Error 403 forbiden for guest.vary.php when using Guest Mode

403 usually means something blocked request

do you have .htaccess file in /wp-content/ ?

it could also be modsecurity issue though, you can try add

<IfModule mod_security.c>
  SecFilterEngine Off
  SecFilterScanPOST Off
</IfModule>

to your main .htaccess, see if it helps.

Thank you for your reply, but the error persists…

also : file permission for the file is set to 644. File permissions for parent directories are set to 755.

Another info that could help you is that the .txt files in the same folder open without problems. Example: /wp-content/plugins/litespeed-cache/readme.txt

The problem seems to occur only with php files in the folder. Examples: The guest.vary.php I posted about and also /wp-content/plugins/litespeed-cache/autoload.php etc give forbidden 403.

*Also the “working” .txt file has the same ownership with the .php files.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by ntsili.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by ntsili.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by ntsili.

yes, that means you have something that disabled PHP execution on /wp-content/ or its subdirectory

check if you have file /wp-content/.htaccess , I have seen many security plugin add rule there to disable PHP

Thank you for your reply, there is no .htaccess file in /wp-content/

Hello again, here a the folders containing a .htaccess file : 


/html/wp-content/mu-plugins/vendor/godaddy/mwc-core/vendor/phenx/php-font-lib/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/plugins/litespeed-cache/data/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/cloudflare/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/really-simple-ssl/testssl/cloudflare/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/really-simple-ssl/testssl/cloudfront/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/really-simple-ssl/testssl/envhttps/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/really-simple-ssl/testssl/loadbalancer/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/really-simple-ssl/testssl/serverhttps1/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/really-simple-ssl/testssl/serverhttpson/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/really-simple-ssl/testssl/serverhttpxforwardedssl1/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/really-simple-ssl/testssl/serverhttpxforwardedsslon/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/really-simple-ssl/testssl/serverhttpxproto/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/plugins-old/really-simple-ssl/testssl/serverport443/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/uploads-old/sucuri/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/uploads-old/wc-logs/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/updraft/uploads-old/woocommerce_uploads/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/uploads/sucuri/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/uploads/wc-logs/.htaccess

/html/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/.htaccess



Should I delete any/all of them?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by ntsili.

no , no need to delete them , probably not from .htaccess

at this point , I think I can not help you any further , please contact your hosting provider and kindly ask them to help you to identify the reason for 403 error on that

Hello again. I contacted Godaddy support and during 20` of chat they checked my WP site. They insist that the error is because of a plugin′s problem….

Sorry for my english, here is the correct message:

Hello again. I contacted Godaddy support and during the 20` of the chat they checked my WP site. They insist that the error is because of the LiteSpeed plugin….

okay , let’s try this

go to your FTP or file manager

create a directory , just saying here , /wp-content/plugins/false-plugin/

and create a file in that directory , let’s say /wp-content/plugins/false-plugin/false-plugin.php with content

<?php 
echo 'hello from a false plugin';

then access it by https://yourdomain.com/wp-content/plugins/false-plugin/false-plugin.php what does it show ?

I just did it using the exact names you proposed and it gives 403 error forbidden.

Whatever .php in this folder, even if it does not exist, will give the same error.

I created a .txt file in the same folder /wp-content/false-plugin/false-plugin.txt and it works ok.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by ntsili.

that’s the thing , something somewhere somehow disabled and block PHP execution , please kindly ask your hosting provider to assist you on that

and you can give that example , so they won’t blame the plugin anymore , since there is even no plugin in place but a random PHP file.

I did a long search and found this:
PHP execution limits | Managed WordPress – GoDaddy Help AE
Now, if I understand well, it is Godaddy that blocks all .php in /wp-content !!!! So why yesterday they told me it is a plugin’s error ???

I think it is time to move from Godaddy, their incompetence is inacceptable. Do you know any good alternatives?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by ntsili.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by ntsili.

hmmmm , if you want to change hosting provider, then perhaps you can check our partner here