Wordfence 403 error

  • Resolved miamirex

    (@miamirex)


    10 years ago

    I’m trying to use the ‘press this’ feature on my WordPress blog. I’m using the latest version of Windows 10 with Edge browser, and it does nothing but open a blank page for posting. I tried using Internet Explorer and it worked, until now. Now I’m getting a 403 error “A potentially unsafe operation has been detected… and has been blocked by Wordfence”. There’s a box to check for “I am certain this is a false positive” allowing me to ‘whitelist’ this action. I have also tried Chrome and get the same thing. I contacted my webhost (HostGator) and they can’t find anything wrong settings-wise on their end. This is really frustrating as I don’t know where the problem is, browser, webhost, WordPress, Wordfence…?? I’ve tried everywhere else, since the 403 said it was blocked by Wordfence I ended up here.

    https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/wordfence/

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • wfasa

    (@wfasa)

    10 years ago

    Hello miamirex,
    the browser likely not the issue here so you don’t have to worry about that. It sounds like the Wordfence Firewall is triggering what is called a “false positive”. It thinks you are doing something bad when you are not. If you accept and check the box “I am certain this is a false positive” are you able to continue working?

    Thread Starter miamirex

    (@miamirex)

    10 years ago

    Thanks wfasa,

    No, I was afraid check off the whitelist thing without knowing what I was accepting, if the error message really was an unsafe operation. Now I don’t even have that option, it just opens a blank post page for wordpress, where I’d have to copy and paste from another page if I want, not the function Press This was supposed to have. I (stupidly) deleted the Press This bookmarklet, thinking I could re-install a newer version, but now I can’t put it back on my (Windows10, Edge) bookmarks bar. Urrggh!

    wfasa

    (@wfasa)

    10 years ago

    Hello again miamirex,
    sorry you are having this problem. To make the whole thing easier you can go to Wordfence page “Firewall” and set the Firewall to “Learning mode”. Then you should not get anything blocked. When you have used your site normally for a while (like a week or so) you can activate it manually again. It will then have learned what you normally do and will not cause any unexpected blocks. You can also set the firewall to activate automatically at a certain date.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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  • 3 replies
  • 2 participants
  • Last reply from: wfasa
  • Last activity: 10 years ago
  • Status: resolved