No longer logging after 8.0.0 update

  • Resolved Ate Up With Motor

    (@ate-up-with-motor)


    3 years, 4 months ago

    On Wednesday, my three websites automatically updated to iThemes Security 8.0.0. That afternoon, while performing some database operations via phpMyAdmin, I manually cleared the iThemes logs using a TRUNCATE command, since there is no longer any way to do that from within the plugin. I have done this periodically for years now without issue.

    Some hours later, I checked the databases again and found that the log tables were still all empty. This is very unusual — even the site with the least traffic will typically accumulate a dozen or so log entries during such a time period. I did not change any settings before or after the v8 upgrade, and so far as I can determine from the confusingly revised settings pages, the log retention interval remains the same as before (5 days). However, it appears that iThemes Security is no longer logging any data at all, which is concerning.

    Have there been changes that require resetting something to get the logs working? Again, other than the new GUI layout, which is rather obtuse, I don’t see any change in my existing settings, which previous to the update were producing a fairly substantial amount of log data.

    How can I get the logs working again? If it’s not logging, I assume the new Dashboard feature (which shows no events at all) isn’t working either.

    (ETA: This is on WordPress 5.8, and the same behavior is happening — or rather not happening — across three different sites with different themes and different combinations of plugins.)

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Thread Starter Ate Up With Motor

    (@ate-up-with-motor)

    My sites are HTTPS only (and were before the update), so that doesn’t seem to be a factor in my issue.

    Plugin Author Timothy Jacobs

    (@timothyblynjacobs)

    @shvb2007 Could you start a separate thread? It sounds like you are experiencing a different issue.

    @ate-up-with-motor That does sound like strange behavior. There haven’t been any intentional changes that would require you to reset anything in the UI or similar for iThemes Security to be recording data.

    Could you try going to the iThemes Security Dashboard and running a Site Scan? Do you get any results? Do any log items appear on the logs page?

    Thread Starter Ate Up With Motor

    (@ate-up-with-motor)

    @timothyblynjacobs I just tried running a scan, which WAS logged, but that is the ONLY item that has been logged since yesterday afternoon. (ETA: Technically, six items, but they were all individual elements of the same scan.) For reference, before the update, I would typically have 150 to 250 log items during that span of time, ranging from 404 errors to bots looking for the login page.

    Plugin Author Timothy Jacobs

    (@timothyblynjacobs)

    Ok, so that does tell us that the logs table is functioning. It sounds like a lot of the log items you were receiving before were from the 404 module. The 404 module has been removed in 8.0 because the 404 Detection setting often ended up locking out legitimate visitors to your site. On sites with lots of broken links, it could even end up blocking crawlers like Googlebot, which is a problem for SEO.

    The feature also didn’t provide much security protection itself, instead it ended up cluttering the logs table. I’d recommend instead making sure the “Disable PHP Execution” settings are enabled in “System Tweaks” under the “Advanced” menu.

    Thread Starter Ate Up With Motor

    (@ate-up-with-motor)

    The removal of the 404 module would explain a lot, yeah — I didn’t realize you’d done that. I understand the rationale, although I’m concerned about the security threats it did identify no longer being flagged. (I do have all the PHP execution settings set to disable.)

    According to the iTSec plugin 8.0 release Changelog:

    Removed: The following modules have been removed: 404 Detection, Away Mode, Change Content Directory, and Multisite Tweaks.

    ??

    To prevent opening any unnecessary topics it is also highly recommended to first read the iThemes Security 8.0 brings new design, features. post on iThemes blog.

    Thread Starter Ate Up With Motor

    (@ate-up-with-motor)

    @nlpro — I see your point, but a) that’s a big, wordy article, with the modules-removed section toward the very end, and b) I didn’t immediately make the connection between the sudden drop in logged incidents and the removal of that module. I’m still not sure that’s the sole reason; it’s true that a fair number of logged entries were 404s of some kind or another, but not all of them were.

    a. Yup. The iTSec plugin 8.0 release is a BIG change compared to the previous 7.9.1 release. So it deserves a lengthy post and it’s worth reading it.

    b. Fair enough. No problem. Give it some extra time. I’m sure logging will resume normal operation after updating to the 8.0 release.

    Oh, the removal of the Away Mode module also cuts down on log entries. Though it has probably less impact than the removal of the 404 Detection module.

    Thread Starter Ate Up With Motor

    (@ate-up-with-motor)

    I never used the Away Mode.

    Okidoki.

    I was just wondering what your current state of logging is ?
    Still missing entries, or have you seen more logging (diverse) activity ?

    Keep in mind that no bots attacking your site (brute force attempts) is another good reason for significant fewer log entries.

    Thread Starter Ate Up With Motor

    (@ate-up-with-motor)

    The only log entries I’ve been getting are file scan results, so it IS obviously logging. I guess the difference comes down to the modules that were removed.

    (If I need to log 404 errors for troubleshooting purposes, I suppose I do have another means to do that without the risk of auto-banning the Googlebot, which might be a better solution.)

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
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