Search results - single quote in URL returns "403 forbidden" page

[oldford]

When I do a search on my forum that includes a single quote (example: "what's new") I get an error when clicking on any of the results. Each result URL will have the following at the end: &highlight=what's+new which of course is normal.

The problem is then when you click on one of those results you get a 403 Forbidden error. The single quote in the tail end of the URL is screwing it up.

Is this a PHP or permission setting? In several years on my forum I've never had an issue with this before, so I'm guessing it used to work.

[Steve Machol]

This may be due to mod_security. If so, please see this thread for the possible fix:

http://www.vbulletin.com/go/modsecurity

Note: The .htaccess file does not work all the time, particularly if mod_security2 is installed. If that's the case then your host will need to identify which rules are causing this and make the appropriate adjustments.

[oldford]

Thanks Steve. I've had my host disable mod_security and still get the error. Any other thoughts?

[Steve Machol]

To troubleshoot this, first reupload all the original vB non-image files (except install.php). Make sure you upload these in ASCII format and overwrite the ones on the server. Also be sure to upload the admincp files to whichever directory you have set in your config.php file. Then run 'Suspect File Versions' in Diagnostics to make sure you have all the original files for your version and that none show 'File does not contain expected contents':

Admin CP -> Maintenance -> Diagnostics -> Suspect File Versions

[Note: In some cases you may also need to remove any of the listed .xml files in the includes/xml directory.]

Next, disable all products (except vB Blog and vB CMS if you are running the Suite.)

Admin CP -> Plugins & Products -> Manage Products -> Disable

Then manually uncheck all plugins that are not for 'vBulletin Blog' and vBulletin CMS' here:

Admin CP -> Plugins & Products -> Plugin Manager

You must do BOTH of those steps in order to disable all non vBulletin Modifications.

Then if you still have this problem, create a new style and choose no parent style. This will force it to use the default templates. Finally empty your browser cache, close all browser windows then try again. Make sure you change to the new style and view your forums with it.

Do you have the same problem?

[oldford]

Kind of tough to do on a large live forum w/ 100+ members online all the time.

I assume I can install a second fresh version of VB and test that way? (not public of course to abide by VB license rules)

[Trevor Hannant]

Yes, you can do this.