Cannot login with Wordfence Activated

Resolved elvtn
(@elvtn)

4 years, 5 months ago

I am testing out the 2FA functionality in the latest Wordfence, but having issues. Whenever Wordfence is active, the login prompt is failing with the following message:

ERROR: An error was encountered while trying to authenticate. Please try again.

This is happening for all users, regardless of if they have enrolled in 2FA.

There is nothing in the web browser console log, nor anything in the server error log.

I have disabled every other plugin and the only thing that restores login functionality is disabling the Wordfence plugin entirely.

Any suggestions?

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

WFGerroald
(@wfgerald)

4 years, 5 months ago

Hey @elvtn,

I’m sorry to hear you’re having this issue.

Where are you seeing the error at?

Is there a frontend login on the site?

Thanks,

Gerroald

Thread Starter elvtn
(@elvtn)

4 years, 5 months ago

Hey @wfgerald , the error message is from the WordPress login screen (specifically above the username/password form on wp-admin page).

WFGerroald
(@wfgerald)

4 years, 5 months ago

Hey @elvtn,

Can you please try completely resetting Wordfence to see if it helps?

https://www.wordfence.com/help/advanced/remove-or-reset/

You can make an export of your settings if you’d like. But I’d suggest testing Two-Factor before doing so.

https://www.wordfence.com/help/tools/import-export/

Please let me know how it goes.

Thanks,

Gerroald

Thread Starter elvtn
(@elvtn)

4 years, 5 months ago

Thanks @wfgerald, I tried to uninstall with removing of DB tables. I even deleted the plugin and re-installed from scratch. But when the plugin was activated, it once again prevented me from logging in.

https://paste.pics/5YWIJ

WFGerroald
(@wfgerald)

4 years, 5 months ago

Hey @elvtn,

After doing some more digging I believe this is going to be related to reCAPTCHA versus Two-Factor.

Do you know if you installed the V3 keys versus the V2 keys?

Do you have anything on your server like mod_security that could be blocking Google’s incoming requests?

Thanks,

Gerroald

Thread Starter elvtn
(@elvtn)

4 years, 5 months ago

@wfgerald,

How would I check the reCAPTCHA keys? Is this a Wordfence setting or somewhere else? I don’t have any plugins specific to reCAPTCHA, although we do use CF7 with reCAPTCHA integration.

As for security, it’s a pretty standard cPanel setup using installatron. I cant see the apache modules being used, so I’d have to go digging a bit.

I did notice a weird error message on the Wordfence diagnostics page that says “wp_remote_post() test back to this server failed” … (including the PHP info in case it helps):

https://paste.pics/5YWX4

WFGerroald
(@wfgerald)

4 years, 5 months ago

Hey @elvtn,

You’d need to check your Google reCAPTCHA account to see what version of the keys you’re using. You might generate new V3 keys to see if it helps.

Have you used the reCATPCHA in Contact Form 7? If so, did it work without an issue?

I still think it might be worth reaching out to your host to see if there’s anything like mod_security blocking the requests.

Please let me know what you find.

Thanks,

Gerroald

Thread Starter elvtn
(@elvtn)

4 years, 4 months ago

Hi @wfgerald, sorry for the delay. I finally spoke with the hosting company (GoDaddy) and they confirmed there is no mod_security or anything else that might block incoming requests from Google’s servers. Their engineers logged in and didnt see anything obvious that would be blocking traffic into the server.

I also found the Wordfence captcha settings and confirmed they are not set (i.e. the key and secret fields are both empty). Do you still believe that it could be an issue with captcha?

Also, what do you make of this error from the Wordfence diagnostics screen (under the “Connecting to Wordfence servers (https)” section):

wp_remote_post() test back to this server failed! Response was: 200 OK

It flags it as an error yet the response was 200…

ericgillette.com
(@ericgillettecom)

4 years, 4 months ago

I’m experiencing EXACTLY the same issue with a client’s site.

No re-captcha or anything set, only WordFence 2FA, and it simply spits this back at me:

https://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/4122911/caadf376f7f3238b8e3ac08b2d3695b2

Please let me know if you’re able to figure this out.

It doesn’t matter if the users have 2FA turned on or not, it used to tell them they didn’t have it turned on.

I tried setting a trial period in the future, same messages, the only thing that works is disabling WordFence entirely and then the login page works normally, but that isn’t really a good solution is it?

ericgillette.com
(@ericgillettecom)

4 years, 4 months ago

Here’s some helpful information:

https://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/4122917/4d09e79fad45b9a95dc161521900e82e

As you can see I modified the “required by” date to 7/25/2019, and even that didn’t do anything.

Thread Starter elvtn
(@elvtn)

4 years, 4 months ago

@ericgillettecom Glad I’m not alone, though I understand the frustration. I use Wordfence on dozens of sites and 2FA has worked one several of them, so this is really baffling that one particular site is having issues.

Unfortunately the only difference I can see between the sites that work and the one that doesn’t, is the one that does *not* work is on GoDaddy. That said, I spent almost 2 hours chatting with their support and they couldn’t find anything wrong on their side.

For now we’re using another security plugin on this one site to get us 2FA, but I’m hoping enough people have this problem that it gets a little more attention and worked out down the road.

WFGerroald
(@wfgerald)

4 years, 4 months ago

Hey @elvtn,

My apologies for the delayed response, I missed this update.

I still haven’t been able to reproduce this and believe it’s going to come down to a server configuration or plugin compatibility issue. What type of hosting plan is it, as in Managed WordPress or something different? Can you send me a Diagnostics report so I can get a better overview of your environment? Please navigate to Wordfence > Tools > Diagnostics. Here you can select SEND REPORT BY EMAIL. Please include your WordPress.org username and update this thread after you’ve sent it.

In the meantime, are you able to test for a plugin and theme conflict?

@ericgillettecom – Thanks for sharing this information. Are you able to share who’s hosting the site you’re having the trouble with and what type of hosting package it is?

Thanks,

Gerroald

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

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