Symptoms
-
WordPress Toolkit Hotlinking Protection is enabled on the WordPress instance. Going to Domains > example.com > WordPress instance > Check Security > Hotlink protection is enabled.
-
A caching mechanism is enabled. I.E.: native WordPress plugins, memcached, Google PageSpeed Insights, etc.
-
An image is uploaded into
httpdocs/wp-content/uploads
folder path: -
However, accessing directly the image from
httpdocs/wp-content/uploads
folder shows the Hotlinking Protection image instead of the original file:
Cause
Cached files are loaded instead of the original files.
This is WordPress Toolkit extension bug #EXTWPTOOLK-2675 which will be fixed in future updates.
Resolution
As a workaround, disable Hotlinking Protection:
-
Go to Domains > example.com > WordPress Instance > Check Security > Disable Hotlink protection
-
Disable/uninstall any caching mechanism enabled and present for the WordPress website (I.E.: WordPress plugins, memcached, Google PageSpeed Insights, etc).
Note: in some cases disabling all WordPress plugins and then re-activating both plugins and Hotlink protection fixes the issue.