themout

I found and fixed the issue, thanks to your suggestion to review the web server log.

Several errors in the web server log like these:

2020-06-14 17:34:20.538515 [INFO] [27919] [108.162.246.204:61270#APVH_[domain_omitted]:443] [ACL] Access to context [/] is denied!
2020-06-14 17:34:20.481196 [INFO] [27918] [108.162.221.163:19942#APVH_[domain_omitted]:443] [ACL] Access to context [/] is denied!
2020-06-14 17:34:21.215412 [INFO] [27921] [108.162.221.181:28080#APVH_[domain_omitted]:443] [ACL] Access to context [/] is denied!
2020-06-14 17:34:21.412857 [INFO] [27921] [108.162.221.115:17680#APVH_[domain_omitted]:443] [ACL] Access to context [/] is denied!
2020-06-14 17:34:21.862605 [INFO] [27921] [108.162.221.211:13262#APVH_[domain_omitted]:443] [ACL] Access to context [/] is denied!
2020-06-14 17:34:22.111123 [INFO] [27918] [108.162.221.247:61252#APVH_[domain_omitted]:443] [ACL] Access to context [/] is denied!

All originating from 108.162.*.* which turned out to be Cloudflare, my CDN provider – I had unintentionally added 108.162.*.* in my blacklist which not only completely hosed iThemes Security but also the reason for a multitude of 403 forbidden errors on a multiple # of my sites but also weird issues I was noticing with the themes on my WP sites that I had no idea was being caused by this block.

Thanks for the idea – lesson learned… don’t blacklist your own CDN. ??

Regards,

Terry

It was exactly as I suspected. I recovered the site and logged into admin to find the error message: “An automated WordPress update has failed to complete – please attempt the update again now.”

To recover, I copied the contents of the /home/…/public_html/wp-includes/default-filters.php and /home/…/public_html/wp-settings.php files from a WP site that has not been upgraded to v5.4 yet and was able to access admin area again. I then reactivated all of the plugins and themes and all is good now.

I waited a few days to obtain help from someone on this forum. I then decided to try a few things to see if I could recover it and got lucky.

All 17 plugins and 2 themes were renamed with .old suffix – problem still exists.

I am not able to get to WP Admin area – every URL I try on this site comes back with same error.

Yes – it was with latest version (v1.3.1). If you do not uncheck “Filter Long URL Strings” in iThemes plugin, when Site Kit tries to obtain authorization to connect to your Google Analytics account, it will fail – you will get this error when it send the call https://<your-domain>/?oauth2callback=1&authuser=0&code=4%2FwwFoxsvmQU1Y1&#8230; (a very long string):

This page isn’t working
If the problem continues, contact the site owner.
HTTP ERROR 414

FYI – I just installed and successfully installed Site Kit on another domain with same hosting company to gather the details for this post. This time, I did not have to install using an incognito browser. Uncheckecd the “Filter Long URL Strings” in iThemes plugin and installed/configured site kit with no issues. After installed and configured, I re-enabled the “Filter Long URL Strings” option in iThemes plugin and all is good.

@jamesosborne,

The site kit is now fully installed thanks to you. ??

I have also re-enabled the iThemes and WP Fastest Cache plugins and checked the site kit in a normal browser – all appears to be good.

I’m also assuming now that site kit is installed, the Google Analytics plugin can be removed. Unless I hear otherwise, I will leave deactivated and will remove it soon.

To answer one of your questions – yes, I do have the site kit enabled and functional on some other sites on same hosting provider. And those installs were less tricky than this one. I had to uncheck option in iThemes to “Filter Long URL Strings” in the System Tweaks section and install/configure site kit in an incognito window for those to work but that was not enough with this implementation of the plugin.

Thanks again. Very much appreciated.

Regards,

Terry

@jamesosborne,

I sincerely appreciate the level of support and attention you are giving this. I have not had time to try your next set of recommended steps yet. I have been very busy with work. I hope to get to this tonight but, if I don’t, rest assured it will be as soon as I possibly can.

Regards,

Terry

I performed the reset; uninstalled; reinstalled in a incognito browser window and still have same issue after reinstall.

====================================

Site Health:
`
### wp-core ###

version: 5.3.2
site_language: en_US
user_language: en_US
timezone: America/Chicago
permalink: /%category%/%postname%/
https_status: true
user_registration: 0
default_comment_status: open
multisite: false
user_count: 2
dotorg_communication: true

### wp-paths-sizes ###

wordpress_path: /home2/themoutn/domains/internetgaminginfo.com/public_html
wordpress_size: 38.43 MB (40294148 bytes)
uploads_path: /home2/themoutn/domains/internetgaminginfo.com/public_html/wp-content/uploads
uploads_size: 21.38 MB (22415510 bytes)
themes_path: /home2/themoutn/domains/internetgaminginfo.com/public_html/wp-content/themes
themes_size: 2.97 MB (3119410 bytes)
plugins_path: /home2/themoutn/domains/internetgaminginfo.com/public_html/wp-content/plugins
plugins_size: 57.55 MB (60340882 bytes)
database_size: 12.39 MB (12991481 bytes)
total_size: 132.71 MB (139161431 bytes)

