Problem with websites that use Cloudfare to verify human

[jnelsoninjax]

So every time I run into a website that uses Cloudflare to verify if you are human. It spins for a few seconds, and eventually it wants me to click the box to verify I'm human, but when I do that it just spins in an infinite cycle (spin, present box, spin, etc.) This in on Firefox, and from what I have read from my Google searches, it is usually due to an extension related to privacy, but I don't have any that do that, and I tried disabling an extension at a time to see if it resolves, but it never does. Sometimes I am able to load a private window and open the site that way, and it will load, and then I am able to switch back to the regular window and proceed with the website. What could be causing this, and/or what can I try to fix this?

[+thexfile Subscriber²]

If you use uBlock or another ad blocker, try disabling them.

 

[jnelsoninjax]

I have tried that too

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Could be something in Firefox settings that you need to turn off. I don't know what, but try looking up what option fixes it.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Try opening the site in question in a private web browser session, if you have not allowed extensions to run in private windows that should let you know whether it is an issue with an extension for your web browser or not.

Also, if you are doing any blocking of domains via the hosts file, try renaming the file to something like hosts.bak and restarting the computer to see if disabling all of those makes any difference.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[flo_k]

Just to check - are you human? It might just be that it's doing the job it was designed for....

[jnelsoninjax]

On 11/08/2025 at 06:59, flo_k said:

Just to check - are you human? It might just be that it's doing the job it was designed for....

Damn, you caught me!

[jnelsoninjax]

On 11/08/2025 at 01:41, goretsky said:

Hello,

Try opening the site in question in a private web browser session, if you have not allowed extensions to run in private windows that should let you know whether it is an issue with an extension for your web browser or not.

Also, if you are doing any blocking of domains via the hosts file, try renaming the file to something like hosts.bak and restarting the computer to see if disabling all of those makes any difference.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

It works 99% of the time in private window, and I do not have anything in my hosts file. I feel like it has to be an add-on, but even when I disable them one at a time, I can not pinpoint which one is causing it, I know from reading troubleshooting guides that any 'privacy' add-ons usually cause the problem, but in my case, I do not have any of those. 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

What is your Settings > Privacy & Security set at, just "standard"?

You're browser privacy might be breaking it.

[Karlston]

FWIW, have you checked your browser's user agent? Are you using an old Firefox version?

Had a similar (but not the same) problem. Turned out an extension was overriding the user agent to what was then a very old version, 122 IIRC and Cloudflare didn't like it, too old probably. After removing that override and the browser reported it's real version in the user agent, Cloudflare worked fine.

This site will tell you your browser's user agent... What's my User Agent?

[jnelsoninjax]

On 11/08/2025 at 15:49, Mindovermaster said:

What is your Settings > Privacy & Security set at, just "standard"?

You're browser privacy might be breaking it.

Standard

On 11/08/2025 at 16:47, Karlston said:

FWIW, have you checked your browser's user agent? Are you using an old Firefox version?

Had a similar (but not the same) problem. Turned out an extension was overriding the user agent to what was then a very old version, 122 IIRC and Cloudflare didn't like it, too old probably. After removing that override and the browser reported it's real version in the user agent, Cloudflare worked fine.

This site will tell you your browser's user agent... What's my User Agent?

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:141.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/141.0 

Firefox is up-to-date and is updated as soon as a new version is released

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

What add-on's do you have installed?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[cork1958]

Yeah, I hate those sites that use that crap. Don't have an issue where it stays in an infinite loop, but takes way to long, IMO, for it to finally go through. Doesn't matter what browser.

[jnelsoninjax]

On 12/08/2025 at 15:32, goretsky said:

Hello,

What add-on's do you have installed?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

