Plugin Support
WFAdam
(@wfadam)
Hello @skredlemon and thanks for reaching out to us!
It looks like the waf rules PHP might be having issues but what was the error being reported?
Can you send a diagnostic report to wftest @ wordfence . com? You can find the link to do so at the top of the Wordfence Tools > Diagnostics page. Then click on “Send Report by Email”. Please add your forum username where indicated and respond here after you have sent it.
Thanks!
I had the same sort of thing happen on multiple sites starting last Thursday and repeating over the weekend. Sites would give 503 or 501 error. One one site home page would load from cache (apparently). Back end not accessible. Deleting the rules files (via sftp) would let it load and they would rebuild.
Plugin Support
WFAdam
(@wfadam)
@cell911 Thanks for adding your experience to this. Delete the wflogs folder will cause it to rebuild on the next page visit but I always recommend backing it up before removing it.
Was it then working properly?
Thanks!
Hello Adam,
I have forwarded you the diagnostic report.
The error reported was the one originally posted. Other than that the website would not load at all.
Please review and get back when you have more information available.
Thanks!
Plugin Support
WFAdam
(@wfadam)
Thanks for sending that diagnostic!
I notice a few things that jump out at me when reviewing the diagnostic. I see your WAF(Firewall) is not optimized. Also, the wordfence-waf.php file which is usually created when the plugin is installed doesn’t exist in the directory. This could be due to a read/write permission or it just didn’t create it by mistake. We will definitely want to circle back to that after we resolve the rules issues.
Navigate to Wordfence > All Options > General Wordfence Options > How does Wordfence get IPs and change this to Let Wordfence use the most secure method to get visitor IP addresses. That should correct the connection issue the rules are having. To test, scroll down in the All Options page to Advanced Firewall Options and click “Manually Refresh Rules” and let me know what happens!
Thanks!
Hi @wfadam,
Thank you for touching base. I followed your instructions. “Let Wordfence use the most secure method to get visitor IP addresses” was pre-selected when I reached for it. I then clicked on the “Manually Refresh Rules” button, and received a pop-up message that said “Rules Updated<br><br>
Your rules have been updated successfully. You are currently using the free version of Wordfence. Upgrade to Wordfence premium to have your rules updated automatically as new threats emerge. Click here to purchase a premium license. Note: Your rules will still update every 30 days as a free user.”
I did not notice any change to be honest, although I am not sure what really happened in the background.
I also checked in the file manager for the wordfence-waf.php file you mentioned. I noticed the waf directory inside the plugin’s directory, but did not manage to come across the actual file inside that directory, or any other directory of wordfence’s for that matter. I even performed a search function without any finds.
What should we check next? Please review and advise.
Thanks again!
Plugin Support
WFAdam
(@wfadam)
So it seems everything is working correctly except for the wordfence-waf.php being non-existant. This could be an issue with your file permissions. The wordfence-waf.php should be created when you install the plugin in your root directory(along side your htaccess file).
Could you send me a new diagnostic now that we have the IP issue sorted?
Thanks!
