I have two Contact Forms on my site but am experiencing the 403 Forbidden error on only one of them. Before posting this question I have read through a number of similar questions where the response has been to clear cache in various places but I cannot see this being a possible fix in this instance where one very basic form works perfectly well (just the standard Name, Email, Subject, Message questions) while the other more detailed questionnaire triggers the error when clicking on the submit button. Are there any limitations on the amount of fields that can be included in the form (or other non-obvious restrictions) that may cause this issue?
403 Forbidden error when submitting Contact Form
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Since I posted this query I have been trying various things and managed to get the form to send by removing all of the question text (20 different questions) and just numbering all of the fields. The actual questions are quite lengthy so I am guessing that there is some overall length restriction in the file that is created on clicking submit. I could look into shortening the question text to overcome this problem but I have no control over the response length so may still face the same problem when people try to contact us.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated
Hi Pete,
I’m sorry to hear you’re having issues using the SiteOrigin Contact Form. I haven’t personally seen this sort of error in this context before so I’m not too sure why this would be happening. There are no defined limits on filed length or the number of fields but it’s quite possible that a very large form may get rejected by the server due to how long it takes to process – that would result in a different error.
Based on the error code, I suspect there was something present that the server flat out rejected. If you restore the larger fields, does this error occur again? If so, would it be possible for you to send me an export of the page containing your contact form? To do this please open up the linked page in the editor and click the Layout button in the Page Builder toolbar. Then click import/export and then click download. Please upload the export to a 3rd party file hosting site such as WeTransfer (no email is required).
Also, do you have a public URL where we can take a look at your contact form?
Hi Alex,
Pleasantly surprised to get a response so quickly (and on a Sunday too)
I have extracted a copy of the contact form with the error and the one that works when I replace the questions with just numbers and uploaded them to
WeTransfer in a zip file.
https://we.tl/t-LVyQpNz7Pm
The live page that is experiencing this issue is
https://www.dorisbanhamdogrescue.org/wp/apply-to-adopt-2/ (the secondary version with just the numbers in place of the questions is not in the live environment)
while the shorter contact form that still works is
https://www.dorisbanhamdogrescue.org/wp/contact/ .
If this does come down to just a rogue bit of text that the server is taking exception to then the charity that this relates to will be exceptionally happy.
Thank you for your help in this matter
Hi Pete,
Thanks. The provided contact form without issue for me locally but I was able to replicate this issue on your website. Can you try disabling all non-SiteOrigin plugins and see if this fixes the issue? You’ll need to clear all your caches after disabling your plugins.
If it does fix the issue, then try re-enabling your plugins one by one until the issue comes back. This procedure will help diagnose which plugin is causing the issue.
Once we know that, we’ll be able to look at what might be causing the conflict and either solve the problem or help you find an alternative plugin.
Hi Alex,
I went one step further than switching off plugins and did a fresh install of WordPress with just the Vantage Theme and the associated SiteOrigin plugins added (Page Builder, CSS and Widgets Bundle).
Having imported the Contact Form from the original site I then went through every question on it and have discovered to my bemusement that the problem only occurs when the following label is used “Are you prepared to have a home checker call at any time within a year of you having the dog to check on its welfare?“.
I even created a form with just this question added to those that are added by default https://dorisbanhamdogrescue.org/test/single-question-contact-form/ and the error persists
I have asked the site’s owner to provide me with alternative wording in the hope that we can resolve this issue but thought I would close out this thread by asking if there is any word or phrase in that rather innocuous question that could trigger the 403 error
Regards
Pete
Hi Pete,
I suspect your hosting provider has some security software present that has an overly aggressive rule set that is resulting in that sentence being flagged in this context and that in turn is causing the page to be rejected on submission. I would reach out to your hosting provider and ask if they have something like mod_security installed and if so, are you getting blocked? You should include a link to the contact form you provided with this specific sentence as that will allow them to replicate this issue and easily check the logs for this.