First identify who controls the block. If you are visiting someone else’s site, you cannot change its Cloudflare settings: save the error page, Ray ID, time, URL and the action that triggered it, then send those details to the site owner. If you administer the site, open Security Events, locate the request and change only the product or rule that denied legitimate traffic. Error 1020 means a firewall rule, 1015 means rate limiting, and 1010 means the site owner rejected your browser signature.
Work out which side of the block you are on
You are a visitor
A Cloudflare challenge or denial is controlled by the website owner. Cloudflare Support cannot override a customer’s firewall, bot, browser-integrity or rate-limit decision for you. Record:
- The complete error page and its error number.
- The Ray ID, if displayed.
- The page URL, date, time and time zone.
- What you did immediately before the block (submitted a form, logged in, searched, uploaded a file or refreshed repeatedly).
- Your client IP address, if the owner requests it.
Send that information through the site’s support channel. Avoid suspicious-looking inputs and automated scripts. A different trusted network can occasionally change a challenge result, but changing VPNs, hardware or buying software is not a guaranteed fix; the owner’s configuration and the actual cause determine access.
You own or administer the site
Use the Cloudflare dashboard and logs. Do not start by turning off the WAF or allowing every request. Find the event, identify the controlling feature and make the smallest safe exception.
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Cloudflare errors and the correct response
| Error | Meaning | Visitor action | Owner action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1010 | The site owner denied access based on browser signature. | Contact the site owner; Cloudflare cannot change the customer’s setting. | Review Browser Integrity Check and related security configuration. |
| 1015 | A rate-limit rule temporarily blocked request volume. | Stop retrying and wait. Repeated attempts can extend the block. | Review the threshold and period against real traffic. |
| 1020 | A firewall rule denied the request. | Send the screenshot, Ray ID, time, URL and activity to the owner. | Search Security Events and inspect the matching rule and service. |
Site-owner procedure: find the rule before changing it
- Open Security Events. Search with the Ray ID first; otherwise use the client IP, URL or path and timestamp. Open the event and note the Service field. It identifies whether a managed WAF rule, custom rule, rate limit, IP Access rule, bot mitigation or challenge acted.
- Reproduce the legitimate flow once. Use the same URL and request type, but do not hammer the endpoint. Compare the new event with the original so you do not fix an unrelated request.
- Record the exact match. Capture the rule ID or name, expression, action, zone and affected path. This gives you a rollback target and prevents a broad, unexplained exception.
- Choose the narrowest remedy. Prefer a verified source IP or range, ASN, endpoint, HTTP method or other attribute that identifies the legitimate request. Keep unrelated protections active.
- Retest and monitor. Run the affected legitimate action, then review new Security Events for both allowed traffic and abuse. Remove or tighten the exception if it matches more traffic than intended.
Fixes by Cloudflare security feature
Managed WAF rules and false positives
If a managed rule is flagging a normal request, add an exception for the known legitimate traffic or adjust the applicable OWASP managed ruleset. If necessary, disable only the specific matching rule. Cloudflare’s guidance is explicit: “If one specific rule causes false positives, disable that specific rule and not the entire ruleset.” Disabling a rule reduces protection against the attack pattern it detects, so document the reason and scope the change where possible.
For a managed-rule exception, make sure the exception is evaluated before the managed ruleset executes. Otherwise the request may still be blocked before the exception can take effect.
Custom firewall rules
Open the rule that produced the 1020 event and narrow its expression. A rule intended for an administrative path, for example, should not accidentally match an entire site or a shared corporate NAT address. Test the expression against the legitimate path, method and source attributes before deploying it.
IP Access rules
Use an Allow entry only when you understand its reach. Cloudflare documents that an IP Access Allow rule can bypass custom rules, rate limiting and WAF managed rules. A broad office or VPN range can therefore remove several layers of protection, not just the rule that caused the incident. Prefer a narrower range or endpoint-specific exception when the feature supports it.
