Comodo WAF: mod_security2: Failed to write to DBM file "/var/cache/modsecurity/ip": Invalid argument

Posted on Oct 17, 2017

After seeing apache using all it’s threads, and connections not timing out as they should, I looked at the apache error_log and found the following error.

Message: collection_store: Failed to write to DBM file “/var/cache/modsecurity/ip”: Invalid argument

I not only saw this on cPanel servers, but on Plesk and plain LAMP (with mod_security and comodo waf installed).

It looks like Comodo somehow released a broken update, that caused the /var/cache/modsecurity/ip.pag to corrupt (that’s my guess).

The fix is rather simple. Update your Comodo WAF rules to version 1.142 or higher, and reset the /var/cache/modsecurity/ip.pag file.

Check the rules.dat file for the version number.

$ echo "" > /var/cache/modsecurity/ip.pag

Then restart apache, and this should fix you issue. You’ll also notice apache threads timing out faster.

Plesk Support Article: https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/213368509-mod-security2-Failed-to-write-to-DBM-file-var-cache-modsecurity-ip-Invalid-argument

Comodo WAF: https://waf.comodo.com/