Urgent, Logins Broken

Hi guys,

We came in this morning and all users (except admins) are locked out of logging in across our entire multisite network.

It reports this error upon login attempts:

Error 324 (net::ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE): The server closed the connection without sending any data.

We contact WPEngine (our host) they say it’s a plugin issue and recommended this example code to fix the problem. Apparently it has something to do with “wp-login” versus “login”.

<form name="loginform" id="loginform" action="" method="post">

You can check the login button in the header of worshipmediacreator.com with these credentials for testing:
user: 412church
pass: statestreet

Please let me know how to adjust this as soon as possible, it’s an urgent matter. Thank you!

Can I bump this? We’re actively trying to get it figured out. If anyone has any advice they can offer, it’d be great.

We have the same issue on our site at http://yumuniverse.com and it is also hosted at WP Engine. We’re completely up to date with all plugins and WP version, but noticed the issue earlier today. Hopefully someone has an idea of what happened here (I imagine a change on the WP Engine side). Will post more as I learn more.

Heather, we should stay in contact about this. What did WPE say to you?

I noticed a working link being yoursite.com/wp-login.php. For some reason it actually started working. All login widgets and popups stopped working. I’ve changed my links to go to the main login window until we get this figured out.

I think it may be on the WPE side, but they didn’t know what was going on. I would say the lack of response from S2M means they’re not sure about it either.

Hi Jordan,

Interesting – yes, now /wp-login.php does allow a member to login – that’s a start at least. Same as you, we have users login via a login widget typically.

No response yet from WPE but will let you know if I hear anything at all.

Thanks!
Heather

I had not seen this problem before, that I remember. I’m guessing, since wp-login.php is working for you, that you had the problem using the s2Member Pro login widget, is that correct? Do you have the same error if you try other login widgets?

We don’t know our widget to have a problem that’d cause that error, and I can’t reproduce it in my site, so I agree with you that it seems to be specific to WP Engine. If they try logging in using the widget and get the 324, maybe their server logs show what the problem is before the error is returned.

You can also try these in case it helps: Knowledge Base » Common Troubleshooting Tips

I’m working hard to try to nail this down.

It seems the pro login widget is a problem, it only works for admins, nobody else… however, the wp-login DOES work for everyone (as far as I’ve seen).

This only began yesterday morning, there was an S2Member new release, could there be anything that changed with the login widget?

The list of common troubleshooting doesn’t seem to make a difference, though I haven’t done super extensive testing, hoping to keep this thread a focus.

Hi Jordan,

I just found this morning that the widget no longer works for admins either, at least on our site.

Also, we were on an old version of S2 Member when we noticed the issue, so likely it wasn’t the S2 Member update that started this. I’m thinking that WPE made a change yesterday that started this.

No word back from WPE yet. Will let you know if I hear something.

Thanks!
Heather

Thanks for the updates, guys. I agree with you, Heather, and hope WP Engine helps you sort it out soon.

This other user had an issue with object caching and she’s hosted with WP Engine. http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/paypal-redirecting-to-paypal-page/#post-52062

Object and database should be disabled because they’re known to cause random trouble. I don’t know if it’s related to your widget login problem, but thought I’d let you know since it’s the same hosting company.

So, is it WPEngine customers ONLY having the problems? Seems like everything hit the fan on the 6.17 update of S2M, though it’s only affecting us. Cristian, is this the case?

I’m still following up with WPE to try the caching issue… I wonder if reverting back to a previous version of S2M would do the trick?

Ok, I just got the latest update and hoped it could fix something. I did some extensive testing, and it’s all down to the pro login widget. At this point, it’s the ONLY login method not working for non-admins.

Built in login options in my themes DO allow for logins, as does wp-login.php.

Cristian, this tells me that it’s solely the Pro login widget. Even after disabling all plugins I get the same result. Any chance we can bring in your devs on the topic, just to explore if it IS an S2M issue?

Hi Jordan et al,

WPEngine has taken care of the issue on our site. Here’s their response (below). Hope this helps!

-Heather

—–

Hey Heather,

Thanks for contacting WP Engine. I’ve gone ahead and disabled a recently released security feature around Login Protection that most likely was causing the issue. Can you check again in ten minutes, it should be working. Please let us know.

Regards,
Dustin Meza
Customer Support Manager

Wow, that’s great news. I never would have guessed it was a WPE release that would mess with S2M.

Thanks for your attention Cristian, I’ll report back if they can do the same for my site.

My issue is now solved with the removal of their security release on logins. We’ll need to keep a closer eye on these kind of things in the future… I only found out after a fairly outgoing individual told me about it. That’s no good.

That’s great news guys! Thanks for the update. :)

Jordan, yes, it’s best to keep an eye on the user experience, trying the site as a regular user from time to time. It’s also good to make it easy for them to have alternatives (like a link to the default login page) or an easy way to contact you for help even if logged out.