HTTP ERROR 500 for one forum (at least)

[SecondSight]

Hello, 🙂

Some members have lost access to at least one forum on my board (it's a forum you can access with at least 5 posts in the other forums) : they get a HTTP ERROR 500. As for me I don't have access problems to this forum.

I upgraded yesterday to PHP 8. Is it possible it has something to do with it ?

How should I proceed to fix this ?

Thank you. 🙂

 

[opentype]

First step is to check the error logs. They probably give clues what the cause is. 

[Jim M]

A 500 Internal Server error is very much like that of your car's check engine light. It says something is wrong but not what or where. You would need to review the server error log entry responsible for that error to gain insight to what is happening here. If you are unsure how, please contact your hosting provider.

[SecondSight]

This is linked to PHP 8 since when I switch back to PHP 7.4 there is no more problems.

There are two kind of errors in the error_log file :

Quote

AH01215: PHP Fatal error:  Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 20480 bytes) in /home/myboard/public_html/system/Db/Db.php on line 1075: /usr/local/cpanel/cgi-sys/ea-php80

and :

Quote

ModSecurity: collections_remove_stale: Failed to access DBM file "/var/cpanel/secdatadir/myboard-global": Permission denied [hostname "mycommunitydomainname.com"] 

For this last error, the solution is given here : 
"You can fix this by switching from mod_ruid2 to mod_suexec. 

[Randy Calvert]

Have you tried disabling all of your third party modifications and testing with a default theme to make sure there is not a plugin/application causing a problem?  

Regarding the PHP error...  that's happening because the script is trying to use more memory than your PHP.ini allows (which is 134MB).  My guess is there is a 3rd party resource again that is triggering this.  And regarding the ModSecurity issue...  I would personally disable mod_security.  It breaks more than it fixes.  But again, that's between you and your host.  

Edited September 24, 2022 by Randy Calvert

[Marc]

As mentioned above, disable all 3rd party items and test this again. We are seeing many issues where 3rd party applications are not yet ready for PHP 8 unfortunately.

[SecondSight]

I used only one third party application (Links). I updated it, then disabled it but it didn’t help. 
I will try a default theme. 

[Randy Calvert]

Check the times in which you’re seeing the 500 errors and match them to the error logs. Do they match one of those issues like php memory limit?  If so, have your host increase the limit. 

You might also consider disabling mod_security. Again… based on past experience… it causes more problems than it fixes.

[Marc]

Please do also check your server error logs at the time its happening as mentioned above

[SecondSight]

I've disabled third party applications (I only have one : Links),

I disabled mod_security,

I'm using now a default theme,

I've set PHP memory_limit to 512M,

I deleted the forum they can't access after moving all the topics in a new forum, but these members don't have access to the new forum either...

These members say they see this error message : (I've enabled display_errors momentarily)

Quote

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 20480 bytes) in /home/myboard/public_html/system/Db/Select.php on line 503

In the server error_log, I have the same error messages + the members' IP. By the way, do you know why there is a number after the member's IP (in bold, below) ?

Quote

[cgi:error] [pid 16881] [client 93.33.18.93:57492] AH01215: PHP Fatal error:  Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 20480 bytes) in /home/myboard/public_html/system/Db/Db.php on line 1075: /usr/local/cpanel/cgi-sys/ea-php80, referer: https://forums-enseignants-du-primaire.com/topic/334741-les-bosseuses-2/page/628/

Any other ideas are welcome...

Thank you. 🙂

[opentype]

Can you replicate this issue if you login as one of those members?

If so, it’s certainly interesting that it is member-based. I would then try to figure out what’s different about a member than has this issue vs. one that does not have it. It should give an indication about what is causing the error. 

[SecondSight]

Hello, 🙂

I searched for their account in the ACP and used the feature "Account actions/Sign in as..."  and I was able to access the forums without any problems...

Does it mean the problem comes from their computer and phone ? But when I use PHP 7.4, they don't have problems...

Thank you, 🙂

[Marc]

If the issue is only present when switching PHP version, its likely there is an error somewhere that is causing it to timeout. The most likely scenario is that is 3rd party somewhere that is running. I would need an example user to take a look, and for you server to be using PHP 8 so we can replicate the problem