UBB Forum 403 error

[Geoff]

How do I fix the 403 request error for certain uploaded files/attachments which have been uploaded in my UBB Forum software by other Users? The forum scripts do not strip the blank spaces during the upload and then the  spaces in the file name  causes the URL to include %20 when referencing that file / attachment.  The final result is inline  403 error for that attachment for all other users but me?  It loads ok for me as assume I have been whitelisted.

>>>>>>>>>>> 403 GET or HEAD Request Error Logged - February 11, 2014 - 1:26 AM <<<<<<<<<<<
REMOTE_ADDR: 67.159.5.xxx
Host Name: 67.159.5.xxx
SERVER_PROTOCOL: HTTP/1.1
HTTP_CLIENT_IP:
HTTP_FORWARDED:
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR:
HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP:
REQUEST_METHOD: GET
HTTP_REFERER:
REQUEST_URI: /forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=5020&filename=AC%20Suitcase%20Harrison%20Tag%20(Camaro).JPG
QUERY_STRING:
HTTP_USER_AGENT: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_9_1) AppleWebKit/537.73.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.1 Safari/537.73.11

Thanks in advance – Geoff

[AITpro Admin]

The %20 blank space is ok and not triggering the 403 error.  I believe the round bracket code characters/parenthesis around “Camaro” are what is triggering the 403 error: (Camaro)

Is UBB Forum installed outside of your WordPress site?  Is it installed in its own folder as a 3rd party application?

Example:

UBB Forum is installed in this folder:  /public_html/forums/ and your WordPress site is installed either in the root of the site or in a subfolder:  /public_html/wordpress folders are here:  wp-admin, wp-includes, etc….  or WordPress is installed in a subfolder:  /public_html/wordpress-site/wordpress folders are here:  wp-admin, wp-includes, etc…

[Geoff]

Is UBB Forum installed outside of your WordPress site?  Is it installed in its own folder as a 3rd party application?

Yes, it is a 3rd party outside of the WP site.  It is found in its own directory as a 3rd party application.

/public_html/wordpress install

/public_html/forum_3rd_party/

[AITpro Admin]

Ok great.  Here is what you need to do.

1. Copy this code below to this BPS Custom Code text box:  CUSTOM CODE WP REWRITE LOOP START: Add www to non-www/non-www to www code here 
2. Click the Save Root Custom Code button.
3. Go to the BPS Security Modes page and click the Root Folder BulletProof Mode Activate button.

# WP REWRITE LOOP START
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# RewriteRule for Custom 3rd Party Apps outside of WP
RewriteRule ^forums/ - [L]

NOTE:  For websites where WordPress is installed in a root folder the RewriteBase is /:  RewriteBase /.  If WordPress is installed in a subfolder the RewriteBase will have the WordPress subfolder name.  If you are unsure what the correct RewriteBase is for your site then check your Root .htaccess file.  BPS will always automatically create the correct RewriteBase for your website in the BPS Root .htaccess file.

Example:  WordPress is installed in a subfolder named:  /public_html/wp-subfolder-site/.  The RewriteBase would be:  RewriteBase /wp-subfolder-site/

[Geoff]

Thanks.  That did the trick

[AITpro Admin]

Great!  Thanks for confirming that worked.

[Author]

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