Scan failing to start

Hi @annnaz, thanks for your messages and showing what you’ve already tried.

In order to help out, it’d be useful to get the debug information from your scan log:

• Go to the Wordfence > Tools > Diagnostics page
• In the “Debugging Options” section check the circle “Enable debugging mode”
• Click to “Save Changes”.
• CANCEL any current scan and start a NEW scan
• Copy the last 20 lines from the Log (click the “Show Log” link) or so of the activity log once the scan finishes and paste them in this post.

This will help me see exactly what is happening when the scan fails.

Thanks,

Peter.

Hi Peter, thanks very much for your help.
Here’s the log

[Apr 12 12:03:38:1618229018.565720:4:info] Scan process ended after forking.
[Apr 12 12:03:37:1618229017.561079:4:info] Starting cron via proxy at URL https://noc1.wordfence.com/scanp/planetsutherland.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=wordfence_doScan&isFork=0&scanMode=standard&cronKey=6b11d9cf10d11ba676586222c39a6fcf&k=adddadf429ef0937989e0a215d74ce3dabfdbe79258a32bbe16da56852868a47fe2ec1001a4e480106a5b3151d2d3b64d850f1782ea66d5e20f1d821b7a8206aa574e7b6054f0acd5fb7e1a91cc1d48e&ssl=1&signature=f843aacdc008031f6d545946be70215a89e2e04d891def459975cd82160b1603
[Apr 12 12:03:37:1618229017.549677:4:info] Test result of scan start URL fetch: array ( 'headers' => Requests_Utility_CaseInsensitiveDictionary::__set_state(array( 'data' => array ( 'x-powered-by' => 'PHP/7.4.16', 'expires' => 'Wed, 11 Jan 1984 05:00:00 GMT', 'cache-control' => 'no-cache, must-revalidate, max-age=0', 'content-type' => 'text/html; charset=UTF-8', 'set-cookie' => array ( 0 => 'wordpress_test_cookie=WP%20Cookie%20check; path=/; secure', 1 => 'wordpress_8ff5f34cb601300442c8737b809bb68d=%20; expires=Sun, 12-Apr-2020 12:03:37 GMT; Max-Age=0; path=/wp-admin; secure', 2 => 'wordpress_sec_8ff5f34cb601300442c8737b809bb68d=%20; expires=Sun, 12-Apr-2020 12:03:37 GMT; Max-Age=0; path=/wp-admin; secure', 3 => 'wordpress_8ff5f34cb601300442c8737b809bb68d=%20; expires=Sun, 12-Apr-2020 12:03:37 GMT; Max-Age=0; path=/wp-content/plugins; secure', 4 => 'wordpress_sec_8ff5f34cb601300442c8737b809bb68d=%20; expires=Sun, 12-Apr-2020 12:03:37 GMT
[Apr 12 12:03:34:1618229014.268855:4:info] getMaxExecutionTime() returning half ini value: 15
[Apr 12 12:03:34:1618229014.267293:4:info] Got max_execution_time value from ini: 30
[Apr 12 12:03:34:1618229014.266605:4:info] Got value from wf config maxExecutionTime: 0
[Apr 12 12:03:34:1618229014.265175:4:info] Entering start scan routine
[Apr 12 12:03:34:1618229014.262034:4:info] Ajax request received to start scan.
[Apr 12 12:03:21:1618229001.689044:10:info] SUM_KILLED:A request was received to stop the previous scan.
[Apr 12 12:03:21:1618229001.688390:1:info] Scan stop request received.
[Apr 12 12:03:11:1618228991.608804:4:info] Calling Wordfence API v2.26:https://noc1.wordfence.com/v2.26/?k=adddadf429ef0937989e0a215d74ce3dabfdbe79258a32bbe16da56852868a47fe2ec1001a4e480106a5b3151d2d3b64d850f1782ea66d5e20f1d821b7a8206aa574e7b6054f0acd5fb7e1a91cc1d48e&s=eyJ3cCI6IjUuNyIsIndmIjoiNy41LjIiLCJtcyI6ZmFsc2UsImgiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvcGxhbmV0c3V0aGVybGFuZC5jb20iLCJzc2x2IjoyNjk0ODgyMDcsInB2IjoiNy40LjE2IiwicHQiOiJsaXRlc3BlZWQiLCJjdiI6IjcuNzEuMCIsImNzIjoiT3BlblNTTFwvMS4xLjFkIiwic3YiOiJMaXRlU3BlZWQiLCJkdiI6IjEwLjIuMzctTWFyaWFEQi1jbGwtbHZlIiwibGFuZyI6ImVuX0dCIn0&betaFeed=0&action=timestamp
[Apr 12 10:31:37:1618223497.616275:10:info] SUM_KILLED:A request was received to stop the previous scan.
[Apr 12 10:31:37:1618223497.615624:1:info] Scan stop request received.

