Security Pro Problem with reCAPTCHA v3
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Just recently built several fresh WordPress Sites (3/10/19). Along with Akismet the only other plugins are iThemes plugins (Backup Buddy, Sync, iThemes Captcha, and SECURITY PRO–all of them up to date).
ALL of the sites use Google’s reCAPTCHA v3 with dismal results. The sites all generate this error: “Bots will not be blocked until the reCAPTCHA settings are set properly.” Despite repeatedly generating new site/secret keys the problem persist.
According to Google an email notice that there is a problem with their reCAPTCHA is suppose to be sent, but not one has been received. This makes me think that iTheme’s Security Pro doesn’t play well with reCAPTCHA.
The problem has been reported to iThemes, but they will only deal with the problem if, and only if, I purchase their Golden Maintenance Support Plan. It’s something that I would agree to if they would refund their fee if the problem turns out to be a problem with the plugin. They flatly refused that offer. To me, charging a customer to fix a broken plugin is nothing less than extortion.
One way or another it is a problem that needs to be resolved.
Can someone at iThemes please share why they feel that the problem is not with their plugin and what can be done in order to eliminate Security Pro as the culprit causing the problem.
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What version of the iTSec Pro plugin are you using ?
What type (role) of user are you logging in with ?When reporting issues like these the exact details of the error are very important. What EXACT error msg do you get and where and when EXACTLY do you get it ?
(“Bots will not be blocked until the reCAPTCHA settings are set properly.” is only a part of the complete error msg).
A simple screenshot often says more than a thousand words …To prevent any confusion, I’m not iThemes.
In the admin area, I’ve clicked through the navigation on the left and it is there at the top of every page. At the top of the page is the black menu bar, just below that is the title of the section, and just below that is the reCAPTCHA warning. Warning appears only in admin area.
After viewing the sites without being logged in, I found that the reCAPTCHA v3 badge appears on the designated pages. It would seem that the site/secret keys are correctly assigned, but the plugin isn’t working as it should when it comes to detecting bots.
Again, thank you for your assistance.
1) Reset reCAPTCHA by removing keys and generating new ones.
2) Ticked the ‘Show Debug entries’ and saved.
3) In the logs page the ‘All Events’ filter has these options:
All Modules
Brute Force
Trusted Devices
404 Detection
Lockout
Malware Scan
Notification Center
User Logging
Version ManagementThere isn’t a ‘reCAPTCHA’ option. Should there have been? Do you think it will appear now that the ‘Show Debug entries’ is ticked?
AFTER REVIEWING LOGS
There aren’t any errors that I can see that relate to reCAPTCHA when searching back through since the last time I reset the keys. Nothing.
Ok, so there are no reCAPTCHA log entries. There should be.
So far I’ve been focusing on login. Is there any reCAPTCHA log entry added when posting a comment ?
It could be it’s only login (and perhaps also registering since it also makes use of the wp-login.php script) that is failing to work properly with reCAPTCHA.Let me put it differently. Whether you login, register a user or post a comment any such attempt should normally trigger a reCAPTCHA log (Debug type) entry.
I’ve been doing some tests in a local env. So far reCAPTCHA v3 seems to be working fine. Logging also works fine. So I’m starting to think it may be a specific issue for your env.
After logging out, then back in there is a reCAPTCHA log entry.
module => recaptcha
type => debug
code => validate-responseThat part of the captcha works. The problem is that after a day or two the error previously mentioned appears. Specifically, it references bots.
My understanding is that v3 prevents bots from running malicious scripts. You may need to wait a couple of days before you see the error; it doesn’t appear right away.
Big thanks to @nlpro.
With your assistance, I was able to figure out what the problem is. I’ve written iThemes to advise them that, yes indeed, they have a problem with the plugin. There is definitely a bug that needs to be addressed. Hopefully they’ll fix it soon.
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