What is Cloudflare Error 1020 and How to Bypass it

What is Cloudflare Error 1020 "Access Denied" and How to Bypass it for Web Scraping?

Are you encountering the Error 1020 "Access Denied" response while using your scraper? This error is common in web scraping and comes from Cloudflare's anti-bot security measures.

Implementing Cloudflare bypass techniques during scraping can prevent the Error 1020 "Access Denied" message. In this article, we'll explore 4 quick fixes tailored to address this specific error:

Mask your TLS fingerprint.
Leverage BotProxy’s Bot Anti-Detect Mode.
Use a rotating proxy to hide your IP.
Customize and rotate User Agent headers.

What Is Error 1020 "Access Denied" Delivered By Cloudflare?

An Error 1020 "Access Denied" happens when Cloudflare's firewall detects suspicious activities from the client or browser accessing a Cloudflare-protected website. This error page typically includes a message indicating that access has been denied, along with a "Ray ID" (a unique identifier for the request), the server region, and possibly suggestions to contact the website administrator if the block was unexpected. If you see an Error 1020 like the one below while scraping, it means the security service has blocked the traffic from your scraper's IP address.

Sometimes, the 1020 error may appear differently, especially while using an HTTP client like Python's Requests library. In that case, you may get a generic forbidden response, such as the Cloudflare 403 error.

You can use the following techniques to bypass Cloudflare's 1020 "Access Denied" error.

1. Mask Your TLS Fingerprint

Cloudflare and similar anti-bot systems often analyze the TLS fingerprint of your requests. This fingerprint includes details about supported protocols, cipher suites, and extensions, creating a unique signature that may reveal your scraper as automated traffic.

To reduce the chances of detection, you can spoof your TLS fingerprint to mimic a legitimate browser. Libraries like tls-client or mitmproxy can help customize TLS fingerprints, but these require additional setup and technical expertise.

2. Leverage BotProxy’s Bot Anti-Detect Mode

A more efficient and straightforward solution is using BotProxy. BotProxy’s Bot Anti-Detect Mode automatically spoofs TLS fingerprints to mimic those of legitimate browsers, making it much harder for anti-bot systems to detect your scraper.

With Bot Anti-Detect Mode, you get:

Seamless Integration: No need for complex configurations; it works out of the box with most scraping frameworks.
Enhanced Anonymity: By masking TLS fingerprints and other identifiers, your scraper stays under the radar.
Global Proxy Network: Combine this feature with rotating residential IPs to bypass region-specific restrictions and rate limits.

To maximize success, follow this two-step approach for protected sites:

Bypass Cloudflare Turnstile: Use an advanced browser based scraping API, to handle Cloudflare challenges and obtain valid Cloudflare cookies. These cookies are critical for successful subsequent requests. Learn more about Cloudflare cookies here.
Use BotProxy with Retrieved Cookies: Incorporate the obtained Cloudflare cookies into every request made through BotProxy in Bot Anti-Detect Mode to retrieve the page contents smoothly and bypass detection.

Here’s how to integrate BotProxy with your scraper:

# pip3 install requests
import requests

url = "https://www.example.com"
proxies = {
    "http": "http://user-key:[email protected]:8080",
    "https": "https://user-key:[email protected]:8080",
}
cookies = {"CF_COOKIE_NAME": "CF_COOKIE_VALUE"}  # Replace with actual Cloudflare cookies

response = requests.get(url, proxies=proxies, cookies=cookies)
print(response.text)

3. Use a Rotating Proxy to Hide Your IP

Cloudflare sometimes triggers Error 1020 if you break a website's rate-limiting rules or send multiple requests from a single IP within seconds. One way to mitigate this is to rotate proxies to mimic different users. This technique automatically switches your IP every few seconds or per request, making it difficult for the website to detect and block you.

Proxies can be free or premium, depending on whether they require a subscription. However, it's important to note that free proxies have a short lifespan and can be easily detected since they're shared publicly.

Premium proxies are the most reliable. They're more secure and dedicated to you, typically requiring authentication credentials such as passwords and usernames. Most premium proxy providers also offer proxy rotation out of the box, eliminating the technicalities of hardcoding the process.

Here's an example of how to use an authenticated premium proxy with Python's Requests library:

# pip3 install requests
import requests

proxies = {
    "http": "http://<PROXY_USERNAME>:<PROXY_PASSWORD>@<PROXY_DOMAIN>:<PROXY_PORT>",
    "https": "https://<PROXY_USERNAME>:<PROXY_PASSWORD>@<PROXY_DOMAIN>:<PROXY_PORT>",
}

url = "https://httpbin.io/ip"
response = requests.get(url, proxies=proxies)
print(response.text)

When selecting a premium proxy service for web scraping, opt for residential ones, which offer authentic IP addresses assigned to daily internet users by network providers. Reputable solutions, like BotProxy, provide a large pool of residential IPs with rotation and flexible geolocation features to efficiently distribute your traffic across several locations.

4. Customize and Rotate User Agent Headers

The User Agent (UA) is the most critical HTTP header for scraping. It identifies the client sending a request to the server and provides details, such as the client's version, operating system, rendering engine, and more.

An Error 1020 usually occurs when Cloudflare flags your browser or HTTP client's signature as bot-like. For example, HTTP clients such as Python's Requests have a bot-like User Agent:

python-requests/2.31.0

Even headless browsers, such as Selenium and Playwright, display the "HeadlessChrome" parameter in the User Agent string while in headless mode.

To avoid detection, replace bot-like User Agents with custom ones from real browsers like Chrome. Ensure your chosen User Agent is up to date to reduce the chances of detection. Here's an example of customizing the User Agent with Python's Requests:

# pip3 install requests
import requests

headers = {
    "User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/129.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
}

url = "https://httpbin.io/user-agent"
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
print(response.text)

For large-scale scraping, rotate User Agents using a predefined list:

# pip3 install requests
import requests
import itertools

user_agents = [
    "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/128.0.0.0 Safari/537.36",
    "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/128.0.0.0 Safari/537.36",
    "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/128.0.0.0 Safari/537.36",
]

url = "https://httpbin.io/user-agent"
rotated = itertools.cycle(user_agents)

for _ in range(4):
    headers = {"User-Agent": next(rotated)}
    response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
    print(response.text)

Conclusion

You've learned four techniques to bypass Cloudflare's 1020 "Access Denied" error. Combining manual methods like proxy and User Agent rotation with robust tools like BotProxy provides a reliable solution for large-scale web scraping while minimizing detection risks.