wordfence scan error

Hi @my2424u and thank-you for getting in touch with us,

I have seen a case of this before solved by completely reinstalling Wordfence rather than just deactivating/activating the plugin, then manually reconfiguring the settings as the problem could be reintroduced by importing settings from a non-working version. The error MySQL chooses to give us isn’t so helpful, but wf_summaryItems is a field rather than a table.

It’s always best to make a backup of the site and database before installing/removing plugins, just to be safe. It may still be worth also backing up your Wordfence settings via the Export option. Navigate to Wordfence > Tools > Import/Export Options and click Export so at least you have a copy.

Take note of the current Whitelisted URLs you have in Wordfence > Firewall > All Firewall Options > Whitelisted URLs, and any other settings you might want to set back to how Wordfence was configured before the reinstall.

After that, enable the option to Delete Wordfence tables and data on deactivation in All Options > General Wordfence Options. You will want to remember to disable this after you reinstall Wordfence again.

After you enable that option, you can deactivate Wordfence from the Plugins area of your site, then delete it. Next, from the plugins area, search for and re-install Wordfence like normal.

It will be like setting Wordfence up for the first time. You will need to enter an email address, and then go into Tools > Import/Export Options and paste that string of text into the Import Wordfence Options field and click the button there.

The firewall will be in Learning Mode by default for 7 days. I would recommend switching this to Enabled and Protected as soon as possible.

Let me know how that goes for you, or if you have any additional questions before performing the plugin reinstall.

Thanks,

Peter.

Hi, thanks I do have a question. When the firewall is in learning mode for 7 days. If I have specific countries in block list, will these countries still be blocked whiles in learning mode or it will allow everything through?

Also there were times under live traffic I would see an error or blocked from doing something on website and I would select an option that say add parameter to firewall or something like that… Im not sure exactly what it says… Where are they stored and how I can retrieve them so I can add them back upon reinstallation of Wordfence

Hi @my2424u, thanks for your additional questions.

You mention country blocking, which is a premium feature. If you’re a Premium Wordfence Customer, I recommend opening a support ticket at https://support.wordfence.com. They will be able to assist you faster and more efficiently. You can also access premium support via the Help menu item in the plugin, Help link on the plugin’s Dashboard page, on our documentation homepage or via the HELP link in the footer of all wordfence.com pages.

When Learning Mode is active, some requests that look suspicious – but have been causing some regular actions on your site to be blocked – are added to the allowlist. Other parts of the firewall remain fully active, including Brute Force Protection, Login Security, Blocking features, and the Real-Time IP Blocklist for premium customers. I would recommend clicking through the usual admin functions of your site to ensure nothing from other plugins or WordPress itself is being blocked that you need, then turning off Learning Mode.

When actions are allowed, they show in Wordfence > All Options > Allowlisted URLs. When you backup your Wordfence settings via the Export option, which is done by navigating to Wordfence > Tools > Import/Export Options and clicking Export, you will need to take note of the current Allowlisted URLs as these are NOT included in the Import/Export, and will be lost during a re-install.

Please note I mistakenly used the term ‘Whitelisted URLs’ in my original post but the terminology has been changed to ‘Allowlisted URLs’ in a recent update.

Thanks again,

Peter.

I have literally done everything I could think of… I enable the option to Delete Wordfence tables then I deleted wordfence and then reinstall it without importing any settings… From scratch and it still gives error when I scan…

I disabled every plugin other than wordfence and also deactivated my CDN just incase it was an issue. However I still receive the error when I try run scan…

“Error writing value for wf_summaryItems (MySQLi error: [2000] Unknown MySQL error)”

Ok I got the error resolved… My hosting provider made some tweaks… Thanks…