One of the WordPress error pages that you have probably come across that have a miscellaneous origin is:

« Are you sure you want to do this? »

What's frustrating with this particular error is that it could mean that you've made a small, repairable error or not, that you've been hacked (but in general it's a security issue that can easily be fixed).

Today we are going to discover the meaning of this mysterious error, when and why it occurs, as well as techniques for correcting it.

Source of the error

Unfortunately, the error " Are you sure you want to do that? Can happen when trying to do a wide variety of tasks:

  • Publication of articles or pages
  • Inserting an image into an article
  • Customizing a theme
  • Creation of labels or categories
  • Download a theme or a plugin
  • Update of WordPress or plugins and themes

This is not a complete exhaustive list, but it should give you a good idea of ​​when this error might occur.

When the error appears, the only thing that is displayed is nothing more than a link to try again, however, a second attempt usually does not work.

are you-really-do-it-wordpress

It may seem that this is a bizarre mistake in its wording, as it is not specific. The phrasing is logical, because there are so many potential causes and most of the time, there is an error that is causing it. Either you make a mistake or the developer who created the plugins and themes that you are using are causing it.

What does this have to do with security?

In many cases, the error appears when you try to perform an action that requires certain user permissions, but WordPress is unable to verify that you have access.

WordPress uses security tokens, often called nonces. They are used to validate a user to verify that they are the owner of their account and they have the correct user role to complete the action they started.

If WordPress is unable to verify security tokens, the error is displayed.

If your site is under attack, especially in the case of cross-site scripting (XSS) or cross-site request forgery (CSRF), the error will be visible during the attack.

It could also happen if a plugin or theme has a security vulnerability or is not coded correctly.

If this is the cause, installing and using a security module such as " Defender Can help you locate and fix the vulnerability and end an attack with a few clicks. For other causes of the error, you can try the following troubleshooting steps.

Track of repairs

Let's take a look at several troubleshooting methods and fixes to help you resolve this error. And if you run into any issues along the way, contact our support team.

Fix # 1: empty your cache

This isn't always a working solution, but sometimes all it takes to resolve this error is to empty the cache of your browser. If that doesn't work, you can try clearing your cookies as well.

Fix # 2: Error while sending a plugin or theme

If you tried to download a theme or plugin and the error occurred, the most likely cause is that you tried to download a plugin or theme pack rather than the ZIP file for just the theme or plugin.

These packs often include the plugin theme or ZIP file along with other useful documents such as instructions, demo content, license information, and other similar files. Unzip the package, then try to download the plugin or theme that you will find among the extracted files.

Fix # 3: PHP memory has been reached

Depending on the plugins and their features, it is likely that your installation of WordPress can not perform a task with the little memory allocated. It will be necessary in some cases that your installation has a larger memory, a task you can do from the cPanel.

Fix # 4: Activate a default theme

You can also try enabling the WordPress theme by default if you use one of the themes available in the directory of WordPress themes or one made by a developer and sold (premium).

In case you have problems accessing your plugins, you can access the files of your site by FTP, SSH or cPanel. Rename the folder of your theme under " wp-content / themes / your-theme / To disable it and activate a theme (present) as the default active theme.

In the previous path snippet, " your-theme Reference to the name of your current active theme. You must make sure to put a name that is not so distinct as that of the original name.

Fix # 5: remove or disable your Plugins

Likewise, you can see if all the plugins you are using are the cause of the error. Sometimes disabling each won't often fix the problem, even if they are the cause, so you have to remove them all to fix the problem.

If you don't have access to your blog's plugins page, you can use FTP, SSH, or cPanel to delete the folders you find under " / Wp-content/plugins / ". You can also rename this folder simply.

You can try a method of gradually activating the installed plugins, this will allow you to identify the source of these conflicts.

When you identify the error, this is how you can determine that the latest version of the plugin you installed was the culprit. At this point, you should contact the developer of the plugin so that they can fix the problem.

That's all for this tutorial, I hope it will help you avoid this error page on WordPress.