Hi @tiabradford,
Thanks for the detail, especially the note that turning off Ban Users used to clear this. That is the key clue. A greyed-out, stuck loading panel in Elementor almost always means the editor’s background request (the call that fetches the widget list) is being blocked, and Kadence Security has more than one feature that can block a request. Ban Users was catching it before, so toggling that off helped. This time it is being caught by a different filter, most likely the Firewall.
The Firewall (on by default in current versions) inspects incoming requests and blocks anything that looks malicious. The Elementor editor sends large requests full of HTML and CSS while it builds the panel, and those can occasionally look suspicious to the rules engine. When that happens the request is denied and, after a few hits, your own IP gets temporarily locked out, so the panel just spins.
Here is how to confirm it and get the editor working again without running the whole plugin off:
- Authorize your own IP. Go to Security > Settings > Global Settings and add your current IP address to the “Authorized IPs” field (you can find your IP by searching “what is my ip” in Google). Authorized IPs are exempt from all lockouts and bans, so this lets you build normally while protection stays on for everyone else.
- Clear any active lockout. Open the Firewall page and look under IP Management > Active Lockouts, then release any entry showing your IP.
- Confirm the cause. Open Security > Logs (and the Firewall logs) and reload the editor. If you see your IP being blocked, or a firewall rule firing at the moment the panel fails to load, that confirms the Firewall is the source.
- Verify by isolation if you want to be sure. Temporarily switch the Firewall off at Security > Settings > Features > Firewall and reload the Elementor editor. If the panel loads normally, the rules engine was the cause. Turn it back on afterward and rely on the Authorized IPs entry from step 1, so you keep the protection without the editor conflict.
If the panel still hangs after you have authorized your IP, let me know and I will help you check the Ban Users user-agent and .htaccess ban lists next, since those are the other two request filters that can intercept the editor.
Kind regards,
Pawel P.
Liquid Web Software Support
Thank you for the quick response.
Unfortunately, I’m now encountering a new issue. When I try to access any of the Kadence plugin pages, I only get a blank white screen. The only page that still loads correctly is the Logs page.
At the moment, I’m unable to access the Kadence settings or any of the other Kadence administration pages. All other features on my website work fine.
I waited a couple days and the Kadence pages came back. I followed the instructions from above and I am now able to access the widget panel. Thank you very much.
