Forminator 500 server errors

Resolved alexwent
(@alexwent)

10 months, 3 weeks ago

I had a message from Amin in response to https://ww.wp.xz.cn/support/topic/free-version-of-forminator-stops-working/#post-18544440. I erased the uploads/forminator files and recreated the form on a new page. The problem persists.

The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

Plugin Support Williams – WPMU DEV Support
(@wpmudevsupport3)

10 months, 3 weeks ago
Hi @alexwent ,

I hope you’re doing well and I’m sorry to see that you’re facing this issue.

As it’s related to a 500 internal error, would it be possible for you to try to find this line on your wp-config.php?

define('WP_DEBUG', true);

And replace it with the following:
```
// Enable WP_DEBUG mode
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
// Enable Debug logging to the /wp-content/debug.log file
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
@ini_set( 'log_errors', 1 );
// Disable display of errors and warnings
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);
@ini_set('display_errors', 0);
```
In case you can’t find the first line, please add the code just above the “that’s all stop coding” comment in your wp-config.php

After doing this, please replicate the error and then go to your wp-content folder and find the debug.log file, it should show a PHP Fatal Error or similar, please share that error with us, you can remove any sensitive data like the complete path of the file.

That will help us to have a better idea of what’s causing the error.

I hope to hear back from you soon.
Best Regards,
Williams Valerio
Thread Starter alexwent
(@alexwent)

10 months, 3 weeks ago

Hi Williams. I set up debug.log as requested.
The only things I got were the following deprecation warnings:

[07-Jul-2025 22:04:33 UTC] PHP Deprecated: preg_match(): Passing null to parameter #2 ($subject) of type string is deprecated in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 1596
[07-Jul-2025 22:04:33 UTC] PHP Deprecated: strip_tags(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 2262

I tried manually enqueuing forminator styles but no joy.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

By the way, I am using the latest version of Forminator (1.44.3)
The theme is Divi 5 (alpha 18.1) but I am not sure this is the problem, since I also have seven forminator forms running on a Divi 5 alpha 18.1 site at prague4gay.com

I have been in touch with the hosting service (Wedos.cz) but they say there is nothing blocking uploads to uploads/forminator/

I am more than happy to grant access to the current site if it would help your investigation.
Kris – WPMU DEV Support
(@wpmudevsupport13)

10 months, 3 weeks ago
Hi @alexwent

We had a similar case in the past, and it was related to server infrastructure. Can you remove this Options -ExecCGI rule from the /uploads/forminator/..htaccess file?

Also, please add the following snippet as a mu-plugin so that the rule doesn’t gets added in the future also. You can add a must-use plugin to your site’s wp-content/mu-plugins folder like this https://wpmudev.com/docs/using-wordpress/installing-wordpress-plugins/#installing-mu-plugins, then add the following code to the plugin’s PHP file:
```
<?php
add_filter( 'forminator_upload_root_htaccess_rules', 'wpmudev_remove_htaccess_rules', 10, 1 );
function wpmudev_remove_htaccess_rules( $rules ) {
	if ( ! empty( $rules ) ) {
		$rules = str_replace('Options -ExecCGI', '', $rules);
	}
	return $rules;
}
```
Before this, we recommend full site backup or running this test on the staging site.

Kind Regards,
Kris
Thread Starter alexwent
(@alexwent)

10 months, 3 weeks ago
Thanks for this update. I removed that line from the .htaccess file and put the php file directly into mu-plugins. It doesn’t seem to have worked yet. Does the php file have to have a specific name?
- This reply was modified 10 months, 3 weeks ago by alexwent.
- This reply was modified 10 months, 3 weeks ago by alexwent.
Plugin Support Williams – WPMU DEV Support
(@wpmudevsupport3)

10 months, 3 weeks ago

Hi @alexwent ,

I hope you’re doing well.

Could you confirm if you did follow the first step suggested by Kris?

We had a similar case in the past, and it was related to server infrastructure. Can you remove this Options -ExecCGI rule from the /uploads/forminator/..htaccess file?

