Specific string of text results in error

plr15

This issue has popped up a few times on my Vanilla 2.1.11 (just upgraded, but has happened on 2.1.9 as well).

There are very specific strings of characters that will break the site when trying to make a new post or preview. The post/preview will fail and a narrow version of our homepage loads on the left side of the page. Whenever it has happened, I try to narrow the string of text down as much as possible. On the latest issue... this phrase would not post:

selection process and see if a more balanced lineup will be better served as opposed to higher priced guys with some scrubs.

PGA

Being stubborn and having a poor power ranking on Bubba Watson didn't help me. I was wrong using him so heavily last week. While he was under-owned he turned out to be poop. I'll learn from

Here's a screenshot of what it looks like when you try to post that:

If I removed a letter from the beginning or the end, it posted with no errors. I ended up changing the phrasing of the last sentence and it posted. Any idea what might be causing this issue? The same thing has happened before with shorter strings. If anyone is interested in testing it live on the site, you'll be able to find the address on the uploaded image which I plan on deleting if/when the issue is resolved.

Thanks!

peregrine

I've seen that occur on another site with a certain phrasing of words.

I think it has to do with the web host and their prevention of certain words in a specific order perhaps because a spammer or someone used them and attacked site and someone set up some kind of rule.

It may be something different for you. But if one of the offending words was used no problem. if two of the offending words in a certain order no problem. but reverse the two words and the post would be disallowed.

I bet you can narrow down the offending words (probably 2 or 3 in a certain order by removing parts of the middle of the content. That's how I narrowed down the words, when I saw the problem about a year ago or so.

try removing "selection" or change "poop" to "no good"

you might contact web host.

plr15

You're right. It looks like the error is with "select" followed by "from." I contacted the host and that was indeed the issue. A ModSecurity rule. Thanks so much.

hgtonight

@plr15 said:
You're right. It looks like the error is with "select" followed by "from." I contacted the host and that was indeed the issue. A ModSecurity rule. Thanks so much.

Sounds like an extremely lazy way to prevent SQL injection?