Locked out of my community (VPN issue)

[VahnPetit]

Hi all,

I've been having this issue for a couple of weeks since I started using a VPN.

The issue: when I am not using the VPN, I cannot access my own community anymore (as if my IP was recognise as spammer or else).

I can access the Admin dashboard.

Where can I mark my IP as safe please? Or remove my IP from the blocked IPs?

I lose so much time switching from VPN on/off (and I cannot work all the time with it being "on" cause it slows down my connection like crazy).

Thanks for your help 🙂

[Daniel F]

You can see if your IP is banned on the ACP => Members => Ban Settings page.

That said, this doesn't look like a banned error message for me, we don't use "non-member" anywhere in our language strings. Did you customize the language or is this probably a 3rd party issue?

[VahnPetit]

12 minutes ago, Daniel F said:

You can see if your IP is banned on the ACP => Members => Ban Settings page.

That said, this doesn't look like a banned error message for me, we don't use "non-member" anywhere in our language strings. Did you customize the language or is this probably a 3rd party issue?

Thanks @Daniel F, yes, my community language is in French, I did a Google translate for you guys 🙂 

No, my IP is not showing under the Ban column...

So just to make it clear:

When my VPN is ON (whatever IP, country...), I can access my forums.
When the VPN is OFF, I'm locked out (and it does not even ask to log in, no action can be taken on the page as you see).

[Miss_B]

What apps do you have installed? Did this start to happen immediately after using the VPN or was there some other change done to the forum?

I am using VPN as well and I can't reproduce this. WHat are the following settings set to in your Acp?

Trust IP addresses provided by proxies?

Check IP address when validating session?

Restrict Referrer Policy

They all can be found under the Server Configuration area.

One more question, is there any detailed error message logged in the SYstem Logs page pertaining to this?

[VahnPetit]

5 minutes ago, Miss_B said:

What apps do you have installed? Did this start to happen immediately after using the VPN or was there some other change done to the forum?

I am using VPN as well and I can't reproduce this. WHat are the following settings set to in your Acp?

Trust IP addresses provided by proxies?

Check IP address when validating session?

Restrict Referrer Policy

They all can be found under the Server Configuration area.

One more question, is there any detailed error message logged in the SYstem Logs page pertaining to this?

Thanks @Miss_B!

I'll go and check those.👍

And no, no other error message than what you see on the screenshot. 

[Miss_B]

1 hour ago, VahnPetit said:

Where can I mark my IP as safe please? Or remove my IP from the blocked IPs?

Can you run the following sql query at the SQL box of the phpmyadmin for the database that you have used to install your Ipb forum?

SELECT * FROM `core_spam_service_log` WHERE ip_address = 'xyzetc';

This query will check if your real ip address has been marked as spam.

I also don't think that your ip is banned based on the error message you posted, but to make real sure you can run this query.

SELECT * FROM `core_banfilters` WHERE ban_content = 'xyzetc';

Replace xyzetc with your actual ip address in both queries. That is if you have a static ip. And if you are using a custom prefix for your database tables append it to the table names in the above queries.

[VahnPetit]

20 minutes ago, Miss_B said:

What apps do you have installed? Did this start to happen immediately after using the VPN or was there some other change done to the forum?

I am using VPN as well and I can't reproduce this. WHat are the following settings set to in your Acp?

Trust IP addresses provided by proxies?

Check IP address when validating session?

Restrict Referrer Policy

They all can be found under the Server Configuration area.

One more question, is there any detailed error message logged in the SYstem Logs page pertaining to this?

Unfortunately, I tried to allow all those but nothing has changed.

 

[Marc]

That looks to be the ban page, but modified. The only way that can be showing on your site is if your IP is banned, in the scenario you mention. So I would advise checking the list again. If you are then unsure, please feel free to PM me your IP address when you see that issue, and ensure login details are up to date on file

[VahnPetit]

12 minutes ago, Marc Stridgen said:

That looks to be the ban page, but modified. The only way that can be showing on your site is if your IP is banned, in the scenario you mention. So I would advise checking the list again. If you are then unsure, please feel free to PM me your IP address when you see that issue, and ensure login details are up to date on file

Found it 😬

There was a previous user that was banned and he had MY own IP showing as his own (I don't know why but that's the reason).

Deleted that banned guy/IP.

Thanks for insisting in me checking that Banned column @Marc Stridgen!

I guess I have to wait a bit before the system allows my IP now...?

[Marc]

No, it should let you on right away once you remove that entry