How to block WPMUDEV Uptime Monitor
Operated by WPMU DEV. WPMUDEV Uptime Monitor is a website monitoring service provided by WPMU DEV, a WordPress agency platform company. The bot checks websites at regular intervals to track uptime and performance as part of their WordPress site management tools.
How it identifies itself
WPMUDEV Uptime Monitor 5.0 (https://wpmudev.com)
nginx
In the server block, then reload.
# In the server block. 403 rather than 444: a closed connection tells the
# operator nothing, and an agent that gets a status code can log it.
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(WPMUDEV Uptime Monitor)") {
return 403;
}
Apache
In .htaccess or the vhost.
BrowserMatchNoCase "WPMUDEV Uptime Monitor" bad_bot
<RequireAll>
Require all granted
Require not env bad_bot
</RequireAll>
Cloudflare
Security → WAF → Custom rules.
# Security → WAF → Custom rules, action: Block (http.user_agent contains "WPMUDEV Uptime Monitor")
WordPress
A child theme's functions.php, or a small plugin.
// functions.php of a child theme, or a small plugin. Runs before WordPress
// builds the page, so a blocked agent costs one PHP process and no queries.
add_action('init', function () {
$agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
foreach (['WPMUDEV Uptime Monitor'] as $needle) {
if (stripos($agent, $needle) !== false) {
status_header(403);
exit('Blocked: WPMUDEV Uptime Monitor');
}
}
});
A rule on the user agent is a rule on a string it chose
The server rules match on a header the requester sets, which stops the agent that says who it is and not the one that copies somebody else's name. Botscope verifies identity against DNS and published address ranges, records which check decided each request, and shows you the ones that lied.