Back ups stopped working, "false http status (403)" errors

403 is the http status code for “Forbidden”.

Did you have installed a Plugin that Forbitt acsses to wp-cron.php or did you have made a .htacsses entry that it can’t called?

I’ve turned off all the plugins that changed the .htacess code. I also tested wp-cron and I can still access it. But, BackWPup is still getting that 403 error when I try to run the job manually.

The odd part is that I have another website using the same plug ins but the back ups are working perfectly.

Is there something else I can test?

I think I may know what’s causing the 403 error, but I don’t know how to fix it. I’m running CloudFlare on my sites, which is a DNS proxy service to block hackers and malware. It also has some caching and CDN type services to speed up the site loads.

I noticed that a couple of caching tests created a 403 error, and that looks similar to what the BackWPup is showing as well.

Anyone have any similar experience with CloudFlare service blocking BackWPup?

Well, maybe not. I switched CloudFlare into development mode and then whitelisted my server IP and still get the 403 error.

Okay, back to CloudFlare.

I whitelisted my server IP address in CloudFlare, and the next day, the Backups started working again. This seems to be what was causing the 403 error.

So, I wanted to post this as a working solution for those of you using CloudFlare and BackWPup.

Check that in CloudFlare wp-cron.php is excluded.

@russpond – Your last comment fixed my 403! Thank you!!

Here’s what I did:
1) Find my website IP address (I used https://www.site24x7.com/find-ip-address-of-web-site.html )
2) Login to Cloudflare. Under “My Websites”, go “Threat control” > Add Custom Rule > Enter the IP address > Click “Trust”

I waited 30 seconds and it worked! Backing up site now like a boss ??