Disk Space filled with error log files

[PRATEEK JINDAL]

Hello Everyone ! I got an DISK USAGE WARNING from c-panel. On looking at the files, my space is filled with 38 GB of error_log files. The error log files shows the same numerous errors below :

[Thu Jun 17 02:11:58.155176 2021] [access_compat:error] [pid 28311] AH01797: client denied by server configuration: /home/shailja1/public_html/wp-cron.php
[Thu Jun 17 02:11:58.155152 2021] [access_compat:error] [pid 28302] AH01797: client denied by server configuration: /home/shailja1/public_html/wp-cron.php
[Thu Jun 17 02:10:56.344310 2021] [access_compat:error] [pid 27752] AH01797: client denied by server configuration: /home/shailja1/public_html/wp-cron.php

I have no idea how to delete these files and fix this error. I am very desperate and need your help as I am new in website analytics and I have created my word press website just a few months back. Attaching a picture of my cpanel for your reference.


Immediate help is highly solicited as my disk space is completely out.

 

[cPRex]

Hey there! This traffic is likely a large number of malicious users trying to access the wp-cron.php file, which is a common attack vector as outlined here:

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@thecpanelguy/the-nightmare-that-is-wpcron-php-ae31c1d3ae30

Even if you did remove the file, you'd still see traffic to the server from those bots or scripts trying to access it.

The best thing to do would be to check the logs and see if they are all accessing the file from the same range of IP addresses. If so, blocking the IP or blocking a country code would be a good way to stop that traffic.

To clear up the error log, you could run this command on the server:

echo "" > /etc/apache2/logs/error_log

assuming you are seeing these in the main Apache error log file. It would likely be best to restart the Apache service as well after you have run the command in order to speed up the performance.

Please note, that command will completely erase your Apache log, so you would want to create a backup if you needed that data for anything.