Fix Your IP Has Been Flagged for Potential Security Violation in WordPress

I have been maintaining a couple of WordPress blogs for several years now and have encountered problems every few months. One such problem is Jetpack blocking my access to my own blog.

Today, when I was trying to login to my blog, instead of showing the regular login page, I was shown an error page “Your IP has been Flagged for Potential Security Violation”.

I was able to resolve the issue by adding a line of code to my Wp-config.php file using FTP client. But you may don’t have to do that as there are several ways to fix your IP has been flagged for potential security violations error in WordPress.

Why may WordPress block your access?

WordPress Jetpack plugin has a security feature called Protect. This feature protects your blog from brute force attacks. When the Jetpack detects multiple unsuccessful attempts, it will block that IP address from accessing the login page.
Though this feature has been created to protect the blog from hackers, at times even the blog owners and admins can also be blocked from accessing the login page. It is known as “False Alarm.”

Even if you have entered proper login username and password, the “your IP has been flagged for potential security violations” message can be shown to you.

WordPress is aware of this issue and has released an official guide on how to deal with it.
If you are facing the similar problem, here are few methods to fix it.

Fix 1: Change your IP Address

If you have noticed the error message properly, you can see that WordPress has blocked your IP address from accessing the login page.

Example:

Your IP (49.32.28.36) has been flagged for potential security violation.
Which means if you try to login with a different IP address you will be allowed to access the login page.

If you are on the 3G/4G data network, then you probably will have a dynamic IP address which changes with every reconnect. So, all you have to do is disconnect your internet connection and reconnect it.

Try logging into WordPress blog, and you should be able to login to your WordPress blog without the jetPack security module blocking your request.

If you have a static IP address associated with your internet connection which is the case for the broadband connection, then try using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) Client. Something like Hotspot Shield is a good choice for temporary use as it comes with a free trial.

Note: Don’t use proxy sites, as it is not a very wise idea to use them for logging into your WordPress blog.

Fix 2: Whitelist your IP Address

Along with JetPack Protect module comes the convenience of whitelisting any IP Address. If you can whitelist your IP address, you can log in to WordPress dashboard.
There are two ways to Whitelist an IP address in WordPress. One is directly from your WordPress JetPack dashboard, and another one is using WordPress.com dashboard.
In most of the cases, you will not be able to whitelist using your WordPress dashboard as you are already blocked. Hence the best bet is using WordPress.com.

White List from WordPress.com – Go to WordPress.com, login and click on MySites from the top left.

Under My Site, you can see Switch Site button. Click on it and it will display all your WordPress blogs.



Select the blog on which you are blocked. From the left sidebar, scroll down and click on Settings.

Next, click on Security tab. Under IP Address Whitelist section you can see your current IP address. Copy the IP Adress and paste in the given box below.



Click on Save Settings and close the window. Go to yourblog.com/wp-admin and see if you can login now.

Whitelist from WordPress Dashboard (works only if you are not blocked)– You can also whitelist IP address from WordPress dashboard. Go to Jetpack >> Settings >> Protect and click on Configure.
Alternatively, go to http://www.example.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=jetpack