Wordfence scan failed (wfConfig unserialized error)

Hi @freddybee, thanks for reaching out to us!

If you could do the following steps for me:

• 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.

Wordfence > Tools > Diagnostic > Debugging Screenshot

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

Thanks,

Peter.

Hi @wfpeter, thank for your reply.

Thanks in advance for your help !

Here are the 20 last lines of the scan in debugging mode :

[Jun 05 10:41:11] Calling startScan(true)
[Jun 05 10:41:11] Got value from wf config maxExecutionTime: 0
[Jun 05 10:41:11] Got max_execution_time value from ini: 165
[Jun 05 10:41:11] ini value of 165 is higher than value for WORDFENCE_SCAN_MAX_INI_EXECUTION_TIME (90), reducing
[Jun 05 10:41:11] getMaxExecutionTime() returning half ini value: 45
[Jun 05 10:41:13] Test result of scan start URL fetch: array ( 'headers' => Requests_Utility_CaseInsensitiveDictionary::__set_state(array( 'data' => array ( 'date' => 'Sun, 05 Jun 2022 10:41:12 GMT', 'content-type' => 'text/html; charset=UTF-8', 'server' => 'Apache', 'x-powered-by' => 'PHP/7.4', 'x-robots-tag' => 'noindex', 'x-content-type-options' => 'nosniff', 'expires' => 'Wed, 11 Jan 1984 05:00:00 GMT', 'cache-control' => 'no-cache, must-revalidate, max-age=0', 'referrer-policy' => 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin', 'x-frame-options' => 'SAMEORIGIN', 'vary' => 'Accept-Encoding', 'content-encoding' => 'gzip', ), )), 'body' => 'WFSCANTESTOK', 'response' => array ( 'code' => 200, 'message' => 'OK', ), 'cookies' => array ( ), 'filename' => NULL, 'http_response' => WP_HTTP_Requests_Response::__set_state(array( 'response' => Requests_Response::__set_state(array( 'bod
[Jun 05 10:41:13] Starting cron with normal ajax at URL https://www.morewithless.fr/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=wordfence_doScan&isFork=1&scanMode=standard&cronKey=eb35ad140259a4b883e76ce21b6a01a0&signature=f95badf8dc5670ba15576f309203761ad37612b163c727bd92585d7c2cee14ba
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Scan process ended after forking.
[Jun 05 10:41:14]  Notice: unserialize(): Error at offset 0 of 1 bytes in /home/ohkzcbw/www/wp-content/plugins/wordfence/lib/wfConfig.php on line 684 Notice: unserialize(): Error at offset 0 of 1 bytes in /home/ohkzcbw/www/wp-content/plugins/wordfence/lib/wfConfig.php on line 684
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Scan engine received request.
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Verifying start request signature.
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Fetching stored cronkey for comparison.
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Checking cronkey: eb35ad140259a4b883e76ce21b6a01a0 (expecting eb35ad140259a4b883e76ce21b6a01a0)
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Checking saved cronkey against cronkey param
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Requesting max memory
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Setting up error handling environment
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Setting up scanRunning and starting scan
[Jun 05 10:41:14] unserialize(): Error at offset 0 of 1 bytes (8) File: /home/ohkzcbw/www/wp-content/plugins/wordfence/lib/wfConfig.php Line: 684
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Scan can't continue - stored data not found after a fork. Got type: boolean
[Jun 05 10:41:14] Scan terminated with error: Scan can't continue - stored data not found after a fork.
[Jun 05 10:41:14]  Notice: unserialize(): Error at offset 0 of 1 bytes in /home/ohkzcbw/www/wp-content/plugins/wordfence/lib/wfConfig.php on line 684

Hi @wfpeter

I am sure that you have plenty of other people to help.
Have you got a chance to review the log here above ?
What is going wrong and how can I fix it ?

Thanks in advance

Hi @freddybee, thanks for getting the scan log information back to me.

I’ll note your recent topic here for reference, although rather than reply to both I will keep responses in here, your original ticket

I apologize for missing your response, I always do my best to give a high level of support but due to the order of new topics and replies on the forum, it is possible to sometimes miss a response so I’ll try to put this right for you now.

The issue looks like it’s trying to retrieve a value from the wfconfig table and it’s expecting it to be serialized but it’s just a single byte, so the table is possibly corrupted.

A good first step would be to use the Wordfence Assistant plugin to delete the Wordfence tables if they are corrupted.

If that doesn’t do the job, a complete re-install of Wordfence might be the only option. It’s always best to make a backup of the site and database before installing/removing plugins, just to be safe. I’ll also explain how to back up your settings below.

Additionally, you can backup your Wordfence settings via the Export option. Navigate to Wordfence > Tools > Import/Export Options and click Export. You can also take note of the current Whitelisted URLs you have in Wordfence > Firewall > All Firewall Options > Whitelisted URLs as these are NOT included in the Import/Export, and will be lost during the re-install.
Here is what is exported: https://www.wordfence.com/help/tools/import-export/
During the export, you will be given a long string of text. Keep this safe, you’ll need it in a few minutes.

After that, enable the option to Delete Wordfence tables and data on deactivation in All Options > General Wordfence Options. You will want to remember to disable this after you reinstall Wordfence again.

After you enable that option, you can deactivate Wordfence from the Plugins area of your site, then delete it. Next, from the plugins area, search for and re-install Wordfence like normal.

It will be like setting Wordfence up for the first time. You will need to enter an email address, and then go into Tools > Import/Export Options and paste that string of text into the Import Wordfence Options field and click the button there.

The firewall will be in Learning Mode by default for 7 days. I would recommend switching this to Enabled and Protected as soon as possible.

Thanks again,

Peter.