Common server errors detected by Website Security Monitoring

The monitoring dashboard might result in a Scan Failed error message. See below for the most common errors and what to do about them.

• 403 error: ‘Forbidden’ error. This error is triggered when website or file settings have been configured with permissions above what users or the scanner are able to view the site with. This can sometimes be seen when a site has been suspended by the host, or if a security application has blocked access to the monitoring server.
  • If you suspect that the monitoring server is blocked by a security plugin or firewall, you can try allowing the following IPs: 54.184.226.94, 35.162.140.124, 3.218.31.131, and 54.162.61.185.
  • Invalid index files and empty directories can also cause 403 errors. For more information, see one of the following articles based on the type of hosting account you have: Web Hosting (cPanel) / Windows Hosting with Plesk.
• 404 error: ‘Not Found’ error. This error means that whatever is being accessed doesn’t exist. Hackers often attack and infect the 404 page which is why the scanner alerts to this error.
• If a single page is responding with a 404 error, you can learn how to fix it in this article.
• 500 error : 'Internal server error'. This is a very general error that means there's a problem with the website displaying, but the details aren't readily available. There are several things that can cause this error; malware is a common cause, but it could also just be a temporary hosting error.
• Invalid .htaccess rules commonly cause 500 errors with Web Hosting (cPanel) accounts. For Windows Hosting, it's most commonly caused by invalid requests through a web.config file.
• Linux — Review your Apache error logs.
• Windows — Enable detailed errors in your web.config file using the following code:

  <configuration>
     <system.webServer>
        <httpErrors errorMode="Detailed"/>
     </system.webServer>
  </configuration>

• Enable WordPress debug mode to display errors
• Fix a WordPress internal server error
• 503 error: 'Timeout error'. This error can be returned if the website is rejecting certain types of requests or requests from certain IP addresses. It can also be a result of security software, malware, or resource limitations on the server.
• Resource limits
• How do each of cPanel's resources affect my site?

What do I do if I receive an alert?

The first thing to do is check the hosting server error logs for details as to why the errors occurred. If you are unsure of the cause of the error, please feel free to request website security help.

More info

• Common web page errors
• Remove malware from my site
• Understanding website monitoring notifications