Hi @annnaz,

I have seen SUM_KILLED appear before, however I probably need your diagnostic report to see if there’s any further information I can get from there to explain it. This can often crop up with a Litespeed or Cloudflare installation but we can check this from the report to further advise you.

Can you send a diagnostic report to wftest @ wordfence . com? You can find the link to do so at the top of the Wordfence Tools > Diagnostics page. Then click on “Send Report by Email”. Please add your forum username where indicated and respond here after you have sent it.

Note: For the fastest response time, please make sure and add any information or questions directly to this topic and not the email address above unless asked.

Thanks again,

Peter.

many thanks, i’ve sent the email
for info – i have even tested this on a staging platform with pretty much nothing installed with the same results…
thanks
anna

Hi
I’ve also sent over a second scan diagnostics – because…
I set up a brand new subdomain
Installed wordpress
Ran the scan with the default 2020 theme. All ok
Installed the Posterity – SKT theme
Ran the scan and it failed – with the same seeming error –
Thanks again
Anna

Hi @annnaz,

Thank-you of thinking to do that, it would be useful to see the differences in configuration. I’m not sure if there’s an issue with your PHP mail sender but I don’t see your forum username flagging any diagnostics that have arrived to our address.

If you could either export the diagnostics again as txt files and mail them directly to wftest @ wordfence . com with your forum username in the subject line, or provide us with the first part of the email that they may have come from (before the @) so I can continue searching, that’d be really helpful.

I apologise for the inconvenience, we rarely have issues so something may have occurred to prevent the send.

Thanks again,

Peter.

Hi
Not sure what you mean – my username here is annnaz
and the diagnostics were tagged with that name in the ticketnumber / forum username box.
does that help?

i guess it’s simplest to start with the testandtry installation / diagnostic because it has nothing in it and the only additional code from the default WP installation in the htaccess is the wordfence code

Further testing has concluded that it’s something up with the SKT Template Plug in.
If I install the SKT Posterity Template without the plug in, the scan works.
If I then complete the installation by installing the SKT Template plug in the scan doesn’t start. [SKT say that the template won’t work without the additional plug in]

I’m not sure therefore whether this is something for you to look at or for SKT to look at?

Hope that makes sense?
Thanks again for your help, Anna

hiya, sorry do post again – but do you need me to send you anything just now? or is this enough info to go on?
many thanks, anna

Hi,
So, completing this story…

The SKT Themes need a SKT Themes plug in for the installation to complete.
This prevents the Wordfence scan from starting.

It can be deactivated, it seems, and then only needed for new themes.

Works for now – but hope this saves others a tremendous amount of time in investigation.

Thanks for you help

Hi @annnaz,

I still did not receive a diagnostics report from “annnaz” in our support box but was regularly checking – including again just now. It had led me to think perhaps there was a mail send issue from your website that might be a factor in why the scans were also not running such as blocked incoming/outgoing requests. I apologise for the confusion around this, I’m not sure if you had tried to send the txt version of the diagnostics manually, which should have been unaffected by any issues sending mail from your site.

The presence of the SKT Themes plugin is interesting as with an “external” plugin not direct from the www.ads-software.com repository, your site will rely on them to be vigilant in performing security and general version updates. Compatibility issues can crop up like this as a result, but are sometimes also a factor with repository plugins too. If Wordfence works correctly without its presence but does not work properly with, it may be worth reaching out to their support to see if this kind of conflict has been seen before and whether a fix is possible so that you don’t lose theme functionality.

Thank-you for letting us know.

Peter.