Also, any name for the file should be okay if it ends in .php (so it’s a php file), and it’s under wp-content/mu-plugins

I hope to hear back from you soon.
Best Regards,
Williams Valerio
Thread Starter alexwent
(@alexwent)

10 months, 3 weeks ago
Yes. The script in the htaccess file reads as follows:
```
# BEGIN Forminator
# The directives (lines) between "BEGIN Forminator" and "END Forminator" are
# dynamically generated, and should only be modified via WordPress filters.
# Any changes to the directives between these markers will be overwritten.
# Disable parsing of PHP for some server configurations.
<Files *>
  SetHandler none
  SetHandler default-handler
  Options -Indexes
  RemoveHandler .cgi .php .php3 .php4 .php5 .phtml .pl .py .pyc .pyo
</Files>
<IfModule mod_php5.c>
  php_flag engine off
</IfModule>
<IfModule headers_module>
  Header set X-Robots-Tag "noindex"
</IfModule>
# END Forminator
```
Plugin Support Williams – WPMU DEV Support
(@wpmudevsupport3)

10 months, 3 weeks ago

Hi @alexwent ,

I hope you’re doing well, and I’m sorry to see that you’re facing this issue.

Would it be possible for you to run 2 more tests? Both of them with the debug.log enabled as mentioned in my previous reply.

1st)
-Try to replicate the issue.
-Check the debug.log to confirm if the error message changed.

2nd)
-Rename the mu-plugin so it ends in .txt instead of .php to deactivate it.
-Try to replicate the issue.
-Check the debug.log to confirm if the error message changed.

It is weird but also possible that there were more than 1 issue causing the form to return the error.

I hope to hear back from you soon.
Best Regards,
Williams Valerio
Thread Starter alexwent
(@alexwent)

10 months, 3 weeks ago
1. Complete debug.log
[07-Jul-2025 22:04:33 UTC] PHP Deprecated: preg_match(): Passing null to parameter #2 ($subject) of type string is deprecated in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 1596
[07-Jul-2025 22:04:33 UTC] PHP Deprecated: strip_tags(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 2262
[08-Jul-2025 01:37:56 UTC] PHP Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/cache/wpo-cache/websiteswanted.eu/index.html/index.html) is not within the allowed path(s): (/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual) in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-optimize/cache/file-based-page-cache-functions.php on line 669
[08-Jul-2025 01:37:56 UTC] PHP Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/cache/wpo-cache/websiteswanted.eu/index.html/index.rss-xml) is not within the allowed path(s): (/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual) in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-optimize/cache/file-based-page-cache-functions.php on line 669
[08-Jul-2025 01:37:56 UTC] PHP Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/cache/wpo-cache/websiteswanted.eu/index.html/index.html) is not within the allowed path(s): (/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual) in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-optimize/cache/file-based-page-cache-functions.php on line 684
[08-Jul-2025 01:37:56 UTC] PHP Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/cache/wpo-cache/websiteswanted.eu/index.html/index.html) is not within the allowed path(s): (/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual) in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-optimize/cache/file-based-page-cache-functions.php on line 718
[08-Jul-2025 06:39:13 UTC] Automatic updates starting…
[08-Jul-2025 06:39:14 UTC] Automatic updates complete.
[08-Jul-2025 12:13:18 UTC] …/builder/core.php:4648 et_builder_get_google_fonts():
An unkown error has occured while trying to retrieve the fonts from the Google Fonts API. Please ensure your Google API Key is valid and active.
```
[08-Jul-2025 12:31:51 UTC] PHP Deprecated: preg_match(): Passing null to parameter #2 ($subject) of type string is deprecated in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 1596
[08-Jul-2025 12:31:51 UTC] PHP Deprecated: strip_tags(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 2262
[08-Jul-2025 18:29:43 UTC] Automatic updates starting…
[08-Jul-2025 18:29:44 UTC] Automatic updates complete.

2. Renamed mu-plugin to .txt

No change in error log that I can see. 



[07-Jul-2025 22:04:33 UTC] PHP Deprecated: preg_match(): Passing null to parameter #2 ($subject) of type string is deprecated in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 1596
[07-Jul-2025 22:04:33 UTC] PHP Deprecated: strip_tags(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 2262
[08-Jul-2025 01:37:56 UTC] PHP Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/cache/wpo-cache/websiteswanted.eu/index.html/index.html) is not within the allowed path(s): (/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual) in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-optimize/cache/file-based-page-cache-functions.php on line 669
[08-Jul-2025 01:37:56 UTC] PHP Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/cache/wpo-cache/websiteswanted.eu/index.html/index.rss-xml) is not within the allowed path(s): (/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual) in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-optimize/cache/file-based-page-cache-functions.php on line 669
[08-Jul-2025 01:37:56 UTC] PHP Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/cache/wpo-cache/websiteswanted.eu/index.html/index.html) is not within the allowed path(s): (/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual) in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-optimize/cache/file-based-page-cache-functions.php on line 684
[08-Jul-2025 01:37:56 UTC] PHP Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/cache/wpo-cache/websiteswanted.eu/index.html/index.html) is not within the allowed path(s): (/data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual) in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-optimize/cache/file-based-page-cache-functions.php on line 718
[08-Jul-2025 06:39:13 UTC] Automatic updates starting…
[08-Jul-2025 06:39:14 UTC] Automatic updates complete.
[08-Jul-2025 12:13:18 UTC] …/builder/core.php:4648 et_builder_get_google_fonts():
An unkown error has occured while trying to retrieve the fonts from the Google Fonts API. Please ensure your Google API Key is valid and active.

[08-Jul-2025 12:31:51 UTC] PHP Deprecated: preg_match(): Passing null to parameter #2 ($subject) of type string is deprecated in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 1596
[08-Jul-2025 12:31:51 UTC] PHP Deprecated: strip_tags(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /data/web/virtuals/281183/virtual/www/domains/websiteswanted.eu/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 2262
[08-Jul-2025 18:29:43 UTC] Automatic updates starting…
[08-Jul-2025 18:29:44 UTC] Automatic updates complete.
```
Unfortunately if I cannot get it to work I’ll have to install Divi’s own form module. I would much rather use forminator!

