27) | dba (8.1.27) | dom (20031129) | hash (8.1.27) | fileinfo (8.1.27) | filter (8.1.27) | ftp (8.1.27) | gd (8.1.27) | gettext (8.1.27) | gmp (8.1.27) | json (8.1.27) | iconv (8.1.27) | SPL (8.1.27) | intl (8.1.27) | session (8.1.27) | mbstring (8.1.27) | standard (8.1.27) | mysqlnd (mysqlnd 8.1.27) | exif (8.1.27) | mysqli (8.1.27) | PDO (8.1.27) | pdo_mysql (8.1.27) | pdo_sqlite (8.1.27) | Phar (8.1.27) | posix (8.1.27) | Reflection (8.1.27) | imap (8.1.27) | shmop (8.1.27) | SimpleXML (8.1.27) | soap (8.1.27) | sodium (8.1.27) | tidy (8.1.27) | tokenizer (8.1.27) | xml (8.1.27) | xmlreader (8.1.27) | xmlwriter (8.1.27) | xsl (8.1.27) | zip (1.19.5) | cgi-fcgi (8.1.27) | Zend Engine (4.1.27) |
Potential Missing Extensions ::

Switch User Environment :: PHP CGI: Yes | Server SU: Yes | PHP SU: Yes | Potential Ownership Issues: No

Core Folders :: images/ (755) | components/ (755) | modules/ (755) | plugins/ (755) | language/ (755) | templates/ (755) | cache/ (755) | logs/ (755) | tmp/ (755) | administrator/components/ (755) | administrator/modules/ (755) | administrator/language/ (755) | administrator/templates/ (755) | administrator/logs/ (705) | api/ (755) |

Elevated Permissions (First 10) :: images/jevents/ (777) | images/jevents/jevpeople/ (777) | images/jevents/jevpeople/thumbnails/ (777) |

Database statistics :: Uptime: 2694754 | Threads: 28 | Questions: 669526366 | Slow queries: 178 | Opens: 30859658 | Flush tables: 1 | Open tables: 5998 | Queries per second avg: 248.455 |

Components :: Site ::
Core ::
3rd Party::

Components :: Admin ::
Core :: com_admin (4.0.0) 1 | com_ajax (4.0.0) 1 | com_banners (4.0.0) 1 | com_cache (4.0.0) 1 | com_categories (4.0.0) 1 | com_checkin (4.0.0) 1 | com_config (4.0.0) 1 | com_content (4.0.0) 1 | com_contenthistory (4.0.0) 1 | com_cpanel (4.0.0) 1 | com_finder (4.0.0) 1 | com_installer (4.0.0) 1 | com_joomlaupdate (4.0.3) 1 | com_languages (4.0.0) 1 | com_login (4.0.0) 1 | com_media (3.0.0) 1 | com_menus (4.0.0) 1 | com_messages (4.0.0) 1 | com_modules (4.0.0) 1 | com_newsfeeds (4.0.0) 1 | com_plugins (4.0.0) 1 | com_postinstall (4.0.0) 1 | com_redirect (4.0.0) 1 | com_search (3.0.0) 1 | com_tags (4.0.0) 1 | com_templates (4.0.0) 1 | com_users (4.0.0) 1 | com_associations (4.0.0) 1 | com_fields (4.0.0) 1 | com_actionlogs (3.9.0) 1 | com_privacy (3.9.0) 1 | com_guidedtours (4.3.0) 1 | com_workflow (4.0.0) 1 | com_scheduler (4.1.0) 1 | com_wrapper (4.0.0) 1 | com_mails (4.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: Mailster (1.7.10) 1 | com_akeebabackup (9.8.5) 1 | SP Page Builder (5.2.6) 1 | com_phocamaps (4.0.1) 1 | COM_MINIORANGE_IMPORTEXPORTUSERS (2.2) 1 | COM_JEVENTS (3.6.75) 1 |

