Protected Content Visible via Developer Tools for Non-Members

[wzloe]

Hello,

I’m experiencing a critical issue with the Simple Membership Plugin, and I need assistance to resolve it.

Issue:
Even though I’ve set certain pages to be “members-only” using the Simple Membership Plugin, the content of these protected pages can still be accessed through developer tools (e.g., browser inspect mode), even by non-logged-in users. This defeats the purpose of the membership protection and could expose sensitive or exclusive content.

What I Want:
I want to ensure that the content on members-only pages is completely hidden and inaccessible to non-members, including in the browser’s developer tools or HTML source code.

What I Have Tried:

Verified that the pages are set to “protected” in the Simple Membership settings.
Ensured that the plugin and WordPress are updated to the latest versions.
Disabled caching plugins and cleared server-side caches.
Tested the issue on different browsers (e.g., Safari, Chrome).
Additional Information:
I am using the Twenty Seventeen theme, which might be outdated. Could this theme be affecting how the plugin works?

Environment:

Theme: Twenty Seventeen

Could you please guide me on how to fully protect the content, so that it is inaccessible to non-members, even when using browser developer tools?

Thank you for your help!

[The Assurer]

Please try using an incognito browser window or a different browser or computer than what you normally use for site development; to see if the issue is isolated to your browser.

[wzloe]

Hello,

Thank you for your response. I have tried the suggestions you provided:

Using an incognito browser window.
Testing on a different browser (e.g., Chrome, Safari).
Accessing the site from a different computer.
Unfortunately, in all cases, the content of the protected pages is still visible in the developer tools for non-logged-in users.

Could you please advise on any additional steps I can take to resolve this issue?

Thank you for your help!

Best regards,wzloe

[admin]

That shouldn’t happen unless something is conflicting on this site. Let me try to recreate/reproduce the issue first.

Can you give me step by step instructions that I should do on my site to recreate/reproduce the issue from my end so I can do a deeper investigation?

Do you have any caching on your site which can cause this issue? The following post will be helpful:
https://simple-membership-plugin.com/understanding-the-impact-of-caching-on-membership-sites/

[wzloe]

Thank you for your response, admin.

To clarify the issue further:

The problem occurs on all pages set to “members-only”, including both posts and pages. It is not limited to any specific page.
Non-members visiting a protected page see the message indicating the page is for members only, but they can still view the page content by using Chrome’s “Inspect” tool. The HTML code of the page reveals the actual protected content, which defeats the purpose of the membership protection.
I am not using any caching plugins. Here is the list of active plugins on my site:
All in One SEO
Child Theme Configurator
EWWW Image Optimizer
Intuitive Custom Post Order
LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder
Simple Membership Custom Messages
Simple WordPress Membership
SiteGuard WP Plugin
UpdraftPlus
WP Multibyte Patch
WPFront Scroll Top
The site uses the Twenty Seventeen theme, which I suspect might be outdated or causing conflicts with the plugin.
Questions:

Could this issue be resolved through any specific settings in the plugin, or is it likely caused by a theme/plugin conflict?
Are there any particular settings or areas I should check or adjust first?
Thank you for your assistance. Let me know if you need additional information.

[admin]

The Inspect tool should never display the actual protected content of a post or page. Essentially, what you see in the browser is exactly what should appear in the developer tools. I personally verified this on my test site to ensure its accuracy.

So there is definitely some kind of conflict coming from the server environment or a plugin or theme on the site. You could try the following test to see if you can identify which plugin or add-on causes it:
https://simple-membership-plugin.com/forums/topic/test-for-plugin-and-theme-conflict-before-posting-an-issue-or-a-bug/

Also, make sure to test with the latest version of the Simple Membership plugin. You can go the plugins menu of your admin dashboard to see if there is any updates for the plugin.

[wzloe]

Thank you for your response, admin.

To help you investigate further, I have created a test post on another website that uses the Simple Membership plugin. The post is set to “members-only,” and the content includes a specific message to test if the issue is reproducible.

Test Link: [nnq.miko-sakura5523.com/2024/11/17/test]
Test Instructions:

Open the link in a browser where you are not logged in as a member.
The page should display a message indicating it is for members only.
Use the browser’s developer tools (e.g., Chrome’s Inspect or Safari’s Developer Mode) to check if the protected content can be accessed in the HTML or DOM.
The post’s content contains the following sentence:
“This is the protected content that should not be visible through developer tools.”

Please let me know if the content is visible using the developer tools, as it is in my original site setup. This will help confirm whether the issue is related to the server environment or other site-specific settings.

Thank you for your assistance!

Best regards,
wzloe

[admin]

You didn’t disable ALL plugins on this site. You must do the following first on that site:

1) Disable all plugins keeping only the simple membership plugin.
2) Switch the theme to using the default 2024 or 2025 WordPress theme.

Once you have done that, let me know, I can check that page again.

[wzloe]

Thank you for your guidance, admin.

I have completed the following steps on the test site:

Disabled all plugins except the Simple Membership plugin.
Switched the theme to the default Twenty Twenty-Five theme.
The test page is ready for your review again:
Test Link: https://nnq.miko-sakura5523.com/2024/11/17/test/

Please check if the issue persists under this setup.
Thank you for your continued assistance!

Best regards,
wzloe

[admin]

I don’t see any issue with the other plugins disabled. Do you see any issue with the current setup?

If you don’t then that confirms that you were using a plugin that is conflicting. So either you cannot use that conflicting plugin or you cannot use our plugin.

[Author]

Posts