Endless login/re-auth loop in Wordpress - with Firefox only
Hi All,
I have a problem in some long-standing WP installations.
In Firefox only, I am stuck in a session timeout/login loop.
I go to admin... it shows me the login screen, I login with a known and working username and pass and then it comes back to the login screen again. This is continuous and I often can not login at all.
On occasion when I can login, as soon as I go to save a post, I get tossed to the login screen again.
Additionally If I have more than one tab open on these sites, then I will get the WP session expired dialog. I will login in again via this dialog, but within seconds, the session expired dialog will pop back up.
I have cleared browsers cache, deleted cookies, deactivated cache plugins etc etc,.. but can not find a solution to this issue.
Any help appreciated.
G
Réiteach roghnaithe
Thanks All.
We have found the problem.. and it was not Firefox(directly).
Our host added Varnish - http accelerator/cache software - to the sites affected by our issue.
Removing Varnish has removed the problem.
G
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (6)
This can be caused by corrupted cookies or cookies that are blocked (check the permissions on the about:permissions page).
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
If clearing cookies doesn't work then it is possible that the cookies.sqlite file that stores the cookies is corrupted.
Rename (or delete) cookies.sqlite (cookies.sqlite.old) and delete other present cookie files like cookies.sqlite-journal in the Firefox profile folder in case the file cookies.sqlite got corrupted.
Thanks Cor-el
Try both those solutions with no luck.(as yet) but I will try the safe mode/extension option again and be a little more pedantic about the extensions.
G
I think I once accidentally locked myself out of WordPress by changing the HTTPS settings. There was a problem properly passing the cookies between secure and insecure pages when I tried to use HTTPS only for logon. I think I had to use FTP to edit or remove a file before I could log back in. Hopefully you aren't stuck in that way.
This could be relevant: many users reported a related-sounding problem with Yahoo and some AOL sites, having to keep authenticating. The workaround was to change the proxy setting here:
orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Options > Advanced > "Network" mini-tab > "Settings" button
If you use Auto-detect, change to either Use system proxy settings or No Proxy and see whether that helps. You might need to exit and restart Firefox before it takes effect.
Thanks jscher2000,
Proxy was set to "Use System" and has been unchanged the whole time.
It is a problem that is driving me nuts because I can login as normal and 'work' when using Chrome.. ..but Firefox my preferred and default browser is the only place I have this issue. :(
Safe Mode is a quick test and worth trying. If nothing else, you get to see how your blog looks and performed without any extensions modifying the experience.
If you open the Web Console (Ctrl+Shift+k) when visiting the page, you can click the page request (of course, it will be followed by many style sheet and other requests) and view the Request and Response Headers. This may help you spot a missing/corrupted cookie problem.
Réiteach Roghnaithe
Thanks All.
We have found the problem.. and it was not Firefox(directly).
Our host added Varnish - http accelerator/cache software - to the sites affected by our issue.
Removing Varnish has removed the problem.
G