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503 error (user NOT banned by restrictions)

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This topic contains 5 replies, has 3 voices. Last updated by  Cristián Lávaque 3 years, 9 months ago.

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Posted: Monday Apr 1st, 2013 at 10:50 pm #46328
Cody Turner
Username: cturner

I run a single WP installation with S2Member Pro at http://www.options-intelligence.com. We have almost 500 members in our database. One member cannot login to the site without receiving a 503 error despite S2Member reporting:

“*Note* this User is NOT currently banned by any of your IP Restrictions.”.

I have deleted this user’s account and recreated it only to find that the issue persists.
I have reset the user’s IP restrictions via the admin interface and the issue persists.

I have attempted the solution via .htaccess and httpd.conf posted http://www.s2member.com/kb/mod-security-random-503-403-errors/. When viewing the Apache error logs via Virtualmin, I do not see any mention of mod_security, so I am uncertain if this is in fact the issue.

Adding a custom redirect for 503’s to my theme’s function file see http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/redirect-a-503/ in fact redirects this user to the specified URL. Adding a custom redirect for 503’s in Virtualmin does not.

Resetting all IP restrictions logs (for the site) allows the user to log in for a short amount of time before the 503 error reemerges.

I have currently disabled IP restrictions as a temporary solution.

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Posted: Tuesday Apr 2nd, 2013 at 3:47 pm #46407
Bruce
Username: Bruce
Staff Member

Thank you for reporting this important issue.

I’m reporting this to our development team.
Posted: Thursday Apr 4th, 2013 at 5:15 am #46569
Cristián Lávaque
Username: Cristian

Cody, please try the tips in this article: Knowledge Base » Common Troubleshooting Tips

That article also suggests creating a test installation of WordPress for debugging. Could you do that with only s2Member added and ask that user to create an account there and do the same that’d cause the problem in your site to reproduce the error?

Once you reproduced it in a clean installation, could you please submit the site’s info so we review it? Please let us know here that you sent it. Ah, and please include a step by step to reproduce the problem, please, it’ll help greatly to find the cause behind it. s2Member® » Private Contact Form

Also, do you have caching? Make sure database and object caching are disabled, they’re known to cause trouble.
Posted: Thursday Apr 4th, 2013 at 11:08 pm #46659
Cristián Lávaque
Username: Cristian

Jason got back to us regarding this:

This can happen when the following occurs:

An IP Restriction limit is exceeded, and a security breach occurs.

The user receives the 503 error.

Then the security breach times out after about 1 hour (by default).

s2Members says there is no security breach in the Dashboard for this User’s account (which is correct).

Now the user comes back to the site and tries to log into the site with yet another new IP address. The security breach is automatically recreated; and will automatically expire again after about 1 hour.

This creates a scenario where a site owner is not seeing the actual security breach in the Dashboard (because it keeps timing out before they see it); even though it really does exist (in some respects); because the User is “on the edge” and if they attempt to log into the site with an IP address they’ve not used in the past, the breach continues to come back over and over again.

Solution: Increase MAX IPs that you allow.

We’ll try to improve the message when that’s the case to avoid this confusion in the future.
Posted: Thursday Apr 4th, 2013 at 11:24 pm #46664
Cody Turner
Username: cturner

Thank you very much for this explanation. I am confident that this is exactly what is happening.

Posted: Thursday Apr 4th, 2013 at 11:26 pm #46665
Cristián Lávaque
Username: Cristian

No problem, glad we could help. Thanks for the update. :)
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