Misleading "You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page."

[hakre]

When accessing a page of a plugin in the admin that does not exists any longer, you're told by an error message, that:

You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.

This message is a little misleading, because there is no such page.

A message that better reflects the decision to display it would be less misleading, e.g.:

The requested page is not accessible.

[hakre]

Simple Patch

[hakre]

FYI: at the end of Plugin.php there are a lot of functions undocumented and in addition to that important global variables for the admin like $parent_file or $plugin_page are not documented as well.

[nacin]

Related, #14039

[envygeeks]

Better description

[dd32]

Both of those proposed wordings are not appropriate IMO.

The major case of that block is to prevent users accessing pages which they do not have access to, The current wording seems appropriate for that (A straight up, Permission denied message).

"The requested page is not accessible." - Doesn't convey the reason for the page being inaccessible.

An alternate solution could be such as follows to give non-existant pages a specific error:

if ( !admin_page_exists() ) {
 do_action...
 wp_die "non-existant page!"
} elseif ( !user_can_access_admin_page() ) {
 do_action...
 wp_die "You dont have access!...";
}

[Ornani]

I'm with dd32.

[hakre]

For my scenario to check whether or not a page exists, would haven been helpful already.

[hakre]

Related: #15394

[ramiy]

Related: #18218

[SergeyBiryukov]

14060.2.patch​ implements dd32's suggestion.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Closed #18662 as a duplicate.

[jane]

"The requested page no longer exists."

[SergeyBiryukov]

Related: #24689

[SergeyBiryukov]

Related: #28643

[Nikschavan]

Refreshed the patch

[Nikschavan]

Refreshed the patch by @SergeyBiryukov

[Presskopp]

Related: #36897

[Nikschavan]

Refreshed the patch with current trunk

[Nikschavan]

Updated the patch with the latest trunk attached a screenshot of the error message.

Can this be targeted for 4.9?

[pento]

Patch needs testing and review.

[jorbin]

As 5.2 is now in beta and this was something that needed early attention, I'm removing it from the milestone.

## Description

This PR addresses the issue where the misleading message You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page. was displayed when attempting to access an admin page that doesn't exist. Instead of suggesting a permissions problem, the fix ensures that users are now shown a clearer message: The requested page does not exist. This provides a more accurate and user-friendly explanation when the page is missing or unavailable.

## Screenshot

## Testing Instructions

• Install a plugin that includes a settings page.
• Navigate to the plugin's settings page and copy the URL.
• Go to the plugins page and deactivate the plugin you just installed.
• Paste the copied URL of the plugin's settings page into the browser's address bar and press Enter.
• You should now see the message The requested page does not exist. instead of You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.

## Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/14060

[sainathpoojary]

Tested the implementation and verified that the message now correctly shows "The requested page does not exist" instead of the previous permissions error.

Patch tested: ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/7613

Environment

• WordPress: 6.7-beta3-59237-src
• PHP: 8.2.26
• Server: nginx/1.27.3
• Database: mysqli (Server: 8.0.40 / Client: mysqlnd 8.2.26)
• Browser: Chrome 131.0.0.0
• OS: macOS
• Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five 1.0
• MU Plugins: None activated
• Plugins: None activated

[thabotswana]

Test Report

This report validates that the indicated patch addresses the issue.

Patch tested: ​https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/7613.diff

Environment

• OS: macOS 15.2
• Web Server: PHP.wasm
• PHP: 7.4.31-dev
• WordPress: 6.8-alpha-20241025.105215
• Browser: Firefox 133.0.3
• Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five
• Active Plugins: None

Actual Results

• ✅ Issue resolved with patch.

Supplemental Artifacts