503 Errors when WordFence plugin active

  • Resolved JustT2552

    (@justt2552)


    10 months, 2 weeks ago

    STARTING NEW THREAD AS REQUESTED BY WORDFENCE. see original text below.

    I am having the same issue today with 3 of my websites. 1 Premium version and two on the free version. I do not use 2FA.

    Here is what I know after an hour with server support they have come to the conclusion it is Wordfence causing the problem. Here is what I know so far.

    • You cannot login via wp-admin 503 error Service Unavailable The server is temporarily busy, try again later!
    • You can login via Cpanel to get to wp-dashboard.
    • If you deactivate the plugin from plugin page you get 503- it will not deactivate.
    • If you try to update any other plugins eg: Yoast SEO, you get this error under the plugin update link. “Update failed: <!DOCTYPE html> 503 Service Unavailable @media (prefers-color-scheme:dark){body{background-color:#000!important}} 503 Service Unavailable The server is temporarily busy, try again later!”
    • If you deactivate Wordfence by renaming the file, you can then not reactivate it you just get a 503  page error:  But having it deactivated fixes all the problems above.
    • I updated all plugins on one of my sites and still same issue.

    My hosting provider is “Digital Pacific” don’t know if its somehow coincidental other are on the same host? However they say its the plugin.

    Now here is the crazy part I have another 3 websites on another host with similar plugins and Elementor Hello theme and they have no issues logging in or updating?

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Thread Starter JustT2552

    (@justt2552)

    10 months, 2 weeks ago

    @wfscott I went to send you diagnostics, but when I visited Wordfence > Tools > Diagnostics page it was totally blank. I can not try to send from my premium version as I can not Activate the plugin as it gives me a 503. Hopefully some others with this issue can post their Hosting provider to see if it the same. My provider is Digital Pacific.

    Thanks

    melindahaw

    (@melindahaw)

    10 months, 2 weeks ago

    I’m also having the exact issues you explained. I couldn’t log in because the login page had 503. I deactivated Wordfence (free version) via cPanel and I could log in. Then I somehow reactivated it, must have been via cPanel. Tried to update plugins and had the exact same issues. I deactivated Wordfence again and now I cannot reactivate it no matter what I try – I get a 503 error. I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling.

    We are hosted with Panthur, so it’s not just your hosting provider.

    Edit: I notice Digital Pacific and Panthur are both “Australian” hosting services … I guess it’s a possibility that they could be renting out the same servers … I also just found the sites I have hosted with Verpex that have Wordfence installed are not having any 503 issues.

    • This reply was modified 10 months, 2 weeks ago by melindahaw. Reason: Additional information
    Plugin Support wfphil

    (@wfphil)

    10 months, 2 weeks ago

    Hi @justt2552

    The 503 response status code error document page is being generated by your hosting server. Has your hosting provider been able to troublehsoot the cause yet?

    Thread Starter JustT2552

    (@justt2552)

    10 months, 2 weeks ago

    @wfphil @wfscott Ok so I have updated my PHP version in Cpanel from 7.4 to 8.1 and that has fixed it.

    I have only been testing for an hour however it seems fixed.

    Is this something that makes sense to you as the plugin developers?

    melindahaw

    (@melindahaw)

    10 months, 2 weeks ago

    @justt2552 changing the PHP version from 7.4 to 8.1 on my sever also fixed the issue for me.
    I was able to reinstall Wordfence and there are no more 503 errors.

    Plugin Support wfphil

    (@wfphil)

    10 months, 2 weeks ago

    Hi @justt2552 @melindahaw

    Thank you for the update.

    It can’t be PHP 7.4 itself, as we’ve had millions of sites using that version for some time. We also haven’t done a recent new Wordfence plugin release so it’s definitely something that has changed at multiple hosting providers at the same time, whether it’s a PHP update, cPanel update, a change in a cPanel extension they’re using, an operating system update etc.

    akwasid

    (@akwasid)

    10 months, 2 weeks ago

    Switching to PHP version 8.0 solved my issue. 8.1 for some reason didnt work

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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