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errorWordfence•hourglass_bottomTimeoutdnsDNSerrorcURL error 28infoWordfence•labelCommon•warningModerate

We received an error while trying to activate the license with the Wordfence servers: cURL error 28

Wordfence attempts to contact noc1.wordfence.com to verify the license. The request uses cURL with a default 10 second timeout. If the server does not receive a response within that period, cURL returns error 28. The timeout occurs when the network path is blocked, DNS does not resolve, or TLS handshake fails because of old libraries.

The error signals a connectivity problem between your site and Wordfence servers. It does not reflect an issue with the license key itself. The problem originates on the hosting side, not within WordPress core.

Symptoms

[dashicons-warning]
License activation fails
The activation screen shows the error message
[dashicons-admin-tools]
Diagnostics reports cURL error 28
Wordfence → Tools → Diagnostics → Connectivity displays the timeout
[dashicons-admin-site]
Site Health loopback failure
Site Health shows a failed loopback request or REST API error

Common Causes

Outbound firewall blocks Wordfence IP
Security modules such as Imunify360 or CSF drop packets to noc1.wordfence.com
DNS resolution failure
The server cannot resolve noc1.wordfence.com or receives an incorrect IP
Out‑of‑date cURL/OpenSSL
Old libraries fail to negotiate TLS with Wordfence servers
Resource limits cause timeout
Low CPU, RAM, or I/O stalls the request past the timeout
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