I have seen that message before, but usually in error log files, rather than within a Wordfence page. The “Something may be wrong with WordPress.org…” message is caused by WordPress itself trying to check for updates, but not being able to reach the server.
It could be that your host is blocking outgoing connections from the server, but that would also mean that you could not update (any) plugins, and Wordfence scans would not run properly.
Wordfence can test outgoing connections from the server, to see if that is the problem. Just go to the Wordfence options page and find the link “Click to test connectivity to the Wordfence API servers” near the bottom of the page. It will show you a few lines, telling whether the tests passed or failed.
Also, do you ever notice the site responding very slowly — like more than 10 seconds for a page to load? I usually see this message when a server is overloaded.
Thanks for help. I tested the WF connection as you suggested and all passed.
But there is still that error message at top inside WF pages that says “Wordfence Live Activity: Warning: An unexpected error occurred. Something may be wrong with WordPress.org or this server’s configuration. If you continue to have problems, please try the support forums. (WordPress could not establish a secure connection to W” … gets cut off at this point, extends off the screen and cant be read.
I will check with hosting and see if something is being blocked.
Thanks again.
Would it be possible that “activity” by WF could have been recorded by itself as suspicious and I’ve manually blocked a connection not realizing it was just WF IP?
It shouldn’t cause this particular error if you had blocked a Wordfence server, but that might cause other issues. If you want to double-check that, the range of IP addresses is here:
http://docs.wordfence.com/en/Servers_and_IP_Range
Since Wordfence could reach its own servers, your server’s is able to access external sites (including wordpress.org for updates). If you are still able to check for WordPress core and plugin updates manually, and if you see updates listed on the dashboard when they come out), then it should be ok.
I’ll check and see if the timeout can be set a little longer — it sounds like the plugin version check may be timing out even when your site isn’t very busy.
