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Admin Tools

#15938 Admin Tools blocking WorkForce images

Posted in ‘Admin Tools for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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Everybody will be able to see its contents. Do not include usernames, passwords or any other sensitive information.

Environment Information

Joomla! version
n/a
PHP version
n/a
Admin Tools version
n/a

Latest post by nicholas on Wednesday, 01 May 2013 01:08 CDT

allright
Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? yes
Have I searched the tickets before posting? yes
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? yes
Joomla! version: 2.5.11
PHP version: 5.3
MySQL version:
Host: (optional, but it helps us help you) SiteGround
Admin Tools version: 2.5.4

Description of my issue:
I use the component WorkForce by Thinkery, and just recently the images for employees are blocked. I tried to adjust .htaccess to allow access to the com_workforce directory, but it had no effect. I know it is something within .htaccess because when I reset the file to the default in the jooomla setup it works fine.

Any help?

thanks
Neil

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Let's make sure that the problem is indeed caused by Admin Tools. In order to do so, try the following:

1. Try setting the Error Reporting level in your Global Configuration to "None". Many errors are caused by harmless PHP Notices and Warnings being output to the browser, breaking anything which requires HTTP header manipulation such as Joomla!'s session management, AJAX calls and download systems.

2. Try to replicate the issue after disabling the "System - Admin Tools" plugin. If you can still replicate the issue, it is not caused by Admin Tools. Disabling that plugin means that Admin Tools code (including the Web Application Firewall) is not running on your site.

3. If you suspect an issue with the .htaccess file, replace its contents with the contents of the stock htaccess.txt file shipped with every version of Joomla!. If you are on GoDaddy please wait for 1-30 minutes for the changes to be effective. Then, retry loading the problem page. If you can still reproduce the error, then it is not caused by .htaccess Maker.

If doing any of the above resulted in the issue still occurring, it's not related with Admin Tools and I can't help you. If doing any of the above did stop the issue from occurring, we'll have to do some troubleshooting.

First go to Admin Tools, Web Application Firewall, Configure WAF. Make sure "Log security exceptions" is set to Yes; if it's not, set it to Yes and click on Save. Now try reproducing your issue. Immediately after that, please go to Admin Tools, Web Application Firewall, Security Exceptions Log and go to the last page. The last log entry should have the date and time of when the issue occurred. Please copy the Reason and Target URL here so that I can help you.

If, however, you do not see a log entry, or the Date and/or IP address do not match your last access, this problem is not caused by Admin Tools' WAF. In this case, you will have to do some .htaccess troubleshooting. You may need to read the general .htaccess troubleshooting page, as well as the page on finding out necessary .htaccess exceptions.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

allright
Thanks Nicholas,

#1 made no change - the problem persists
#2 skipped for now because
#3 using the joomla default htaccess file allows the images to function correctly
The log feature is on, however there is no error being logged for the issue

I have attached the htaccess file that does not work, created by htaccess maker

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Did you follow the instructions in the last three lines of the last paragraph of my last messages?

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

allright
I followed the instructions and found a solution. I set the Front End Protection to No, and it works fine. I tried to make exceptions to folders and such without success.

So is this an issue that I need to be concerned about? I realize that no site is ever completely safe.

thanks

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
I am talking about these instructions https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/troubleshooter/athtaccessexceptions.html which tell you how to define the exact exceptions you need to add to .htaccess. Turning off the entire front-end protection is not really a solution. It's a crude way to determine if the issue is caused by .htaccess. Leaving it turned off doesn't help with the security of your site. Adding the necessary exception, however, is much better for your site's security.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

allright
I have looked at the troubleshooter page, but am not able to solve the problem yet.

I assume, that in the exceptions block, an address like components/com_workforce includes all subdirectories correct?

Using FireBug, I simply don't find anything out of the ordinary, and nothing changes when I change settings so that images are visible or not found.

I apologize, but this part of web technology is difficult for me, so any help will be greatly appreciated. The error can be found at Your text to link here.... The images are showing now, but when I enable "Front end protection", they go away.

thanks

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
This link doesn't help. The only three problems I see are:
  • Cannot load an external font resource (Arial, from Google Fonts)
  • Cannot load Google Maps because you are trying to load an HTTPS frame inside an HTTP page
  • There's a missing (not blocked) image at http://www.uniongroveonline.com/images/background1.png

None of these are caused by Admin Tools as they all have to do with external resources.

Moreover you have a Javascript error from lazy_load.js (probably part of your template) because jQuery is loaded nowhere on the page. I'm not sure if this is bad coding or a misguided option setting, but it's NOT something blocked by Admin Tools.

The images show correctly. If you have NOT enabled the front-end protection yet I know what you do need to do. The file extension of your images is .JPG with all capital letters. This is by default blocked; the proper file extension is .jpg with all lowercase letters. Anyway, you can tell .htaccess Maker to show .JPG (all caps) images. Go to .htaccess Maker and find the "Front-end file types allowed in selected directories" option. Scroll all the way down. Add:
JPG
to a new line and click on Save and Create .htaccess.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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