Author Topic: http 403? (Read 3877 times)

TS_Hawk · « **on:** 16 December 2014, 15:23:33 »

I am currently posting this from my phone as it tells me that when I use my computer or my tablet that I have a virus or Trojan horse and that I have been blocked from getting to the site I do know that I am NOT the only one that has been affected by this but would like to know what is going on and will this problem be fixed anytime soon

Col.Hengist · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 December 2014, 15:32:14 »

I got the same thing

Klat · « **Reply #2 on:** 16 December 2014, 15:37:52 »

Same here when posting from my home network.

Knightmare · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 December 2014, 16:25:36 »

Hi all,

I'm looking into the IP denials for regular forum members. Were none of you challenged, or were you all just outright denied?

Any screenshots or text would be most appreciated. We have to balance the needs of our members with the nefarious intentions of less scrupulous members of the human race, so our forum security can occasionally be classified as "overzealous".

Then again, I ascribe to the ROM School of Forum Security. ^-^

Maingunnery · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 December 2014, 17:04:56 »

I also had that problem, but it went away after I cleared my browser cookies and cache.

Col.Hengist · « **Reply #5 on:** 16 December 2014, 17:05:51 »

Mine said I was a hacker and didn't give me an opportunity to do anything but email the adm1n... Not the admin, the adm1n. I didn't use the email associated with these forums so if they're trying to get in that way they're screwed on that account.
It also said I may have a virus so I was being blocked for that.

Hope that helps.

Klat · « **Reply #6 on:** 16 December 2014, 17:07:33 »

Tried again from my home network and everything worked fine.

Essentially the text said I was forbidden from the site for some kind of hacking attempt and that I should contact the "Adm1n" for help.

If I can get it to happen again I'll get a screen shot.

Knightmare · « **Reply #7 on:** 16 December 2014, 17:09:59 »

I'll look into it, but this site only operates a single "challenge" page: http://bg.battletech.com/forums/warning.php

Please let me know if you run into any other problems.

Siden Pryde · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 December 2014, 18:15:33 »

Don't know if it is related, but earlier today (around the time of TS_Hawk's post IIRC) I would get nothing but a blank white page when trying to load the site. Cleared cookies and cache and waited a while, then forum loaded normally.

JadeHellbringer · « **Reply #9 on:** 16 December 2014, 18:30:51 »

I ran into this problem as well from my Android phone at work, but by the time I got home and tried it from the laptop things seem to be working fine. Very weird.

YingJanshi · « **Reply #10 on:** 16 December 2014, 19:06:24 »

Yeah, had it the same problem about 2pm (just a little before TS Hawk's post. Was reading a thread on my Android, clicked on a new thread and the error screen popped up.
Just a white screen with text that said:

HTTP 403 Error

Claimed I couldn't log into /forums/ because I had a virus or trojan (don't see how, I have Norton Mobile on it), and then claimed access denied because I attempted to hack it. Said to contact adm1n. Didn't trust the weird email so I just ignored it.
Tried it on my computer when I got home and it worked. Tried it again on my phone and it logged straight in.

Knightmare · « **Reply #11 on:** 16 December 2014, 21:23:59 »

Nothing to worry about. I was just cleaning out pesky ComStar turncoats and blasphemers. }:)

Caedis Animus · « **Reply #12 on:** 17 December 2014, 00:30:23 »

Ah, alrighty. I was trying to visit the page during school, I was worried they blocked the site or something.

TS_Hawk · « **Reply #13 on:** 17 December 2014, 01:38:55 »

Quote from: Knightmare on 16 December 2014, 17:09:59

I'll look into it, but this site only operates a single "challenge" page: http://bg.battletech.com/forums/warning.php

Please let me know if you run into any other problems.

Nope that is not what it looked like Dragon???? sent me the screen shot on my phone through google +

Knightmare · « **Reply #14 on:** 17 December 2014, 13:46:57 »

I'll spend a little more time looking into it. I also apologize for the temporary 404 that you guys may or may not have noticed this afternoon. I was making some quick fixes to the forum's link structure. Forum outage was roughly 5 minutes, but I didn't want anyone to worry.

The Wobbies work for me.

Col.Hengist · « **Reply #15 on:** 17 December 2014, 13:51:44 »

I just got a 404 error. This page does not exist

Knightmare · « **Reply #16 on:** 17 December 2014, 13:55:32 »

Quote from: Col.Hengist on 17 December 2014, 13:51:44

I just got a 404 error. This page does not exist

Right now? Or 30 mins ago?

