Users being denied Internet Access with IWF "Unlicenced" and "Unavailable" Messages are appearing in the logs

Products

• ProxySG Software - SGOS
• ISG Proxy

Issue/Introduction

You are using the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) database. Users are being denied Internet access.

You are seeing Unlicensed or Unavailable messages in the event/access logs, and when taking a policy trace you see the following:

GET https://example.com
verdict: DENIED
  url.category: none@Policy;unavailable@IWF;unlicensed@IWF
    category groups: none
    total categorization time: 7
    static categorization time: 7
  request.header.Referer.url.category: none@Policy;unavailable@IWF;unlicensed@IWF

The IWF database is set to expire soon, but will not update, even when there is a new database:

#(config iwf)view
Status:                                 Ready
Lookup mode:                            Always
Download URL:                           https://list.bluecoat.com/iwf/activity/download/iwf.db
Download Username:                      <not required>
Automatic download:                     Enabled
Check for updates:                      All day
Download log:
  IWF download at: 2025/08/11 10:34:45 +0000
  Downloading from https://list.bluecoat.com/iwf/activity/download/iwf.db
  Requesting differential update
  File has not changed since last download attempt; no download required
 
Previous successful download:
  IWF download at: 2025/07/10 08:52:13 +0000
  Downloading from https://list.bluecoat.com/iwf/activity/download/iwf.db
  Requesting differential update
  Differential update applied successfully
  Database date:        Thu, 10 Jul 2025 08:45:12 UTC
  Database expires:     Sat, 09 Aug 2025 08:45:12 UTC
  Database version:     2025071008

 

Cause

The IWF database is corrupt and must to be purged to resolve the issue.

Resolution

To purge the IWF database (only available via CLI):

proxy>en
password:
proxy#config t
proxy#(config)content-filter
proxy#(config content-filter)
proxy#(config content-filter)provider iwf disable
ok
proxy#(config content-filter)iwf
proxy#(config iwf)purge
ok
proxy#(config iwf)download get-now
This may take a few minutes. please wait...
loading database...
Download Log:
*Download
*Log
*Will
*Display
*Here

ok
proxy#(config iwf)exit
proxy#(config content-filter)provider iwf enable
ok