define('VELOCITYFORGE_PANIC', true);in wp-config.php — checked before any database read, so it works even when the database is the problem.?velocityforge_panic=on any URL — flips Safe Mode and rotates the secret. The secret is stored both in an option and inwp-content/.velocityforge-panic, which you can read over SFTP.- The Safe Mode toggle — on the Rollback screen, and in the admin bar, on the front end as well as in wp-admin. It goes through
VELOCITYFORGE_Rollback_Manager::toggle_safe_mode(), so it lands in the same audit trail as the form, and it is nonce-protected andmanage_options-only.
- whether
VELOCITYFORGE_PANICis defined right now (informational — there is nothing to write, so it cannot fail); - the panic file’s directory round-trips a probe write and delete;
- a real loopback request to the secret panic route with the real secret — a wrong token would only prove the 403 branch works. The safe-mode option, the stored secret and the on-disk copy of it are captured beforehand and written back byte for byte afterwards, whatever the response was: a drill that leaves the file disagreeing with the database would break the exact SFTP escape hatch it exists to verify;
- the safe-mode option round-trips: read, flip, read back, restore;
- the autoload backups table answers a SELECT, row or no row.