Title: Infinite loop on file scan Last modified: May 4, 2023 --- # Infinite loop on file scan * [scott8035](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scott8035/) * (@scott8035) * [2 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/infinite-loop-on-file-scan/) * Hi all. I’m having a problem finishing scans on one site I manage. I turned debugging on so I could see what files were being scanned, and it appears to be stuck in a loop when scanning the plugins starting at the beginning of the alphabet and ending with file /wp-content/plugins/admin-columns-pro/addons/ gravityforms/classes/Search/Comparison/Entry/Checkbox.php. In the small snippet of the log that I gathered, 6,000+ lines, each file was scanned 13 times, and the scan ran through 3.5 million files (even though there are only 25,000 files in the site)…so there’s a lot of repetition happening. * I’ll have sent the diagnostic info in, with user ID “scott8035”. Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total) * Plugin Support [wfpeter](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfpeter/) * (@wfpeter) * [2 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/infinite-loop-on-file-scan/#post-16713206) * Hi [@scott8035](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scott8035/), thanks for sending your diagnostic over. * In addition to that information, it’d be good to see the precise scan lines you speak of. You can get that information by following these steps for me: - Go to the **Wordfence > Tools > Diagnostics** page - In the “Debugging Options” section check the circle “Enable debugging mode” - Click to “Save Changes”. - **CANCEL** any current scan and start a **NEW** scan - Copy the last 20 lines from the Log (click the “Show Log” link) or so of the activity log **once the scan finishes/fails** and paste them in this post. * [Wordfence > Tools > Diagnostic > Debugging Screenshot](https://www.wordfence.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/enabledebuggingmode.png) * Thanks, Peter. * Thread Starter [scott8035](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scott8035/) * (@scott8035) * [2 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/infinite-loop-on-file-scan/#post-16714617) * Hi Peter. I sent the debugging log info to [wftest@wordfence.com](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/infinite-loop-on-file-scan/wftest@wordfence.com?output_format=md) on behalf of forum user “scott8035”. The last couple dozen lines are: SITE: [https://dev.acornfinance.dev](https://dev.acornfinance.dev) PLUGIN VERSION: 7.9.2WORDPRESS VERSION: 6.2LICENSE KEY: 8cce28ec0a5485825aef30968dd23cd63a3f1861f5ca7468b48900a7b6e9396d46032b9877294f3b4d4c5be4fe075e203140dc22379c92431c8abe900c094639ADMIN EMAIL: [it@acornfinance.com](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/infinite-loop-on-file-scan/it@acornfinance.com?output_format=md) LOG:Fri, 05 May 23 09:54:15 +0000::1683305655.1022:4:info::Calling Wordfence API v2.26:[https://noc1.wordfence.com/stats.json](https://noc1.wordfence.com/stats.json) Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:09 +0000::1683305529.4071:2:error::Scan terminated with error: The scan time limit of 1 hour has been exceeded and the scan will be terminated. This limit can be customized on the options page. Get More Information (opens in new tab)Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:09 +0000::1683305529.4058: 2:info::Wordfence used 190.52 MB of memory for scan. Server peak memory usage was: 220.52 MBFri, 05 May 23 09:52:09 +0000::1683305529.0375:4:info::Calling Wordfence API v2.26:[https://noc1.wordfence.com/v2.26/?k=8cce28ec0a5485825aef30968dd23cd63a3f1861f5ca7468b48900a7b6e9396d46032b9877294f3b4d4c5be4fe075e203140dc22379c92431c8abe900c094639&s=eyJ3cCI6IjYuMiIsIndmIjoiNy45LjIiLCJtcyI6ZmFsc2UsImgiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvZGV2LmFjb3JuZmluYW5jZS5kZXYiLCJzc2x2IjoyNjk0ODgyMzksInB2IjoiOC4wLjIyIiwicHQiOiJmcG0tZmNnaSIsImN2IjoiNy42OC4wIiwiY3MiOiJPcGVuU1NMXC8xLjEuMWYiLCJzdiI6Im5naW54XC8xLjIxLjUiLCJkdiI6IjEwLjUuMTctTWFyaWFEQi0xOjEwLjUuMTcrbWFyaWF-dWJ1MjAwNCIsImxhbmciOiIifQ&action=record_scan_metrics](https://noc1.wordfence.com/v2.26/?k=8cce28ec0a5485825aef30968dd23cd63a3f1861f5ca7468b48900a7b6e9396d46032b9877294f3b4d4c5be4fe075e203140dc22379c92431c8abe900c094639&s=eyJ3cCI6IjYuMiIsIndmIjoiNy45LjIiLCJtcyI6ZmFsc2UsImgiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvZGV2LmFjb3JuZmluYW5jZS5kZXYiLCJzc2x2IjoyNjk0ODgyMzksInB2IjoiOC4wLjIyIiwicHQiOiJmcG0tZmNnaSIsImN2IjoiNy42OC4wIiwiY3MiOiJPcGVuU1NMXC8xLjEuMWYiLCJzdiI6Im5naW54XC8xLjIxLjUiLCJkdiI6IjEwLjUuMTctTWFyaWFEQi0xOjEwLjUuMTcrbWFyaWF-dWJ1MjAwNCIsImxhbmciOiIifQ&action=record_scan_metrics) Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:09 +0000::1683305529.0075:10:info::SUM_FINAL:Scan interrupted. You have 1 new issue to fix. See below.Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:09 +0000::1683305529.0068: 1:info::Scan interrupted. Scanned 958553 files, 49 plugins, 3 themes, 0 posts, 0 comments and 0 URLs in 1 hour 6 seconds.Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:09 +0000::1683305529.0060: 1:info::——————-Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:08 +0000::1683305528.9988:4:info::Scanning:/ www/dev2acornfinancedev_548/public/wp-content/plugins/admin-columns-pro/addons/ gravityforms/classes/Column/EntryConfigurator.php (Mem:46.0M)Fri, 05 May 23 09: 52:08 +0000::1683305528.9953:4:info::Scanning: /www/dev2acornfinancedev_548/public/ wp-content/plugins/admin-columns-pro/addons/gravityforms/classes/Column/Entry. php (Mem:46.0M)Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:08 +0000::1683305528.9916:4:info::Scanning:/ www/dev2acornfinancedev_548/public/wp-content/plugins/admin-columns-pro/addons/ gravityforms/classes/Column/Entry/ProductSelect.php (Mem:46.0M)Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:08 +0000::1683305528.9881:4:info::Scanning: /www/dev2acornfinancedev_548/ public/wp-content/plugins/admin-columns-pro/addons/gravityforms/classes/Column/ Entry/Product.php (Mem:46.0M)Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:08 +0000::1683305528.9845:4: info::Scanning: /www/dev2acornfinancedev_548/public/wp-content/plugins/admin- columns-pro/addons/gravityforms/classes/Column/Entry/Original/UserIp.php (Mem: 46.0M)Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:08 +0000::1683305528.9808:4:info::Scanning: /www/dev2acornfinancedev_548/ public/wp-content/plugins/admin-columns-pro/addons/gravityforms/classes/Column/ Entry/Original/User.php (Mem:46.0M)Fri, 05 May 23 09:52:08 +0000::1683305528.9766: 4:info::Scanning: /www/dev2acornfinancedev_548/public/wp-content/plugins/admin- columns-pro/addons/gravityforms/classes/Column/Entry/Original/TransactionId.php( Mem:46.0M) * Plugin Support [wfpeter](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfpeter/) * (@wfpeter) * [2 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/infinite-loop-on-file-scan/#post-16723380) * Hi [@scott8035](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scott8035/), thanks for sending that over. * Since we allow Premium licenses to be shared between corresponding dev, staging, and test domains you _could_ reach out for support on this issue in our Premium support ticketing system at [https://support.wordfence.com](https://support.wordfence.com). Please notify them of the information you’ve already sent to wftest if you do, so you don’t need to duplicate anything you’ve done so far. * Scan timeouts can be caused by server platform (such as Litespeed that needs to be told not to abort), or other factors such as excessively large files or just a large number of files rather than the individual sizes. Have you already attempted to increase the scan duration as mentioned in the error? * I see `max_execution_time = 300` in your **php.ini**. Wordfence’s scan only ever attempts to use half of this value by default but there have been known problems with timeouts when higher values than `60` are set, so it could be worth making this change for sure. * For a screenshot of my recommended Performance setting options too – [Click Here](https://www.wordfence.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/maxexescanperformance.png). * Your `WP_MEMORY_LIMIT` could be set to `256M` or `512M` in **wp-config.php**. WooCommerce, for example, recommend 64M minimum, so if you also have many hits on the site at once especially during a Wordfence scan, a lower limit (like the 40M I see here currently) could be reached fairly easily. Also check your PHP` memory_limit` value matches when making this change. * Thanks again, Peter. * Thread Starter [scott8035](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scott8035/) * (@scott8035) * [2 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/infinite-loop-on-file-scan/#post-16723903) * You must have forgotten about the original description…the reason the scan stops is because the scan limit was reached, so it self-terminates. The reason it reaches the scan limit is because it’s in an infinite loop going over the same range of files again and again. It never makes it completely through the plugin directory, it restarts while still in the range of plugins starting with an “A”. Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total) The topic ‘Infinite loop on file scan’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/wordfence/assets/icon.svg?rev=2070865) * [Wordfence Security - Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/reviews/) ## Tags * [loop](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/loop/) * [scan](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/scan/) * 4 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [scott8035](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scott8035/) * Last activity: [2 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/infinite-loop-on-file-scan/#post-16723903) * Status: not resolved