Error 503: Your access to the site has been limited by site owner

  • Resolved javicon

    (@javicon)


    1 month, 2 weeks ago

    Hi,
    I am experiencing an issue where a couple of users are getting the error “Your access to the site has been limited by the site owner” (503) when trying to access my website.

    Here are the details:

    • The issue started yesterday.
    • These users have accessed the site many times previously without any issues.
    • Their IP addresses do not appear on the Blocked IP list in Wordfence under “Blocking.”
    • Their activity does not show up in the Live Traffic section either.

    Could you help me understand why these users might be getting blocked and why their IPs do not appear in the Blocked IP or Live Traffic logs?

    Thanks!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • Thread Starter javicon

    (@javicon)

    I’ve noticed that there has recently been an update to the plugin. Could this issue be related to not having updated the plugin yet?

    Plugin Support wfpeter

    (@wfpeter)

    Hi @javicon,

    It’d certainly be helpful if you can update the plugin to the latest version to rule out any issues there, but locking out users wouldn’t be triggered by having a slightly outdated Wordfence plugin.

    As they’re receiving a Wordfence-branded block page, you can check your Live Traffic page and filter by “Blocked”. You should be able to see which rule/setting is causing the block by clicking that line (or “eye” icon) to expand it.

    Sometimes, I’ve seen hosts add/change CDNs (such as Cloudflare), or proxy servers (so IP detection breaks).

    If IP detection on your site is now incorrect, legitimately triggered blocks for somebody else may block all visitors including yourself. Take note of your own IP on your main device: https://www.whatsmyip.org.

    Head over to Wordfence > All Options > General Wordfence Options > How does Wordfence get IPs and reference the area under that section that says Detected IPs and Your IP with this setting. See if any of the options there when picked accurately reflect your IP. If one does that isn’t currently selected, don’t forget to hit the SAVE CHANGES button in the top-right after you’re done.

    When using Wordfence with Cloudflare, the three main considerations are accurate detection of visitor IPs, ensuring your site’s own IP can connect back to itself, and allowing our IPs to connect to your site. It looks like a regular HTML page is being served rather than the response to our connection request.

    For IP detection, our “Use the Cloudflare “CF-Connecting-IP” HTTP header to get a visitor IP. Only use if you’re using Cloudflare.” option is explained here: https://www.wordfence.com/help/dashboard/options/#general-wordfence-options

    Our IPs and possible need to allow them in Cloudflare specifically are mentioned here: https://www.wordfence.com/help/advanced/#servers-and-ip-addresses

    How to allow our IPs in Cloudflare itself is highlighted step-by-step here: https://www.wordfence.com/help/central/connect/#troubleshooting-connection-issues

    Let us know what you find out or the block reason in Live Traffic suggests something different to the above.

    Peter.

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