Logging into Control Panel Error

[Yappi]

I'm having problems logging into my control panel. I login fine and then when I try to do anything, it takes me back to the login page for the control panel. It won't allow me to do anything in the control panel. I can't validate users or posts.

I've read a little about an XSS issue but I have been very diligent in only using the control panel when I was working in it and shutting it down immediately. The version I'm using is:

3.5.2

Also, each time I login to the control panel, it appears to restart the "Currently Active Users" as it has about 300 on right now but will drop down to less than 20 and climb back up in only a few minutes.

[Steve Machol]

This is probably a cookie domain/path issue. To fix this, upload the tools.php script in the 'do_not_upload' folder of the vB zip file to your Admin CP directory and run it from your browser. Use this to reset the cookie domain and path back to the defaults. And then leave your cookie domain and path at the default settings. There is no reason to change these. If you need to specify a unique cookie, use the cookie prefix setting in config.php instead.

And honestly I've never heard of any connection between logging into the Admin CP and the Currently Active Users number with the default vB code.

[Yappi]

I already tried that from reading several threads tonight. It didn't change anything.

I know the online users thing sounds crazy so I just did it again. I went from 84 members to 14 members within 30 seconds. You can see it in the attached images.

**Edit** And back up to 71 just five minutes later...

[Steve Machol]

Can you log into your forums? Are you in the Admin Group (see 'Show Forum Leaders').

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.

Next, disable all plugins.

Note: To temporarily disable the plugin system, edit config.php and add this line right under <?php

define('DISABLE_HOOKS', true);

[Yappi]

I can login to the forums without a problem. I haven't had any complaints from any users, so it appears to be limited to just the admin section of the site. I've tried both my Admin usernames and both have the same problem. I tried logging into the moderator section with a moderator username and had the same problem. It's strange because it logs in and shows all the users awaiting moderation but when I click any of the usernames, it takes me back to the login screen.

I disabled the plugins a couple hours ago too using that technique.

I've uploaded (and overwritten) the admincp files and it didn't change anything. I'm going to go right now and upload the rest of the files to see if it helps. I'll let you know in a few minutes.

[Floris]

Upgrade to at least the latest version of vBulletin of the 3.5 branch, and I recommend to upgrade all the way to 3.6.4. This should fix any known security issue, any known bug and any issues known so far and provides you with the best support.

That said, these radical changes could be the server time jumping on the server itself? Check a few timestamps once every 4 minutes for about 30 minutes and see if they jump back and forth in time. Perhaps the server has issues syncing with the timeserver online.

Otherwise i wouldn't know what this could be, perhaps you're using older files or have a corrupted session table.

Go to maintenance > diagnostics > suspect file version and make sure all the files a`re from the same version and not modified.

[Yappi]

I've upgraded to 3.6.4 and everything is running fine now. I was planning on doing this over the next weekend but it sped up my plans a bit.

Still is strange how things changed all of a sudden. Thanks for both of your help!!