wp_wfhoover table is massive

  • Hi everyone. I have siteground as a host and they alert me when my database is over 1000MB. Three times in the past week and a half I received an alert from them that they would have to shut my site down if I didn’t get it under the 1000MB maximum size. The third time the database swelled up to 2073MB. After looking I saw that the problem was that the Wordfence wp_wfhoover table was massive in size. I had to empty it each time, just for it to happen again a few days later. Does anyone know how to fix this? Do people from Wordfence look at this forum?

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Plugin Support wfpeter

    (@wfpeter)

    Hi @robhnn, thanks for your question.

    We do look here, although during high-demand periods with our Premium support or on weekends, initial responses may take more time. As it’s a community forum, sometimes another Wordfence user will be able to assist if they’ve encountered a similar issue.

    Just for some background information, the wfHoover table is used during a scan to temporarily store information about the scan to report back afterwards. It should be truncated at every scan.

    If it’s stuck, it’s totally safe for you to empty it, but you might still need to check your database privileges to ensure Wordfence will be able to clean this as intended in future. On the Wordfence > Tools > Diagnostics page under “MySQL Database version and privileges“, you should be able to see whether your database has all the necessary permissions.

    If you’re using MySQL or MariaDB, you should be able to TRUNCATE like this example: https://www.mysqltutorial.org/mysql-truncate-table/

    Thanks,
    Peter.

    Hi @wfpeter,

    I have also had this problem – with the table rising to over 3GB – on two occasions separated by about two or three years. Maybe it just took two or three years to get to 3GB.

    However, on the most recent occasion, I truncated the table but was then unable to log in to my site. To overcome this, I restored the database, which restored my ability to log in. Curiously, wp_wfhoover was still empty, even though the table had been restored. This seems to indicate that the table had been empty less than 24 hours before (when it was backed up), so the table had ballooned to over 3GB since that time.

    All of the permissions are OK. What am I missing?

    Regards,
    Bryan Smith

    So, after several days, this happened again. The wp_wfhoover table went to over 3 GB and I was unable to log in. I truncated the table but still could not log in. Restored overnight database backup to enable login.

    What could be causing this? Is it definitely a Wordfence issue? Does anyone have any suggestions?

    Regards,
    Bryan Smith

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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