Modules :: Site ::
Core :: mod_articles_archive (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_categories (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_category (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_news (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_popular (3.0.0) 1 | mod_banners (3.0.0) 1 | mod_breadcrumbs (3.0.0) 1 | mod_custom (3.0.0) 1 | mod_feed (3.0.0) 1 | mod_finder (3.0.0) 1 | mod_footer (3.0.0) 1 | mod_languages (3.5.0) 1 | mod_login (3.0.0) 1 | mod_menu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_random_image (3.0.0) 1 | mod_related_items (3.0.0) 1 | mod_search (3.0.0) 1 | mod_stats (3.0.0) 1 | mod_syndicate (3.0.0) 1 | mod_tags_popular (3.1.0) 1 | mod_tags_similar (3.1.0) 1 | mod_users_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_whosonline (3.0.0) 1 | mod_wrapper (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: Mailster Subscriber (1.7.10) 1 | SP Page Builder (5.2.6) 1 | MOD_JEV_CALENDAR_TITLE (3.6.75) 1 | MOD_JEV_LEGEND_TITLE (3.6.75) 1 | MOD_JEV_LATEST_EVENTS_TITLE (3.6.75) 1 | MOD_JEV_FILTER_MODULE_TITLE (3.6.75) 1 | MOD_JEV_CUSTOM_MODULE_TITLE (3.6.75) 1 | MOD_JEV_SWITCH_VIEW_TITLE (3.6.75) 1 |

Modules :: Admin ::
Core :: mod_custom (3.0.0) 1 | mod_feed (3.0.0) 1 | mod_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_logged (3.0.0) 1 | mod_login (3.0.0) 1 | mod_menu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_multilangstatus (3.0.0) 1 | mod_popular (3.0.0) 1 | mod_quickicon (3.0.0) 1 | mod_stats_admin (3.0.0) 1 | mod_submenu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_title (3.0.0) 1 | mod_toolbar (3.0.0) 1 | mod_version (3.0.0) 1 | mod_sampledata (3.8.0) 1 | mod_privacy_dashboard (3.9.0) 1 | mod_latestactions (3.9.0) 1 | mod_privacy_status (4.0.0) 1 | mod_frontend (4.0.0) 1 | mod_user (4.0.0) 1 | mod_messages (4.0.0) 1 | mod_post_installation_messages (4.0.0) 1 | mod_loginsupport (4.0.0) 1 | mod_guidedtours (4.3.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: MOD_JEV_DASHBOARD_MODULE_TITLE (3.6.75) 1 |

