Title: Wordfence causing fatal PHP errors
Last modified: February 25, 2022

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# Wordfence causing fatal PHP errors

 *  Resolved [Ross Lampert](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ross-lampert/)
 * (@ross-lampert)
 * [4 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordfence-causing-fatal-php-errors/)
 * Wordfence is causing my dashboard to be inaccessible. Actually, I can’t even 
   log in.
 * The public-html error log has repeatedly recorded the following error (this was
   the latest occurrence):
    [24-Feb-2022 01:26:00 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Allowed 
   memory size of 41943040 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 1347584 bytes) in /
   home/rossblam/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wordfence/vendor/wordfence/wf-waf/
   src/lib/storage/file.php on line 659
 * The wp-admin error log has repeatedly recorded the following error (this was 
   the latest occurrence):
    [23-Jan-2022 22:53:58 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Allowed 
   memory size of 41943040 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 12288 bytes) in /home/
   rossblam/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wordfence/wordfence.php on line 117
 * I am running WordPress 5.8.5, PHP version 7.4.
 * HELP!
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fwordfence-causing-fatal-php-errors%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Plugin Support [wfpeter](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfpeter/)
 * (@wfpeter)
 * [4 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordfence-causing-fatal-php-errors/#post-15403410)
 * Hi [@ross-lampert](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ross-lampert/), thanks
   for reaching out to us.
 * An `Allowed memory size of x bytes exhausted (tried to allocate x bytes)` error
   is almost always memory exhaustion occurring outside of PHP somewhere on the 
   server. The operating system log files and web server log files will likely show
   if memory is being exhausted somewhere outside of PHP and why. This is usually
   a job for your hosting company’s support channels as they have access to those
   logs, diagnose the source and potentially resolve the problem.
 * Thanks,
 * Peter.
 *  Thread Starter [Ross Lampert](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ross-lampert/)
 * (@ross-lampert)
 * [4 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordfence-causing-fatal-php-errors/#post-15416331)
 * Thanks, Peter. That definitely helped my host’s Tier 2 techs solve the problem!
   Whew!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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## Tags

 * [dashboard](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/dashboard/)
 * [log-in](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/log-in/)

 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Ross Lampert](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ross-lampert/)
 * Last activity: [4 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordfence-causing-fatal-php-errors/#post-15416331)
 * Status: resolved