Strange result when running Url of cron task in CBSubs Mass expiry settings...

Recently when I click the URL under CBSubs / Settings / Automation settings / Mass expiry settings / Url of cron task / it does not seem to run the Cron job but instead opens a no template version of my user account from the frontend.

 

CBSubs version 4.6.1+build.2022.09.03.08.54.52.611332284
Joomla! 3.10.11

That's usually caused by redirect configured somewhere or CBSubs isn't publicly accessible. If the URL has an Itemid check what menu item it's associated with and be sure that menu item is public.

SO, how to set up the standard mailer automation tasks as 'public"? 

CB Paid Subscriptions: Edit Mailer: Automation Settings [CB Paid Subscriptions]

The links always work when I click on them in the backend, but the CRON job always fails citing bad permissions.
(And various other joomla extension cron jobs run just fine...)
 

Ensure the URL can be accessed by a non-logged in user. Ideally open it in your browser as incognito. If it works then it's accessible. If it doesn't then you've something blocking its access, which is usually the menu item it's associated with (check the Itemid in the URL). As for CRON use a wget call. See the below topic for examples.

www.joomlapolis.com/forum/277-cb-paid-subscriptions-support/237481-cron-job#297853

Hi! wget didn't make any difference, in CRON - it 'runs' but doesnt update the counters in the backend, and if I run it manually from server command line, I still get ERROR 403 Access Denied.

I'm not sure why a 'secret' url that runs fine when clicked while logged in as admin in the backend would have any kind of menu item, but I will check that!!

BTW, if I run the url in a different browser ( not logged in to the site) it executes perfectly... and the same story from an incognito window ... no problem executing. 
Just not CRON-friendly ( which is strange, because a bunch of other curl jobs are executing just fine).  
 

I don't know what to tell you. If it runs in the browser then it's working fine, but that will come with whatever permissions you have at the time of being logged in. It's just an empty URL that triggers behavior in CBSubs. wget should be able to call it fine. We've been using it for over 10 years here at Joomlapolis fine.

My guess is you've something configure or installed denying access. CBSubs itself doesn't have a single 403 header anywhere in it. 403 is usually caused by Joomla itself denying access. Do you have any sort of security extension installed as maybe that's doing it?

Try adding an &Itemid=MENU_ID to the URL with a menu id that's publicly accessible like your home page maybe. It's possible you also have the CRON configured incorrectly for the URL.