Search error 403

[PreetParticipant]

Hi there,

A customer has just complained that the search doesn’t work for her. I haven’t ever been able to reproduce it myself, but a colleague has described similar problems repeatedly, so I am clear this is not just a one off.

The we site loads fine for her, but as soon as she types something into the search bar, it says Request failed. Please check your connection Error 403. It has also said Error 0.

I tried to troubleshoot it over the phone. She was using an iPad/ Safari with latest updates. Other sites load fine, as does ours. I got her to to a hard reboot of the iPad. I also deactivated WP Rocket and put her IP into developer mode on Sucuri. But the same problem occurs.

Do you have any ideas?

Thanks,
Christopher

[PreetParticipant]

I should also say that your plugin is AWESOME. It is a fundamental part of our store.

[Ernest MarcinkoKeymaster]

Hi!

Thank you very much for your kind words!

Error 403 usually indicates when there is a resource forbidden on the server. In this case it is namely the ajax handler, which should return the results.

If the cases are isolated, then the most likely cause is either:
– Firewall or any other restriction. There might be a rate limit in effect, that may trigger a firewall at the server, which then forbids the access to the given file. Usually it’s either by IP or by user agent.
– Temporary server outage/maintenance at that time
– The connection on that specific device has some sort of issues

Based on your description I would suspect a firewall. It could be sucuri or something else. Try deactivating all of the security measures on the server side, to see how it changes.

Best,
Ernest Marcinko
If you like my products, don't forget to rate them on codecanyon :)

[PreetParticipant]

So…
I tried to reproduce at the same time also using an iPad.
I disabled Sucuri for her IP
I did searches at the same time as her…

But I could never reproduce it. She could never search. So it’s isolated to individuals, but not so much times. I think this lady was able to do searches before.

I’m wondering if it could be something at her ISP. Is that likely?

[Ernest MarcinkoKeymaster]

I honestly don’t know, it could be though. It is very unlikely, however if there is no other difference, then some sort of blocking/ISP issues could explain it.

Best,
Ernest Marcinko
If you like my products, don't forget to rate them on codecanyon :)

[PreetParticipant]

OK. Well thanks anyway. If she was not elderly and un-techy, I would have asked her to try tethering instead of her home broadband.

[Author]

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