Libraries ::
Core ::
3rd Party:: file_fof40 (4.1.0) ? |

Plugins ::
Core :: plg_authentication_cookie (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_ldap (3.0.0) 0 | plg_captcha_recaptcha (3.4.0) 1 | plg_captcha_recaptcha_invisible (3.8) 0 | plg_content_emailcloak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_finder (3.0.0) 0 | plg_content_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_loadmodule (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_pagebreak (3.0.0) 0 | plg_content_pagenavigation (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_vote (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_content_confirmconsent (3.9.0) 0 | plg_editors-xtd_article (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_image (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_module (3.5.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_pagebreak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_readmore (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_menu (3.7.0) 1 | plg_extension_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_extension_namespacemap (4.0.0) 1 | plg_extension_finder (4.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_categories (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_contacts (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_content (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_tags (3.0.0) 1 | plg_installer_folderinstaller (3.6.0) 1 | plg_installer_packageinstaller (3.6.0) 1 | plg_installer_urlinstaller (3.6.0) 1 | plg_installer_webinstaller (4.0.0) 1 | plg_installer_override (4.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_extensionupdate (3.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_joomlaupdate (3.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_phpversioncheck (3.7.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_privacycheck (3.9.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_downloadkey (4.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_overridecheck (4.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_eos (4.4.0) 1 | plg_search_categories (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_contacts (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_content (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_tags (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_cache (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_debug (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_highlight (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_languagecode (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_languagefilter (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_log (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_logout (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_redirect (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_remember (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_sef (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_stats (3.5.0) 1 | plg_system_updatenotification (3.5.0) 0 | plg_system_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_system_sessiongc (3.8.6) 1 | plg_system_logrotation (3.9.0) 1 | plg_system_privacyconsent (3.9.0) 0 | plg_system_actionlogs (3.9.0) 1 | plg_system_task_notification (4.1) 1 | plg_system_httpheaders (4.0.0) 0 | plg_system_webauthn (4.0.0) 1 | plg_system_accessibility (4.0.0) 0 | plg_system_jooa11y (4.2.0) 1 | plg_system_guidedtours (4.3.0) 1 | plg_system_schedulerunner (4.1) 1 | plg_system_shortcut (4.2.0) 1 | plg_system_skipto (4.0.0) 1 | plg_user_contactcreator (3.0.0) 0 | plg_user_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_user_profile (3.0.0) 0 | plg_user_terms (3.9.0) 0 | plg_user_token (3.9.0) 1 | plg_fields_calendar (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_checkboxes (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_color (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_editor (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_imagelist (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_integer (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_list (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_media (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_radio (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_sql (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_text (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_textarea (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_url (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_user (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_usergrouplist (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_subform (4.0.0) 1 | plg_sampledata_multilang (4.0.0) 1 | plg_privacy_consents (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_content (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_message (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_user (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_actionlogs (3.9.0) 1 | plg_actionlog_joomla (3.9.0) 1 | plg_media-action_crop (4.0.0) 1 | plg_media-action_resize (4.0.0) 1 | plg_media-action_rotate (4.0.0) 1 | plg_multifactorauth_email (4.2.0) 0 | plg_multifactorauth_webauthn (4.2.0) 0 | plg_multifactorauth_fixed (4.2.0) 0 | plg_multifactorauth_yubikey (3.2.0) 0 | plg_multifactorauth_totp (3.2.0) 0 | plg_task_requests (4.1) 1 | plg_task_demo_tasks (4.1) 1 | plg_task_check_files (4.1) 1 | plg_task_site_status (4.1) 1 | plg_api-authentication_token (4.0.0) 1 | plg_api-authentication_basic (4.0.0) 0 | plg_filesystem_local (4.0.0) 1 | plg_behaviour_taggable (4.0.0) 1 | plg_behaviour_versionable (4.0.0) 1 | plg_behaviour_compat (4.4.0) 1 | plg_webservices_content (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_users (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_templates (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_media (4.1.0) 1 | plg_webservices_messages (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_config (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_installer (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_menus (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_modules (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_redirect (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_languages (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_banners (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_newsfeeds (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_tags (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_privacy (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_plugins (4.0.0) 1 | plg_workflow_notification (4.0.0) 1 | plg_workflow_publishing (4.0.0) 1 | plg_workflow_featuring (4.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: Mailster Subscriber (1.7.10) 1 | plg_content_phocamaps (4.0.1) 1 | PLG_JEV_CORE_CONTENT_PLUGIN_TITLE (3.6.75) 1 | plg_editors_codemirror (5.65.15) 1 | plg_editors_tinymce (5.10.9) 1 | PLG_FINDER_JEVENTS (3.6.75) 0 | plg_installer_jeventsinstaller (3.6.75) 1 | PLG_QUICKICON_AKEEBABACKUP (9.8.5) 1 | Mailster Search (1.7.10) 0 | PLG_JEV_SEARCH_TITLE (3.6.75) 1 | Mailster Email Forwarder (1.7.10) 1 | Mailster Profile (1.7.10) 1 | Mailster CB Plugin (1.7.10) 0 | System - Helix Ultimate Framework (2.0.18) 1 | CookieHint and Consent (1.4.6) 1 | PLG_SYSTEM_MINIORANGEIMPORTEXPORTUS (2.2) ? | PLG_SYSTEM_GWEJSON (3.6.75) 1 | JEvents - Action Log (3.6.75) 0 |

Templates :: Site :: cassiopeia (1.0) 1 | shaper_helixultimate (2.0.18) 1 |
Templates :: Admin :: atum (1.0) 1 |

[toivo]

Welcome to the Joomla forum!

The FPA shows that there are a couple of issues, not related to the current problem, but issues in any case.

Max. Input Time: -1 | Max. Execution Time: 50000 | Memory Limit: -1

Those are unusual values. Usually PHP is configured with 60, 30, 256M, as an example.

A number of folders associated with the JEvents extension have elevated permissions 777, which is a security risk. All folders should have the permissions 755.

About the issue, "Could not instantiate mail function". Has the Joomla mail configuration perhaps been modified, or have you or your host changed something relating to the mail server used by the website?

Did one of the installed Joomla plugins previously send an email to the administrators when members of the Super Users user group logged in?

Now the first task at hand is to restore access to the backend. Write-enable and then edit the file configuration.php and make the following changes:

Code: Select all

	public $debug = true;
	public $error_reporting = 'maximum';
	public $log_everything = 1;

Access the backend and copy and paste the messages into your reply. The error message is followed by the PHP call stack, around a dozen lines that are important, as long as the PHP extension Xdebug is enabled in PHP.

Once the root cause is identified, the plugin can be disabled by editing the database table _extensions. The row with the details of the plugin has a column 'enabled'. Change the value from 1 to 0.

Please note that the developer of the third party extension Mailster released an updated version yesterday.