Add-ons
Name     Type     Version     Enabled     Location     ID
Add-ons Search Detection    extension    2.0.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
AI Grammar Checker & Paraphraser – LanguageTool    extension    9.0.1    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Behind The Overlay    extension    0.2.1    true    app-profile    jid1-Y3WfE7td45aWDw@jetpack
Better Twitter    extension    2.1.3    true    app-profile    {ef32ca60-1728-4011-a585-4de439fe7ba7}
Control Panel for Twitter    extension    4.13.0    true    app-profile    {5cce4ab5-3d47-41b9-af5e-8203eea05245}
CSS Exfil Protection    extension    1.1.0    true    app-profile    {7fc8ef53-24ec-4205-87a4-1e745953bb0d}
Disable HTML5 Autoplay    extension    2018.10.4resigned1    true    app-profile    disable-html5-autoplay@afnankhan
Enhancer for YouTube™    extension    2.0.130.1    true    app-profile    [email protected]
FastForward    extension    0.2383    true    app-profile    [email protected]
FastStream Video Player    extension    1.3.51    true    app-profile    faststream@andrews
Form Autofill    extension    1.0.1    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
Honey    extension    12.8.4    true    app-profile    jid1-93CWPmRbVPjRQA@jetpack
I don't care about cookies    extension    3.5.0    true    app-profile    jid1-KKzOGWgsW3Ao4Q@jetpack
ImTranslator: Translator, Dictionary, TTS    extension    16.99    true    app-profile    {9AA46F4F-4DC7-4c06-97AF-5035170634FE}
Minimal Theme for Twitter / X    extension    6.3.0    true    app-profile    {e7476172-097c-4b77-b56e-f56a894adca9}
Neat URL    extension    5.0.0    true    app-profile    [email protected]
New Tab    extension    141.1.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
Picture-In-Picture    extension    1.0.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
Privacy | Protect Your Payments    extension    2.4.15    true    app-profile    [email protected]
readReddit, Readable text posts on reddit    extension    0.15.0    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Reddit Enhancement Suite    extension    5.24.8    true    app-profile    jid1-xUfzOsOFlzSOXg@jetpack
Return YouTube Dislike    extension    3.0.0.18    true    app-profile    {762f9885-5a13-4abd-9c77-433dcd38b8fd}
Simple Ping Blocker    extension    1.0.0    true    app-profile    {8f3a0730-43ac-4bd2-a9c3-3b4b41531ddf}
SoundFixer    extension    1.4.1    true    app-profile    [email protected]
SponsorBlock for YouTube - Skip Sponsorships    extension    5.14    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Terms of Service; Didn’t Read    extension    5.1.1    true    app-profile    jid0-3GUEt1r69sQNSrca5p8kx9Ezc3U@jetpack
uBlock Origin    extension    1.65.0    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Unhook - Remove YouTube Recommended & Shorts    extension    1.6.7    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Web Compatibility Interventions    extension    141.3.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
YouTube Volume Normalizer    extension    4.0.3    true    app-profile    {0fa8f380-98c6-4cc9-9f24-10d84bf1b609}
Language: English (CA)    locale    141.0.20250806.102122    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Language: English (GB)    locale    141.0.20250806.102122    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Dark    theme    1.3.3    true    app-builtin    [email protected]
Don't track me Google    extension    4.28    false    app-profile    [email protected]
DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials    extension    2025.7.23    false    app-profile    jid1-ZAdIEUB7XOzOJw@jetpack
Firefox Relay    extension    2.8.1    false    app-profile    [email protected]
Grammarly: AI Writing and Grammar Checker App    extension    8.933.0    false    app-profile    87677a2c52b84ad3a151a4a72f5bd3c4@jetpack
Open Link with New Tab    extension    1.1resigned1    false    app-profile    Open-Link-with-New-Tab@sienori
Plasma Integration    extension    1.9.1    false    app-profile    [email protected]
Silk - Privacy Pass Client    extension    4.0.2    false    app-profile    {48748554-4c01-49e8-94af-79662bf34d50}
The Camelizer    extension    3.0.15    false    app-profile    [email protected]
Twitter Container    extension    1.3.3    false    app-profile    @contain-twitter
Video DownloadHelper    extension    9.5.0.2    false    app-profile    {b9db16a4-6edc-47ec-a1f4-b86292ed211d}
Violentmonkey    extension    2.31.0    false    app-profile    {aecec67f-0d10-4fa7-b7c7-609a2db280cf}
WhatRuns    extension    1.7.7    false    app-profile    {66d854c2-fd1b-4857-bd0a-7d220e4834da}
YT Siphon    extension    1.0.6    false    app-profile    [email protected]
Firefox Alpenglow    theme    1.5    false    app-builtin    [email protected]
Light    theme    1.3.2    false    app-builtin    [email protected]
System theme — auto    theme    1.4.2    false    app-builtin    [email protected]

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

On 14/08/2025 at 22:28, jnelsoninjax said:

