Conflict with iThemes’ Security?

  • Resolved skunkworks

    (@skunkworks)


    1 year, 5 months ago

    For quite some time I’ve been noticing several of the websites we look after having a periodic issue.

    Sometimes, seemingly at random we’d see the error on WP Super Cache’s Settings page: (And annoyingly ONLY there.)

    WP_CACHE constant added to wp-config.php
If you continue to see this warning message please see point 5 of the Troubleshooting Guide. The WP_CACHE line must be moved up.

    and then after refreshing the page we’d see:

    Warning! WP Super Cache caching was broken but has been fixed! The script advanced-cache.php could not load wp-cache-phasel.php.

The file /srv/users/xxxxxx/apps/production/public/w-content/advanced-cache.php has been recreated and WPCACHEHOME fixed in your wp-config.php. Reload to hide this message.

    Problem is the issue would reoccur again within 24 hours at times.

    Looking in wp-config for the WP_Cache constant we see that it’s been placed within a section of code that’s in use by iThemes’ Security. eg:

    Previous:

    <?php

// BEGIN iThemes Security - Do not modify or remove this line
// iThemes Security Config Details: 2
define('WP_CACHE', true);
define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true ); // Disable File Editor - Security > Settings > WordPress Tweaks > File Editor
// END iThemes Security - Do not modify or remove this line

...

    I believe iThemes’ Security is continually stripping out the WP Super Cache constant that’s in it’s section and breaking WP Super Cache as a result.

    eg:

    Hey! That’s my section! You can’t put that here! <erase, erase, erase>

    iThemes’ Security

    I have moved the lines to the end of the wp-config.php file and I *think* this will solve the issue for us (will be confirmed tomorrow) but this seems to be an “out of the box” compatibility problem between iThemes’ Security and WP Super Cache

    Current:

    ...

define('WP_CACHE', true);
define( 'WPCACHEHOME', '/srv/users/serverpilot/apps/production/public/wp-content/plugins/wp-super-cache/' );

/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php';
    • This topic was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by skunkworks.

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Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Thread Starter skunkworks

    (@skunkworks)

    Confirming the change I made yesterday seems to be sticking and I’m no longer getting the recurring WP Super Cache Errors every 24hours now.

    @skunkworks we’re aware of this problem. Unfortunately, it’s a known issue with that plugin. I’ll add a link to this thread on our ticket:

    https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/issues/32462

    Thread Starter skunkworks

    (@skunkworks)

    iTheme’s staff responded to our ticket with them (which linked to here) with:

    I appreciate you reaching out to us about your findings on the potential conflict between iThemes Security and WP Super Cache, and you did an excellent job of finding a workaround!

    I’ll submit this as a report to our developers, but please note that I can’t give you an exact date for a fix or confirm that we can implement this since our team considers certain factors before implementing one. 

    Rest assured, I’ll get back to you if I receive feedback from one of our developers regarding this matter. I’ll also be on the lookout for the WP Super Cache team’s response to your .org thread.

    Please don’t hesitate to create a ticket in the iThemes Security .org forum?here?if you have additional details to add or if you need assistance with other issues.

    Shane Tiedra – iThemes, Oct 9th 2023

    Great. Thanks for doing that.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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