### wp-dropins (1) ###

advanced-cache.php: true

### wp-active-theme ###

name: Alpha Forte (alpha-forte)
version: 1.0.2
author: Alpha WP Themes
author_website: https://www.alphawpthemes.com
parent_theme: none
theme_features: menus, post-thumbnails, automatic-feed-links, widgets
theme_path: /home2/themoutn/domains/internetgaminginfo.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/alpha-forte

### wp-themes-inactive (2) ###

Twenty Nineteen: version: 1.4, author: the WordPress team
Twenty Twenty: version: 1.1, author: the WordPress team

### wp-plugins-active (24) ###

Add Posts to Pages: version: 1.4.1, author: Arsham Mirshah
Akismet Anti-Spam: version: 4.1.3, author: Automattic
Classic Editor: version: 1.5, author: WordPress Contributors
Cloudflare: version: 3.4.1, author: John Wineman, Furkan Yilmaz, Junade Ali (Cloudflare Team)
Compliance Bar: version: 1.1.16, author: Anton Nadilo & Jon Shawcross
Download Plugins and Themes from Dashboard: version: 1.6.0, author: Algoritmika Ltd
Duplicator: version: 1.3.28, author: Snap Creek
Favicon Rotator: version: 1.2.7, author: Archetyped
Google Analytics: version: 2.2.5, author: ShareThis
iThemes Security: version: 7.6.1, author: iThemes
iThemes Sync: version: 2.1.3.1, author: iThemes
Official StatCounter Plugin: version: 2.0.6, author: Aodhan Cullen
Really Simple SSL: version: 3.2.9, author: Rogier Lankhorst, Mark Wolters
Shortcodes Ultimate: version: 5.7.0, author: Vladimir Anokhin
Show The URL: version: Beta v1.19, author: Anton Nadilo & Jon Shawcross
Site Kit by Google: version: 1.3.1, author: Google
Sitemap by BestWebSoft: version: 3.2.2, author: BestWebSoft
Social Link Machine: version: 0.1.58, author: Dr. Max V
Widget Context: version: 1.2.0, author: Kaspars Dambis
WP-SpamShield: version: 1.9.21, author: Red Sand Media Group
WP Blazer: version: 1.0.14, author: Touch Logic Technologies Pvt Ltd.
WP Fastest Cache: version: 0.9.0.3, author: Emre Vona
WP User Avatar: version: 2.2.4, author: flippercode
WP Zero Bounce Simple Unlimited Domains: version: 1.4, author: Forcespark

### wp-media ###

image_editor: WP_Image_Editor_Imagick
imagick_module_version: 1800
imagemagick_version: ImageMagick 7.0.8-67 Q16 x86_64 2019-11-19 https://imagemagick.org
imagick_limits:
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_AREA: 251 GB
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_DISK: 9.2233720368548E+18
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_FILE: 37500
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_MAP: 251 GB
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_MEMORY: 126 GB
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_THREAD: 32
gd_version: bundled (2.1.0 compatible)
ghostscript_version: 9.07

### wp-server ###

server_architecture: Linux 3.10.0-962.3.2.lve1.5.26.2.el7.x86_64 x86_64
httpd_software: LiteSpeed
php_version: 7.2.24 64bit
php_sapi: litespeed
max_input_variables: 1000
time_limit: 30
memory_limit: 256M
max_input_time: 60
upload_max_size: 64M
php_post_max_size: 64M
curl_version: 7.67.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2k-fips
suhosin: false
imagick_availability: true
htaccess_extra_rules: true

### wp-database ###

extension: mysqli
server_version: 10.3.20-MariaDB
client_version: mysqlnd 5.0.12-dev – 20150407 – $Id: 3591daad22de08524295e1bd073aceeff11e6579 $

### wp-constants ###

WP_HOME: undefined
WP_SITEURL: undefined
WP_CONTENT_DIR: /home2/themoutn/domains/internetgaminginfo.com/public_html/wp-content
WP_PLUGIN_DIR: /home2/themoutn/domains/internetgaminginfo.com/public_html/wp-content/plugins
WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT: 256M
WP_DEBUG: false
WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY: true
WP_DEBUG_LOG: false
SCRIPT_DEBUG: false
WP_CACHE: false
CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS: undefined
COMPRESS_SCRIPTS: undefined
COMPRESS_CSS: undefined
WP_LOCAL_DEV: undefined
DB_CHARSET: utf8
DB_COLLATE: undefined

### wp-filesystem ###

wordpress: writable
wp-content: writable
uploads: writable
plugins: writable
themes: writable

====================================

Current web hosting provider: LifeTime Hosting

====================================

Site URL: https://internetgaminginfo.com