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Rate limiting (error 1015)
Inspect the rule’s request threshold and period. Base both on observed legitimate traffic, not on a guess. Cloudflare gives a one-second period and a possible ten-second period as an example for owner review; that is not a universal setting. If a short interval is creating bursts of false positives, consider a longer period with a threshold that still limits abuse. Visitors should wait rather than repeatedly retrying, because rapid attempts may prolong the block.
Bot Fight Mode and Super Bot Fight Mode
Determine which bot product is active. Bot Fight Mode cannot be skipped with a WAF custom-rule Skip action, so its exception options are limited. Super Bot Fight Mode supports scoped Skip rules that can exempt verified legitimate traffic. Disabling a bot mitigation is a fallback that changes protection for a wider class of requests; use it only after confirming the feature is the source.
Browser Integrity and challenges
Error 1010 indicates a browser-signature decision by the site owner. Review Browser Integrity Check and any challenge or bot settings that inspect headers, JavaScript or browser characteristics. A visitor cannot repair this from the browser side; the owner must adjust the setting or provide an approved path.
How to scope a safe exception
Compare every proposed change on three dimensions:
- Scope: one rule, path, method or verified source versus all traffic.
- Security impact: whether unrelated WAF, bot and rate-limit controls remain active.
- Control: whether the action belongs to the visitor, the site owner or an upstream network provider.
For example, a managed-rule exception for /checkout from a verified payment-service range is materially different from allowing an entire ISP address. Write down the original expression, the replacement, the owner, date and an expiry or review date. Re-check the event stream after deployment.
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When Cloudflare is not the blocker
An ISP, corporate firewall, DNS filter or hosting provider can block traffic before it reaches Cloudflare. If no Cloudflare error page or Ray ID appears, ask the network administrator or internet service provider to investigate. The support contact depends on where the request stops; changing a Cloudflare rule cannot repair an upstream block.
Troubleshooting common failures
“I allowed my IP, but the request is still denied”
Check the Security Event’s Service field again. A bot feature, rate limit or managed rule may be acting instead of the rule you changed. Also verify that the address is the public client IP Cloudflare saw, not a private LAN address or an outdated VPN address.
“The exception works, but it allows too much”
Reduce the match to the required path, method, ASN or source range. Review events for other URLs and users, then replace a broad IP Allow rule with a feature-specific exception where possible.
“The block returns after a few minutes”
Look for multiple products matching the same request or for a short-lived rate-limit window. One change may have exposed the next control in the chain. Resolve each legitimate false positive separately and keep an audit trail.
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“Visitors are retrying continuously”
Ask them to stop rapid retries and send the Ray ID and timestamp. For 1015, repeated access attempts can extend the block and generate more rate-limit events.
“Cloudflare shows no event”
Confirm the hostname is proxied through the expected zone and that the timestamp, time zone and client IP filters are correct. If the request never reached Cloudflare, investigate DNS, the origin, an ISP or a corporate gateway instead.
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Every exception adds rule-processing complexity and a maintenance obligation. Keep expressions short, avoid duplicate rules and review them after application, traffic or provider changes. Rate limits should reflect normal bursts, while bot and WAF exceptions should be tied to verifiable attributes rather than convenient but unstable signals. Monitor both successful legitimate requests and blocked events after each deployment; an apparently successful fix that hides attack traffic is not a safe fix.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Will clearing cookies permanently stop a Cloudflare block?
No. Clearing cookies may remove a stale challenge token, but it cannot change a firewall rule, rate limit or browser-signature decision made by the site owner.
Can Cloudflare Support unblock my IP from another company’s site?
No. The website owner controls that customer’s security settings. Send the owner the error details and Ray ID instead.
Should I disable the whole WAF ruleset to fix error 1020?
No. Identify the matching rule and adjust or disable only that rule, using a narrowly scoped exception whenever possible.
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