Fix common errors caused by the Wordfence plugin

Definitions

Wordfence is a security plugin for WordPress websites that provides a range of security tools.

Before you start

🚨Wordfence is a heavy plugin known to trigger a range of errors on websites and slow them down. Many experienced WordPress developers will recommend against using it.

⚠️ Here is a list of common errors that Wordfence can create on your WordPress website:

• Performance: Wordfence is a resource-intensive plugin, potentially slowing down your website

• False Positives: The security rules can be excessive, blocking legitimate users or admin actions

• Complexity: Configuring Wordfence can be overwhelming and may lead to mistakes

• Compatibility: There may be conflicts with your other plugins or theme, causing your site to crash

ℹ️ If you want to keep Wordfence on your website, this guide offers fixes for common errors. For specific issues caused by the Wordfence plugin, please contact their development team.

Step by step

Error: WordPress white screen error

The white screen (blank page) error is often caused by the Wordfence plugin adding a code snippet to your .htaccess file. To fix this, remove the Wordfence code snippet from the .htaccess file.

Here is a visual example of the white screen error:

1. Open this guide: Fix the white screen error (blank page)

2. Go to the ‘Delete a Wordfence code snippet from your .htaccess file‘ section and follow all the steps

Error: False positive security alerts

Wordfence can sometimes raise false security alerts. These false positives could range from flagging regular actions as suspicious to identifying safe files as malicious.

If you’re confident that your alert is a ‘false positive’, you can ask Wordfence to ignore the issue. To do this, click on the Ignore this issue link found in the Issue detail dropdown in the Scan results.

Once you ignore the issue, it will appear in your Ignored Results tab under Wordfence > Scan.

Error: Overstated resource usage

Wordfence might show high resource usage affecting your site’s performance, but this can be a false positive, i.e. an incorrect stat. Follow these steps to adjust Wordfence’s resource scan execution setting.

1. Hover over Wordfence

2. Select All Options

3. Select Performance Options

4. Go to Maximum execution time for each scan stage and adjust the setting. Make sure to click Save Changes button at the top to apply your changes.

5. Consider disabling Don’t log signed-in users with publishing access under the Live Traffic Options. This consumes many resources too. Click Save Changes button at the top to apply your changes.

Error: Slow or non-loading website

Even if it overstates resource usage, Wordfence is a resource-intensive plugin. Its many features and bloated code base can significantly slow down your website loading time.

1. The best solution is to consider deactivating Wordfence

2. If keeping it, run an X-ray report and learn how to best optimize your website

Error: Frequent site lockouts

Wordfence might frequently lock you out of your website if it detects too many failed login attempts. To fix the lockouts, you need to adjust the Brute Force Protection setting.

1. Go to Wordfence and select All Options

2. Click on Brute Force Protection

3. Increase the Lock out after how many login failures number or increase the timeframe for the count of login attempts. Make sure to click Save Changes button at the top to apply your changes.

Error: Wordfence dashboard not loading

Sometimes, the Wordfence dashboard may fail to load due to issues like caching or plugin conflicts.

1. Clear your browser cache or login again using an incognito or private window

2. If clearing the browser cache or going incognito doesn’t work, deactivate and reactivate the Wordfence plugin

3. If the problem continues, there could be plugin compatibility issues. Deactivate your other plugins one by one until the Wordfence dashboard loads correctly.