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Admin Tools

#32373 Linking to remote PDF files

Posted in ‘Admin Tools for Joomla! 4 & 5’
This is a public ticket

Everybody will be able to see its contents. Do not include usernames, passwords or any other sensitive information.

Environment Information

Joomla! version
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PHP version
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Admin Tools version
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Latest post by [email protected] on Monday, 24 February 2020 09:50 CST

[email protected]
Hello,

I'm trying to add a link to a PDF on an external domain; e.g. cdn.hubspot.com and when I save the article, I get an immediate 403 error. From what I understand, this is the intended result with Admin Tools.

My question, is there a way to white label specific external domains? If so, how would that exception be written in the .htaccess file, assuming that is the correct place to do so.

Thank you,
John

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
I can read your question in many different ways. I need you to tell me which of the following describes what happens.

A. The PDF file is hosted on your site. You are trying to have it being accessed through a different domain. You get a 403 from your server.

B. The PDF is hosted on a different domain and different server. You are trying to LINK to the file and you get a 403 from the remote server.

C. The PDF is hosted on a different domain and different server. You are trying to EMBED the file using some third party JavaScript and you get a 403 from the remote server.

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!

[email protected]
Hi Nicholas,

B. is closest to the issue I'm having, just slightly different.

Yes, the PDF is hosted on a different domain and different server, but the 403 happens on my domain, when I save the the Joomla article in the backend. If that remote URL is anywhere in the <a href="https://www.akeeba.com/remote-url">article text</a> and I click save, my site generates a 403.

John

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Without knowing the exact URL it's difficult to tell you if this comes from Admin Tools, its .htaccess Maker or something on your server. Could you give me an example URL?

If you don't want to make the PDF's URL public please create a simple .txt file, paste the URL in there and attach it to your next reply.

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!

[email protected]
Hi Nicholas,

Sorry for the late reply, I attached a text file with the URL. I also included the URL of the site we are posting the article on and the .htaccess information.

Kind regards,
John

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Are you linking to that PDF file on the .gov server or are you trying to embed it?

In the former case there's no reason to get a 403. It's an external link.

In the latter case it's something in the embed code you are using (or the extension you are using to embed it) and something on your site. In that case I'd need to know what the embed code is.

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!

[email protected]
Hi Nicholas,

All I am doing is adding a standard a href external link. It's a very strange behavior. I'll reach out to my host to see if mod_security is causing this.

Thanks,
John

[email protected]
Hi Nicholas,

You can close this ticket, issue was with mod_security. No issue with Admin Tools at all.

Thank you for your help, got me looking in the right direction.

Kind regards,
John

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