mod_fcgid: stderr: Connection refused appears repeatedly within the Apache error log for a website on a Plesk server

Symptoms

• Plesk Obsidian running on a Linux-based operating system
• The following errors are visible within the Apache Error Log for a website:

  [Wed Jul 19 11:25:22.455351 2023] [fcgid:warn] [pid 29789:tid 139629537761024] [client 203.0.113.2:0] mod_fcgid: stderr: Connection refused
  [Wed Jul 19 11:25:22.455389 2023] [fcgid:warn] [pid 29789:tid 139629537761024] [client 203.0.113.2:0] mod_fcgid: stderr: Connection refused
  [Wed Jul 19 11:25:22.455392 2023] [fcgid:warn] [pid 29789:tid 139629537761024] [client 203.0.113.2:0] mod_fcgid: stderr: Connection refused
  [Wed Jul 19 11:25:22.455399 2023] [fcgid:warn] [pid 29789:tid 139629537761024] [client 203.0.113.2:0] mod_fcgid: stderr: Connection refused
  [Wed Jul 19 11:25:22.455403 2023] [fcgid:warn] [pid 29789:tid 139629537761024] [client 203.0.113.2:0] mod_fcgid: stderr: Connection refused

• The following entries are visible within the Access Log for the website:

  203.0.113.2 - - [19/Jul/2023:11:25:24 +0200] "POST /blog/wp-cron.php HTTP/1.0" 200 871 "-" "WordPress/6.2.2; https://example.com/blog"
  203.0.113.2 - - [19/Jul/2023:11:25:24 +0200] "GET /blog/ HTTP/1.0" 200 17171 "-" "WordPress/6.2.2; https://example.com/blog"
  203.0.113.2 - - [19/Jul/2023:11:25:24 +0200] "GET /blog/ HTTP/1.0" 200 17171 "-" "WordPress/6.2.2; https://example.com/blog"
  203.0.113.2 - - [19/Jul/2023:11:25:24 +0200] "GET /blog/ HTTP/1.0" 200 17171 "-" "WordPress/6.2.2; https://example.com/blog"
  203.0.113.2 - - [19/Jul/2023:11:25:24 +0200] "GET /blog/ HTTP/1.0" 200 17171 "-" "WordPress/6.2.2; https://example.com/blog"
  203.0.113.2 - - [19/Jul/2023:11:25:24 +0200] "GET /blog/ HTTP/1.0" 200 17171 "-" "WordPress/6.2.2; https://example.com/blog"
  203.0.113.2 - - [19/Jul/2023:11:25:19 +0200] "POST /blog/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron=1689758719.9299299716949462890625 HTTP/1.0" 200 871 "-" "WordPress/6.2.2; https://example.com/blog"

• A portion of the website (for example, the Blog section) is using a separately installed WordPress script
• The WordPress script has a heavily customized .htaccess file that contains entries from security and performance plugins such as Wordfence, W3 Total Cache or All In One WP Security
• The connection from the main website script to the WordPress script is being refused due to the configurations of the security and performance plugins in WordPress.

Cause

The connection from the main website script to the WordPress script is being refused due to the configurations of the security and performance plugins in WordPress, which can be seen within the .htaccess file of the WordPress script.

Resolution

Review and adjust the settings of the plugins on the side of the WordPress script in order to allow the connection from the main website to the WordPress portion of it.

Alternatively, you may disable the necessary plugins on the side of WordPress plugins entirely.