Title: False 403 and 503 errors Last modified: December 25, 2022 --- # False 403 and 503 errors * Resolved [PhilEsq](https://wordpress.org/support/users/philesq/) * (@philesq) * [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/false-403-and-503-errors/) * Broken Link Checker started showing numerous 403 and 503 errors to links that are working. This happens on two different hosting companies and does not involve links to websites like Amazon. This screen capture shows a link to one of my websites that has not had any problems [https://prnt.sc/w8sG0a0NOgjx](https://prnt.sc/w8sG0a0NOgjx) Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) * Plugin Support [Amin – WPMU DEV Support](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmudev-support2/) * (@wpmudev-support2) * [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/false-403-and-503-errors/#post-16319491) * Hello [@philesq](https://wordpress.org/support/users/philesq/) , * I’ve checked the link from your screenshot and it does throw 503 error [https://monosnap.com/file/i51Tw3cPds3yGgEZcm8mMANf8pLF9c](https://monosnap.com/file/i51Tw3cPds3yGgEZcm8mMANf8pLF9c) * You might want to check WordFence settings. * kind regards, Kasia * Thread Starter [PhilEsq](https://wordpress.org/support/users/philesq/) * (@philesq) * [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/false-403-and-503-errors/#post-16321083) * I use Wordfence to restrict website visitors to the U.S. But the link is not broken. The site is working normally in the U.S. * Plugin Support [Nithin – WPMU DEV Support](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmudevsupport11/) * (@wpmudevsupport11) * [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/false-403-and-503-errors/#post-16327315) * Hi [@philesq](https://wordpress.org/support/users/philesq/), * Could you please try this snippet which changes the User agent and see whether that helps? * ```wp-block-code 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/104.0.5112.34 Safari/537.36' ); return $curl_options; } ``` * You can implement the above code as a mu-plugins. Please check this link on how to implement the above code as a mu-plugins: [https://wpmudev.com/docs/using-wordpress/installing-wordpress-plugins/#installing-mu-plugins](https://wpmudev.com/docs/using-wordpress/installing-wordpress-plugins/#installing-mu-plugins) * Kind Regards, * Nithin * [Divvy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/divvy/) * (@divvy) * [3 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/false-403-and-503-errors/#post-16386779) * I started using this plugin today and I had the same problem, I got ten 403 forbidden links but they are working. Screenshot: [https://prnt.sc/fIxNzaecvrVz](https://prnt.sc/fIxNzaecvrVz)( Link with NSFW content) * Thread Starter [PhilEsq](https://wordpress.org/support/users/philesq/) * (@philesq) * [3 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/false-403-and-503-errors/#post-16387273) * I already have an mu-plugins folder. What should I name the file with the code? * I have been using Broken Link Checker for many years, on approx 20 websites, and never had a problem with it until recently. It now finds False 403 and 503 errors on all of them. Links to my own sites are showing errors. On one of my sites, I saw links to three of my websites showing a 503 error. I clicked Recheck on all three, but only one changed to 200. You can see a screenshot at [https://prnt.sc/6M_tKc3SKRVS](https://prnt.sc/6M_tKc3SKRVS) * Plugin Support [Nithin – WPMU DEV Support](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmudevsupport11/) * (@wpmudevsupport11) * [3 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/false-403-and-503-errors/#post-16392974) * [@divvy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/divvy/) Could you please open a new ticket with us, so that we could assist you further regarding this? * URL to open a ticket: [https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/broken-link-checker/#new-topic-0](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/broken-link-checker/#new-topic-0) * Trying to have a conversation on an existing ticket will only cause more miscommunication. * > I already have an mu-plugins folder. What should I name the file with the code? * [@philesq](https://wordpress.org/support/users/philesq/) You are basically creating a PHP file, so you could give any unique file name. For example, blc-fix.php etc * Could you also try reducing the resources in the plugin side ie under  **Settings > Link Checker > Advanced**. Reduce the percentage for **Target resource usage**. * Once done, please clear the cache in your server and then try re-checking the links again. * Please do let us know how that goes. * Kind Regards, * Nithin * Plugin Support [Nithin – WPMU DEV Support](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmudevsupport11/) * (@wpmudevsupport11) * [3 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/false-403-and-503-errors/#post-16436218) * Hi [@philesq](https://wordpress.org/support/users/philesq/), * Since we haven’t heard from you for a while. I’ll mark this thread as resolved for now. Please feel free to re-open the thread if you need further assistance. * Best Regards Nithin Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) The topic ‘False 403 and 503 errors’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/broken-link-checker/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=2900468) * [Broken Link Checker](https://wordpress.org/plugins/broken-link-checker/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/broken-link-checker/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/broken-link-checker/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/broken-link-checker/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/broken-link-checker/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/broken-link-checker/reviews/) * 7 replies * 4 participants * Last reply from: [Nithin – WPMU DEV Support](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmudevsupport11/) * Last activity: [3 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/false-403-and-503-errors/#post-16436218) * Status: resolved