If you need access to my WordPress site to have a look under the hood, just ping me a private email (clearly I can’t send credentials over this forum)
Plugin Support Imran – WPMU DEV Support
(@wpmudev-support9)

10 months, 3 weeks ago
Hello @alexwent,

I hope you’re doing well.

I reviewed the error logs, and there is nothing because the CSS file 500 error isn’t generated by PHP, but I suspect the htaccess handler block.

Here you shared the htaccess file https://ww.wp.xz.cn/support/topic/forminator-500-server-errors/#post-18546788

Can you please replace it with this?
```
# BEGIN Forminator
# The directives (lines) between "BEGIN Forminator" and "END Forminator" are
# dynamically generated, and should only be modified via WordPress filters.
# Any changes to the directives between these markers will be overwritten.

# Disable PHP and script execution for potentially dangerous file types only
<FilesMatch "\.(php|php[3-5]?|phtml|pl|py|pyc|pyo|cgi)$">
  SetHandler none
  SetHandler default-handler
  Options -Indexes
  RemoveHandler .cgi .php .php3 .php4 .php5 .phtml .pl .py .pyc .pyo
</FilesMatch>

<IfModule mod_php5.c>
  php_flag engine off
</IfModule>

<IfModule headers_module>
  Header set X-Robots-Tag "noindex"
</IfModule>
# END Forminator
```
This .htaccess file will only disable script execution for risky files (e.g., .php, .pl, .py) — not for files like .css, .js, etc.

Please upload it to the wp-content/uploads/forminator/ directory.

Remember to create a site backup before implementing this.

Please give it a try and share the outcome with us.

–
Kind Regards,
Imran Khan
Thread Starter alexwent
(@alexwent)

10 months, 3 weeks ago

Hi Imran. Thanks for your latest mail.

I replaced the code in the .htaccess file but it has had no effect. To be sure, I cleared caches on the server and on the browser, created a brand new test form and uploaded it to https://websiteswanted.eu/test-page

To be clear, the forms work perfectly well in terms of submitting entries (in fact I received one just now from a mailinator address which could have been you?). It is only the CSS that ‘s not rendering correctly.

Thanks for your ongoing support.

Plugin Support Saurabh – WPMU DEV Support
(@wpmudev-support7)

10 months, 3 weeks ago

Hello @alexwent,

I appreciate your quick response here.

The issue appears to be quite complex, possibly related to the server or a rule blocking the loading of the CSS file. Could you please share the server logs & access logs with us at this email [email protected], so we can share them with the Forminator developers for further review?
Subject: ATTN: WPMU DEV support – wp.org

Please link back to this thread for reference (https://ww.wp.xz.cn/support/topic/forminator-500-server-errors)

Kind Regards,
Saurabh

Thread Starter alexwent
(@alexwent)

10 months, 3 weeks ago

Hi Saurabh. I’ve mailed the logs to that address.

Plugin Support Nebu John – WPMU DEV Support
(@wpmudevsupport14)

10 months, 2 weeks ago

Hi @alexwent,

Thank you for sending us the logs.

We have shared some suggestions in our response to your email. Please try them out and let us know how it goes.

Best Regards,
Nebu John

Plugin Support Patrick – WPMU DEV Support
(@wpmudevsupport12)

10 months ago

Hi @alexwent

We haven’t heard from you in a while, I’ll go and mark this thread as resolved. If you have any additional questions or require further help, please let us know!

Best Regards
Patrick Freitas