Title: 403 Error while accessing RSS-feed
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# 403 Error while accessing RSS-feed

 *  Resolved [aschne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aschne/)
 * (@aschne)
 * [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/403-error-while-accessing-rss-feed/)
 * In the last few days my BPS security log was growing like crazy. Here is one 
   of the error messages:
 * >>>>>>>>>>> 403 GET or Other Request Error Logged – 7. März 2013 – 01:39 <<<<
   <<<<<<<
    REMOTE_ADDR: 80.171.161.54 Host Name: d161054.adsl.hansenet.de HTTP_CLIENT_IP:
   HTTP_FORWARDED: HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR: HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP: REQUEST_METHOD:
   GET HTTP_REFERER: REQUEST_URI: /feed/ QUERY_STRING: HTTP_USER_AGENT: Monotony/
   17 CFNetwork/596.2.3 Darwin/12.2.0 (x86_64) (MacBookPro8%2C2)
 * These are the only entries in the log. Only while accessing /feed/
 * I switched the feeds to Feedburner with a proper redirect but still these errors
   did pop up.
 * I found another thread about the ‘facebookexternal’-problems and I temporarily
   solved the issue by including the following line in BPS 403.php file:
 * if ($_SERVER[‘REQUEST_METHOD’] != ‘POST’ && !preg_match(‘/facebookexternalhit(.*)/
   s’, $_SERVER[‘HTTP_USER_AGENT’], $matches) && !preg_match(‘/Monotony(.*)/s’, 
   $_SERVER[‘HTTP_USER_AGENT’], $matches) ) {
 * Any idea what could be wrong instead of some stupid RSS-reader gone wild!?
 * Best
    Alex
 * [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bulletproof-security/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bulletproof-security/)

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  Plugin Author [AITpro](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aitpro/)
 * (@aitpro)
 * [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/403-error-while-accessing-rss-feed/#post-3536985)
 * I do not recognize that bot/user agent: CFNetwork/596.2.3. Searching this User
   Agent Database: [http://www.user-agents.org/cgi-bin/free-search.cgi?template=free-search-detail.html&dbname=allagents.csv&key2=id_a_f_150&action=searchdbdisplay](http://www.user-agents.org/cgi-bin/free-search.cgi?template=free-search-detail.html&dbname=allagents.csv&key2=id_a_f_150&action=searchdbdisplay)
   does show that this is a legitimate bot/user agent.
 * I have no idea what Monotony/17 is. It does not show any results in a Google 
   search.
 * I assume what this is is a custom bot scraping thing. Monotony/17 whatever that
   is is trying to scrape your Feed and it is being Forbidden by BPS. There are 
   several plugins that allow someone to grab your entire Feed automatically and
   display your Feed on their website. I assume this is what is being attempted 
   and being blocked by BPS.
 *  Thread Starter [aschne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aschne/)
 * (@aschne)
 * [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/403-error-while-accessing-rss-feed/#post-3537004)
 * Thanks for your reply.
 * I assume then everything is fine and that the line I changed in the 403.php is
   just for commenting out the error so that it does not appear in the blog. The
   request will still be blocked though.
 *  Plugin Author [AITpro](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aitpro/)
 * (@aitpro)
 * [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/403-error-while-accessing-rss-feed/#post-3537005)
 * Yep you are exactly correct. BPS will still block whatever this bot is doing,
   but you will no longer get log entries that this bot was blocked.
 *  Plugin Author [AITpro](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aitpro/)
 * (@aitpro)
 * [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/403-error-while-accessing-rss-feed/#post-3537006)
 * I’m considering adding an additional option that will allow folks to do this 
   on the fly. So far there have only been few instances where logged events were
   so excessive that it was maxing out the log file in no time. Still needs more
   research to look at all the pros, cons and potential pitfalls of adding a feature
   like this though.
 *  Thread Starter [aschne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aschne/)
 * (@aschne)
 * [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/403-error-while-accessing-rss-feed/#post-3537009)
 * This sounds like a cool idea – I really appreciate your work!
 * I support adding a list of Strings in the settings where errors are then not 
   logged anymore.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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 * 5 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [aschne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aschne/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/403-error-while-accessing-rss-feed/#post-3537009)
 * Status: resolved