Normally the only permissions you need are 0755 for folders and 0644 for files. If you want different default permissions for all folders and files (unless you specify otherwise) you can do that. It's in the Permissions Configuration page, at the very top. We have not added a feature to recursively apply custom permissions to all subdirectories / files of a folder because in 100% of the cases it indicates that you missed the aforementioned feature, an ownership issue (you must avoid that!) or bad understanding of what permissions do. Up and foremost, Admin Tools is a tool to help you improve your site's security. When a feature would conveniently help you screw up your site's security it's not added.
So, go back and think what do the permissions you applied mean for each folder and file. 444 is exactly the same as 644 for all practical purposes: if you are the owner of a file you can change its permissions from 444 to 644 and write to the file. 555 and 755 are also practically the same for folders, for the exact same reason. Did your changes made any difference or any sense from a security perspective? None at all. They gave you the illusion of preventing write access to your files / folders when, in fact, the owner of these files / users can still write to them just fine.
Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos
Lead Developer and Director
🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
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