403 Forbidden Error Sometimes in Write Mode

  • Resolved artsnova

    (@artsnova)


    18 years, 1 month ago

    Hello,
    I installed WordPress on 10/13/06. The install and customization went fine. I have also posted messages to my blog. However today when I try to write a message, I SOMETIMES get the following error when I try to save the file:

    Forbidden
    You don’t have permission to access /blog/wp-admin/post.php on this server.

    Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
    Apache/1.3.34 Server at artsnova.marsartgallery.com Port 80

    What kind of screw ball error is this. It seems to kick in at random. I can type something and successfully save it, type in some more and have it die. What gives?

    Thanks.
    Jim, https://www.artsnova.com/blog/

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Thread Starter artsnova

    (@artsnova)

    Hi,

    Just a follow up. Edit some more, click “Save and Continue Editing” and WordPress dies with the 403 Forbidden error. I press the back button on my browser and click the “Save” button and it saves fine. I haven’t tried clicking “Publish” yet though.

    Signed, befuddled by it all.

    Jim,https://www.artsnova.com/blog/

    What’s probably more interesting is what’s in the post you’re working on. I’d say it sounds like your host is running mod_security on the server and it doesn’t like something you’re writing. Or some words, at any rate.

    The word “curl” is a typical crowd-pleaser.

    Anyways, you might check with your host and see if that’s indeed the case. If it is, some searching here will turn up a clever .htaccess trick that may disable it for specific directories.

    Thread Starter artsnova

    (@artsnova)

    So is my hosting company, Lunarpages, retarded?
    I have narrowed it down to the following phrase:

    The idea for producing such a presentation came to me while watching some videos people had created using the Galaxy Song from the Monty Python movie “The Meaning of Life.”

    So what is there in the above that Lunarpage considers to be so dangerous? I haven’t been able to really narrow it down any further because I can enter separate parts of the above sentence and have it accepted. But when I enter the entire sentence or something close to it, it dies on me. I did email Lunarpages and they suggested that I add an htaccess file with the following settings:

    SecFilterEngine Off
    SecFilterScanPOST Off

    I sent back an email asking them the significance of these parameters and what happens by adding them and turning them off. No word back yet.

    Jim, https://www.artsnova.com/blog/

    SecFilterEngine Off
    SecFilterScanPOST Off

    Disables mod_security.

    Thread Starter artsnova

    (@artsnova)

    Thanks whoeveryouare. It looks like the killer is putting the word “movie” after the word “life.” I am of course totally at a loss to figure out the hidden danger of having these two words appear together. Looks like I need to learn more about mod_security.

    Thanks. Jim

    Thread Starter artsnova

    (@artsnova)

    Hello,

    Just a follow up. The problem was because of mod_security installed on the Apache server. Rather than inserting parms into .htaccess to turn mod_security off, I fiddled with my message until it passed through security. Note that it wasn’t any of the individual words that I was using that caused the problem but rather a few particular sequences of words.

    For example – Life” movie.
    gets blocked. Go figure.

    Jim, https://www.artsnova.com/blog/

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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