Wordfence IP Ban Affecting Access to Entire Server Instead of WordPress Instance

  • Resolved rjbutler3rd

    (@rjbutler3rd)


    1 month ago

    Hello Everyone,

    I have been using Wordfence for about 2 years, on a server hosting a handful of websites. I recently experienced an issue where access to the server was blocked. No ping returns, and traceroutes stopped 1 hop short of the server.

    2 out 3 WordPress sites with Wordfence had the server’s IP address whitelisted. One WordPress site with Wordfense did not have the server’s IP address whitelisted.

    On this server, Wordfence triggered a ban on the server’s IP address due to repeated captcha violations. This had me scratching my head as I don’t have captcha enabled in any of my WordPress sites.

    My question is this; Should a Wordfence IP ban triggered on one WordPress site, disable access to the entire server and ALL other WordPress sites on that server?

    Thanks for your thought replies and suggestions.

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  • Plugin Support wfmargaret

    (@wfmargaret)

    Hi @rjbutler3rd,

    Thanks for reaching out. When Wordfence causes a block, as a web application firewall the block is limited to that specific website. A Wordfence block page would also be shown. Web application firewalls can’t prevent access to the server altogether. Since your access was blocked one hop short of the server, something else caused the block, such as a server-level firewall.

    As far as the CAPTCHA, where did you see that reCAPTCHA verification failures lead to an IP block on Wordfence? If reCAPTCHA isn’t enabled, Wordfence won’t try to verify visitors, and it won’t lead to any blocks. If you have screenshots you’d like to send us of the block message or what you were seeing, please send those to wftest @ wordfence . com with your forum username as the subject and let me know here once you’ve sent that.

    Thanks,
    Margaret

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