Add-ons
Name     Type     Version     Enabled     Location     ID
Add-ons Search Detection    extension    2.0.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
AI Grammar Checker & Paraphraser – LanguageTool    extension    9.0.1    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Behind The Overlay    extension    0.2.1    true    app-profile    jid1-Y3WfE7td45aWDw@jetpack
Better Twitter    extension    2.1.3    true    app-profile    {ef32ca60-1728-4011-a585-4de439fe7ba7}
Control Panel for Twitter    extension    4.13.0    true    app-profile    {5cce4ab5-3d47-41b9-af5e-8203eea05245}
CSS Exfil Protection    extension    1.1.0    true    app-profile    {7fc8ef53-24ec-4205-87a4-1e745953bb0d}
Disable HTML5 Autoplay    extension    2018.10.4resigned1    true    app-profile    disable-html5-autoplay@afnankhan
Enhancer for YouTube™    extension    2.0.130.1    true    app-profile    [email protected]
FastForward    extension    0.2383    true    app-profile    [email protected]
FastStream Video Player    extension    1.3.51    true    app-profile    faststream@andrews
Form Autofill    extension    1.0.1    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
Honey    extension    12.8.4    true    app-profile    jid1-93CWPmRbVPjRQA@jetpack
I don't care about cookies    extension    3.5.0    true    app-profile    jid1-KKzOGWgsW3Ao4Q@jetpack
ImTranslator: Translator, Dictionary, TTS    extension    16.99    true    app-profile    {9AA46F4F-4DC7-4c06-97AF-5035170634FE}
Minimal Theme for Twitter / X    extension    6.3.0    true    app-profile    {e7476172-097c-4b77-b56e-f56a894adca9}
Neat URL    extension    5.0.0    true    app-profile    [email protected]
New Tab    extension    141.1.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
Picture-In-Picture    extension    1.0.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
Privacy | Protect Your Payments    extension    2.4.15    true    app-profile    [email protected]
readReddit, Readable text posts on reddit    extension    0.15.0    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Reddit Enhancement Suite    extension    5.24.8    true    app-profile    jid1-xUfzOsOFlzSOXg@jetpack
Return YouTube Dislike    extension    3.0.0.18    true    app-profile    {762f9885-5a13-4abd-9c77-433dcd38b8fd}
Simple Ping Blocker    extension    1.0.0    true    app-profile    {8f3a0730-43ac-4bd2-a9c3-3b4b41531ddf}
SoundFixer    extension    1.4.1    true    app-profile    [email protected]
SponsorBlock for YouTube - Skip Sponsorships    extension    5.14    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Terms of Service; Didn’t Read    extension    5.1.1    true    app-profile    jid0-3GUEt1r69sQNSrca5p8kx9Ezc3U@jetpack
uBlock Origin    extension    1.65.0    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Unhook - Remove YouTube Recommended & Shorts    extension    1.6.7    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Web Compatibility Interventions    extension    141.3.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
YouTube Volume Normalizer    extension    4.0.3    true    app-profile    {0fa8f380-98c6-4cc9-9f24-10d84bf1b609}
Language: English (CA)    locale    141.0.20250806.102122    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Language: English (GB)    locale    141.0.20250806.102122    true    app-profile    [email protected]
Dark    theme    1.3.3    true    app-builtin    [email protected]
Don't track me Google    extension    4.28    false    app-profile    [email protected]
DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials    extension    2025.7.23    false    app-profile    jid1-ZAdIEUB7XOzOJw@jetpack
Firefox Relay    extension    2.8.1    false    app-profile    [email protected]
Grammarly: AI Writing and Grammar Checker App    extension    8.933.0    false    app-profile    87677a2c52b84ad3a151a4a72f5bd3c4@jetpack
Open Link with New Tab    extension    1.1resigned1    false    app-profile    Open-Link-with-New-Tab@sienori
Plasma Integration    extension    1.9.1    false    app-profile    [email protected]
Silk - Privacy Pass Client    extension    4.0.2    false    app-profile    {48748554-4c01-49e8-94af-79662bf34d50}
The Camelizer    extension    3.0.15    false    app-profile    [email protected]
Twitter Container    extension    1.3.3    false    app-profile    @contain-twitter
Video DownloadHelper    extension    9.5.0.2    false    app-profile    {b9db16a4-6edc-47ec-a1f4-b86292ed211d}
Violentmonkey    extension    2.31.0    false    app-profile    {aecec67f-0d10-4fa7-b7c7-609a2db280cf}
WhatRuns    extension    1.7.7    false    app-profile    {66d854c2-fd1b-4857-bd0a-7d220e4834da}
YT Siphon    extension    1.0.6    false    app-profile    [email protected]
Firefox Alpenglow    theme    1.5    false    app-builtin    [email protected]
Light    theme    1.3.2    false    app-builtin    [email protected]
System theme — auto    theme    1.4.2    false    app-builtin    [email protected]

Might want to post a picture..  

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Try removing all of the extensions except for these default ones from Mozilla:

• Add-ons Search Detection    extension    2.0.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
• Dark    theme    1.3.3    true    app-builtin    [email protected]
• Firefox Alpenglow    theme    1.5    false    app-builtin    [email protected]
• Firefox Relay    extension    2.8.1    false    app-profile    [email protected]
• Form Autofill    extension    1.0.1    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
• Language: English (CA)    locale    141.0.20250806.102122    true    app-profile    [email protected]
• Language: English (GB)    locale    141.0.20250806.102122    true    app-profile    [email protected]
• Light    theme    1.3.2    false    app-builtin    [email protected]
• New Tab    extension    141.1.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
• Picture-In-Picture    extension    1.0.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]
• System theme — auto    theme    1.4.2    false    app-builtin    [email protected]
• Web Compatibility Interventions    extension    141.3.0    true    app-builtin-addons    [email protected]

Restart Firefox, and see if the problem goes away.  If it does, you can go ahead and start adding them back one-by-one until you find the culprit.  Chances are that is the one that is doing something which interferes with Cloudflare.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

 

[aioraito]

Here I am thinking what I have installed in Firefox is already overkill:

• uBlock Origin
• Ghostery
• Bitdefender Trafficlight
• Kaspersky Protection
• Malwarebytes Browser Guard