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We have our Joomla setup with a .htaccess file to allow only particular IP addresses to hit our administrator area. We have several users all over the country who can access it just fine. I have added a couple of more IP addresses in the file and saved it but for these new IP addresses they are unable to get to the admin login screen. It still says 403 forbidden.

Is there a service or a cache that needs to be cleaned out for this to work properly?

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2 Answers 2

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Do you have the Joomla Cache enabled? If so go to System > Clear cache. Select all then hit 'Delete All'.

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  • Also remember to clear server cache. If you use Optcache or Sitegrounds Supercacher
    – Eoin
    Commented Feb 3, 2018 at 15:52
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I can think of 3 reasons:

  • The new IPs are not added the right way to the .htaccess file.
  • The IPs of the users trying to access the file are not what they claim they are. For example, these users are behind a proxy, and they are giving you the wrong IP.
  • The IPs of these users were blocked by the firewall. You will need to flush these blocks from the firewall (or flush all blocks).

I am inclined to think that the third reason might be the cause, since if you hit a forbidden page several times you will eventually get blocked by the firewall (this is the case in most setups).

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  • The easy way to check is to rename .htaccess and ensure that is the reason. Although they have not said they are using .htaccess so potentially there could be another cause.
    – Eoin
    Commented Feb 3, 2018 at 15:53
  • FWIW, my money is on the second reason. The IP address of a given computer can change so often for so many reasons its hard to make it work as a security tool.
    – Arlen
    Commented Dec 27, 2019 at 18:31

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