[Forum] Question about a weird file

[Erica]

Hi ok i noticed it about a month ago a file in my ftp /public_html/forums, called zdberr2546844291bb683409e741c6bfea6d8a.dat now i don't remember ever adding that in there or having it in there so i deleted it and it comes back not sure is this normal or not but would like to know if anyone gets this in there and seems to change dates everyday the file zdberr2546844291bb683409e741c6bfea6d8a.dat so can someone tell me what this file might be and am i getting harmed thanks.

[Wayne Luke]

Don't know. It isn't part of vBulletin. Could ask your hosting company or the authors of any addons.

[Erica]

Don't know. It isn't part of vBulletin. Could ask your hosting company or the authors of any addons.

Ok did that made a Ticket and here's what they emailed me back.

Hello, 
   I cannot tell you exactly what the file does.  However a search  externally produced this It is from a class_core.php file which is part  of vbulletin. 
./forums/includes/class_core.php:                $tempfile = $tempdir."zdberr$unique.dat"; 

    if (!$vbulletin->options['disableerroremail']) 
            { 
                if (!$vbulletin->options['safeupload']) 
                { 
                    $tempdir = ini_get('upload_tmp_dir'); 
                } 
                else 
                { 
                    $tempdir = $vbulletin->options['tmppath'] . '/'; 
                } 

                $unique = md5(COOKIE_SALT); 
                $tempfile = $tempdir."zdberr$unique.dat"; 


Best regards, 
BretA 

Linux Systems Administrator 
HostGator.com  LLC 
[URL]http://support.hostgator.com[/URL]

So any ideas on this if it's normal or what should i do.

[Wayne Luke]

Hmm.. First that I have heard of the file. Appears to be code to try and prevent email flooding of database errors. I'd fix the errors in listed in the file.

[Erica]

Hmm.. First that I have heard of the file. Appears to be code to try and prevent email flooding of database errors. I'd fix the errors in listed in the file.

Ok you lost me there fix what and if this is not normal what do i need to do i'm a bit lost here.

[Wayne Luke]

The file should contain the log of various database errors. They were written to the file because you received an email with a database error within the previous minute. If you're database is working properly you will never see this file. So if you open the file and fix the errors listed within it, you won't see it anymore.

[Erica]

The file should contain the log of various database errors. They were written to the file because you received an email with a database error within the previous minute. If you're database is working properly you will never see this file. So if you open the file and fix the errors listed within it, you won't see it anymore.

Ok well not sure how to open a file dat cause notepad doesnt read it any suggestion?

[Wayne Luke]

Any modern text editor should be able to read it. I suggest trying Notepad++ it is available free on the internet. You can probably change the extension to .txt to have Notepad read it.

[Erica]

Any modern text editor should be able to read it. I suggest trying Notepad++ it is available free on the internet. You can probably change the extension to .txt to have Notepad read it.

all it shows is this 13207251452006 unless i did something wrong but thats only thing in there.

[Wayne Luke]

Then delete it.

[Erica]

Then delete it.

lol thats the thing it's weird i delete it and in a few hours another new one comes back.

[Wayne Luke]

Are you getting database error emails? Is the technical contact email in your config.php a valid email address?

[Erica]

Are you getting database error emails? Is the technical contact email in your config.php a valid email address?

no database errors and does have the right email in config.php

[bflop]

I too have this file in my forum root directory. Noticed it for the first time yesterday when I upgraded to 4.1.8. I deleted it before I upgraded as it didn't appear normal and I was concerned it was a security breach related to the previous two patches for 4.1.7. Look this morning and there it is again. Opening the .dat file in a text editor only shows a few digits and nothing else. I've deleted it again.

I have purposely restarted Apache and MySQL a few times this morning and I did receive the e-mails from vBulletin about the database being down... so that's working as it should, but I would like to know what that .dat file is and why it keeps getting recreated after I delete it. Thanks.

[Trevor Matthews]

I found a similar file after running a suspect files search.
I just deleted it and will keep an eye on it.......