When Cloudflare faces an outage or network disruption, millions of websites and apps begin to show errors like “500 Internal Server Error,” “522 Connection Timed Out,” “525 SSL Handshake Failed,” or “Error 1020 Access Denied.”
While some problems are on Cloudflare’s side, many can still be fixed or reduced at your end.
This blog explains why these errors occur and gives step-by-step solutions for both users and website owners.
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1. Fixes for Normal Users (Visitors)
Even if Cloudflare is having issues, you can try these steps to regain access to websites:
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✅ 1. Clear Browser Cache
Sometimes Cloudflare pushes cached versions of pages.
How to fix:
On Chrome:
Menu → Settings → Privacy → Clear browsing data
Clear cache + cookies only.
Then refresh the site.
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✅ 2. Try a Different Browser
Switch from:
Chrome → Firefox
Firefox → Edge
Edge → Chrome
Sometimes Cloudflare issues appear only on one browser due to cached DNS or cookies.
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✅ 3. Turn Off VPN or Proxy
Cloudflare often blocks:
Unknown VPN IPs
Suspicious proxies
Overloaded data center regions
Disable VPN → reload site.
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✅ 4. Try Mobile Data Instead of WiFi
Cloudflare may temporarily block your ISP or IP range.
Switch to mobile data → open the site.
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✅ 5. Restart Your Router
This gives you a new IP address, which Cloudflare may accept.
Steps:
1. Turn off router
2. Wait 20 seconds
3. Turn on
4. Try the website again
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✅ 6. Use a Different DNS (Cloudflare DNS, Google DNS)
If your ISP DNS is outdated:
Cloudflare DNS
1.1.1.1
1.0.0.1
Google DNS
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
Changing DNS fixes many timeout or SSL issues.
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When It’s NOT Fixable by You:
If Cloudflare itself is down
If the website owner blocked your region
If Cloudflare’s server is overloaded
You must wait for the website or Cloudflare to fix it.
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2. Fixes for Website Owners (Admins)
If your site is using Cloudflare and showing errors, here are the practical solutions.
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🔧 Error 500 / 502 / 503 / 504
These are server-side issues but Cloudflare displays them.
Solutions
Restart your origin server
Check server logs (/var/log/nginx/error.log or Apache logs)
Increase PHP timeout limits
Check if server resources (RAM/CPU) are overloaded
Disable plugins/themes (if using WordPress)
Check hosting downtime
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🔧 Error 520 – Web Server Returned an Unknown Error
This usually means Cloudflare cannot understand the origin response.
Fix
Disable “Under Attack Mode”
Check firewall rules blocking Cloudflare
Disable rate limiting
Check origin IP isn’t blocking Cloudflare
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🔧 Error 521 – Web Server Is Down
Cloudflare connects → but server refuses.
Fix
Whitelist all Cloudflare IP ranges
Restart NGINX/Apache
Check SSL certificates
Ensure firewall (CSF/UFW) isn’t blocking Cloudflare requests
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🔧 Error 522 – Connection Timed Out
Cloudflare cannot reach your server.
Fix
Increase server timeout from 30s to 60s
Check database overload
Optimize queries
Fix slow PHP scripts
Reduce high traffic or bot attacks
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🔧 Error 525 – SSL Handshake Failed
SSL mismatch between Cloudflare ↔ server.
Fix
Install valid SSL (Let’s Encrypt)
Ensure SSL in Cloudflare = Full (strict)
Correct server time & date
Restart web server
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🔧 Error 1020 – Access Denied
Your Cloudflare firewall blocked the user.
Fix
Check Firewall → Events Log
Remove rules blocking legitimate users
Add IP whitelist
Reduce Bot Protection sensitivity
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3. Tips to Prevent Future Cloudflare Errors
⭐ Use Cloudflare “Always Online”
Shows cached pages even when the server is down.
⭐ Enable Load Balancing
Distributes traffic across multiple servers.
⭐ Use Caching Aggressively
Reduces load on your origin server.
⭐ Monitor With Cloudflare Analytics
If traffic spikes, stop attacks before they overload your server.
⭐ Create Firewall Rules Smartly
Avoid blocking wide IP ranges.
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Final Thoughts
Cloudflare is extremely reliable, but no online service is perfect. Outages happen—due to traffic spikes, network issues, or misconfigurations.
However, with the right:
DNS setup
SSL configuration
Server optimization
Firewall rules
You can eliminate most Cloudflare errors and keep your website accessible even during global outages.
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