Col.Hengist · « **Reply #17 on:** 17 December 2014, 14:33:30 »

Right when I posted that

Knightmare · « **Reply #18 on:** 17 December 2014, 14:47:14 »

Quote from: Col.Hengist on 17 December 2014, 14:33:30

Right when I posted that

That helped, thank you. There were a couple of links that didn't pretty up. Should be fixed now, but please let me know if you run into any new 404s.

Col.Hengist · « **Reply #19 on:** 17 December 2014, 14:50:18 »

Will do. Thanks for being on top of this.

Knightmare · « **Reply #20 on:** 17 December 2014, 14:51:22 »

Quote from: Col.Hengist on 17 December 2014, 14:50:18

Will do. Thanks for being on top of this.

That's why they pay be the big C-Bills. O0

Alan Davion · « **Reply #21 on:** 29 August 2015, 12:44:50 »

Normally I try not to post in threads that are more than 90 days old, but in this case I must, because this has happened to me twice this month.

The first time around I had to restart my computer, run my anti-virus program and clear my entire browser cache/history before I was able to log into the forums.

The second time around I just closed my browser, ran my anti-virus and was able to login again, however, now, every time I try to reload the forums, I'm forced to login again, even though I have the "Keep me logged in forever" box checked.

I don't know if it'll help, but every time I got this error, I would get this string of letters and numbers on the error page...

4cb3-fc9b-b40c-8ddc

I honestly don't know jack about these sort of issues, so I hope it's nothing serious.

Knightmare · « **Reply #22 on:** 29 August 2015, 14:20:40 »

Lets go through the list.

Clear your browser cache and cookies. Do you still receive the 403? Do you have your browser set to private or a setting that would prevent you from caching the login cookie?
Have you received the 403 for any other websites?
Are you accessing this site from behind a proxy of some kind?

I'm going to temporarily whitelist your IP. Let me know if you're still seeing the 403.

Alan Davion · « **Reply #23 on:** 29 August 2015, 14:42:21 »

Quote from: Knightmare on 29 August 2015, 14:20:40

Lets go through the list.

Clear your browser cache and cookies. Do you still receive the 403? Do you have your browser set to private or a setting that would prevent you from caching the login cookie?
Have you received the 403 for any other websites?
Are you accessing this site from behind a proxy of some kind?

I'm going to temporarily whitelist your IP. Let me know if you're still seeing the 403.

Just cleared cache and cookies again. I haven't received the 403 error for about a week now since the last time, pretty sure I don't have my browser set as private.

I haven't received it on any website except this one, and it was always on the Forums, never the Main site. I don't think I'm accessing the forums from behind a proxy.

The only problem I've been having this last week is always having to log back into the forums after shutting down my browser, even though I've selected "Keep me logged in Forever" on the login options.

Knightmare · « **Reply #24 on:** 29 August 2015, 16:30:23 »

Check your cookies and see if this cookie: SMFCookie813 is showing after you've logged in. The forum is set to store cookies locally (on your computer) to help handle login sessions. If you login, close the browser, and then reopen everything, are you dumped? The default login cookies length is six hours, so I'm curious.

Alan Davion · « **Reply #25 on:** 29 August 2015, 18:38:48 »

Quote from: Knightmare on 29 August 2015, 16:30:23

Check your cookies and see if this cookie: SMFCookie813 is showing after you've logged in. The forum is set to store cookies locally (on your computer) to help handle login sessions. If you login, close the browser, and then reopen everything, are you dumped? The default login cookies length is six hours, so I'm curious.

Yeah, I found that cookie after reminding myself how to find them in the first place. ::)

Maybe it's after I shut my computer down for the night. I don't re-load the BT forums page again for another 7-8 hours, e.g the next morning.

deathshadow · « **Reply #26 on:** 30 August 2015, 20:36:56 »

Yeah, I was seeing 403's earlier, now I'm getting 500's every other page.

Silly question, did you do something silly like try to block known spambots with rewriteRule to 403's? If you did it with "string" that can sometimes return false positives on legitimate users.

That and drag server performance into the deepest pits of hell since, well... htaccess AND regex multiple times? (Just helped someone with that on another server two days ago!)

There's a reason I always went to the command line and used IPTables after investigating the offenders with RDNS.

P.S. Check the server logs, I just got FOUR 500 errors in a row trying to make this post.

pheonixstorm · « **Reply #27 on:** 01 September 2015, 23:51:06 »

Also if the Adm1n thing is going to a non CGL email it could be that the last nasty hack attempt on the forums left some lingering code in the forum software that only pops up sporadically and/or randomly.

I have never encountered an issue like this on the BT forums or any of the forums I have run in the past (though I have never used the SMF software).