Scan fails repeatedly

Hi @rschletty,

Thank you for sending those.  Given your diagnostics, we have a few suggestions.

Please ensure the maximum execution time for each scan stage is set to 8 and then try running the scan again.  You can adjust this option at Wordfence > All Options > Scan Options > Performance Options > Maximum execution time for each scan stage.

Take a look at max_execution_time in your php.ini file. Wordfence’s scan only ever attempts to use half of this value by default but there have been known problems with timeouts when values higher than 60 are set, so it will be worth changing.

Your WP_MEMORY_LIMIT could be changed to 128M or 256M in wp-config.php. WooCommerce, for example, recommends 64M minimum, so if you also have many hits on the site at once especially during a Wordfence scan, your current lower limit of 40M could be reached fairly easily. Also check your PHP memory_limit value matches or exceeds this value when making a change.

You can find more troubleshooting steps at https://www.wordfence.com/help/scan/troubleshooting/ 

Thanks,
Margaret

Hey @rschletty,

Recently, we experienced the same issue. We applied all of Wordfence’s troubleshooting tips, played around with Wordfence’s scan setttings, contacted our host, disabled all plugins, etc. to no avail.

Finally, we decided to restart and purge all of our cache (especially, Memcached) and that — surprisingly — fixed our issue. This tweak follows what Wordfence recommends in their Scan Troubleshooting documentation in order to reset the scan cronkey. Just in case, we also flushed our DNS.

Highly recommend doing the same PLUS contacting your host and asking them to perform a full cache flush — including Memcached.

Hopefully, the above will help you.

Best wishes!

The Wordfence scan still times out after 15 minutes. It gets as far as Public Files.

Scan Failed
The current scan looks like it has failed. Its last status update was 16 minutes ago. You may continue to wait in case it resumes or stop and restart the scan. Some sites may need adjustments to run scans reliably. Click here for steps you can try.

The last few lines of the activity log:

[Apr 26 01:33:21] Scanned contents of 294 additional files at 32.15 per second
[Apr 26 01:33:21] Scanning contents: wp-content/plugins/admin-columns-pro/addons/gravityforms/classes/Column/Entry/Name.php (Size: 291 B Mem: 140 MB)
[Apr 26 01:33:21] Scanning contents: wp-content/plugins/admin-columns-pro/addons/acf/classes/ConditionalFormatting/FormattableTrait.php (Size: 715 B Mem: 140 MB)
[Apr 26 01:33:21] Scanning contents: wp-content/plugins/admin-columns-pro/addons/woocommerce/config/columns/coupons.php (Size: 1.07 KB Mem: 140 MB)
[Apr 26 01:33:21] Calling Wordfence API v2.26:https://noc1.wordfence.com/v2.26/?k=0147474aae33f4…&action=resolve_ips (key truncated by me)

The site is hosted by IONOS.com. I need to contact my client to get the new pw for access to cPanel. Then I can try flushing Memcached (if they have it).

I tried all the steps suggested by Wordfence. I have this in wp-config.php:

define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’);
define(‘WORDFENCE_SCAN_FAILURE_THRESHOLD’, 600);

I sent my activity log and diagnostics report to Wordfence Support.

BTW, I use this Terminal command on my Mac to flush local DNS:
dscacheutil -flushcache

Hi @rschletty,

Was the scan able to complete successfully after purging the Memcached cache, as well as any other caching?? If not, can you please confirm that the maximum execution time for each scan stage is set to 8? You can adjust this option at Wordfence > All Options > Scan Options > Performance Options > Maximum execution time for each scan stage.

Once that’s updated, please send us an updated activity log and diagnostics to wftest @ wordfence . com.  Please add your forum username where indicated and respond here after you have sent it.

Thanks,
Margaret