MScan – Fatal PHP error – bulletproof-security/admin/mscan/mscan.php line 2876

[AITpro Admin]

Email Question:

We’re experiencing a fatal error when trying to access the MScan page on one
of our two sites, and would appreciate your help.

WordPress’s fatal error monitor caught the following:

wp-admin/admin.php?page=bulletproof-security/admin/mscan/mscan.php Plugin:
BulletProof Security Pro, version 17.6 WordPress version: 7.0 PHP version:
8.3.31

Error Details: An error of type E_ERROR was caused in line 2876 of the file
/home/sites/xxxxxx/5/xxxxxx/public_html/wp-content/plugins/bulletproof-security/admin/mscan/mscan.php.
Error message: Allowed memory size of 1853882368 bytes exhausted (tried to
allocate 564150272 bytes)

For context: we have two sister sites with near-identical configuration
(same theme, same core plugin stack). We found a database option called
bulletproof_security_options_mscan_plugin_hash that is 1.95 MB in size with
autoload set to “yes” — meaning it’s loading on every single page load
across the site. On our other site this option doesn’t exist at all, and
checking the MScan Log there shows it hasn’t been run since January 31,
2023.

We were planning to use the Reset MScan and Delete File Hashes Tool buttons
to clear the stored scan data on but we cannot even load the MScan page to
access those buttons due to the memory exhaustion error above.

Could you advise:

What is causing this memory exhaustion specifically — is it related to the
large mscan_plugin_hash option, or something else entirely?
Is there a safe way to clear/reset the MScan data without needing to load
the MScan admin page itself, given it’s currently crashing?
Is it safe/expected for the bulletproof_security_options_mscan_plugin_hash
option to be set with autoload=”yes” given its size, or should this be
something we should never need to touch ourselves?
Since the working site hasn’t had MScan run since January 2023, would you
recommend running a fresh scan there, and if so, would we expect to hit the
same memory issue given it’s a near-identical site setup (just without the
historic large option)?

Our server has a 64MB OPcache limit and we’re on shared hosting, which our
host has confirmed cannot be increased — this may be relevant context if
MScan’s memory requirements are demanding for our environment.

We are very happy with BulletProof Security Pro and your
AutoRestore|Quarantine feature, which we know has been working correctly
throughout (we’ve seen it correctly flagging temp-write-test files on
previous occasions) — this query is specifically about the MScan feature.

Thank you for your help.

Ian

[AITpro Admin]

Answer:

The MScan DB options autoload option should be set to yes so that DB tables are displayed when you load the MScan page.

The PHP error means that MScan scan results in your database are causing the fatal php error for some reason.

Do these steps to delete the MScan database options:

Go to BPS Pro > Tools menu > DB Table Cleaner|Remover tab page > look for this database table > xxxxxx_bpspro_mscan > select the Drop Radio button next to this DB option > scroll down and click the Empty|Drop button.

Deleting the xxxxxx_bpspro_mscan database table will delete any/all MScan database options/settings.

[Author]

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