Plugin Firewall, Blocking Plugin Script, Javascript slider

[AITpro Admin]

Email Question:
Hi Ed,
I needed to do a little work on a site this evening and put BPS Pro into Maintenance Mode. When I went back to Protected Mode I noticed the Plugin Firewall wasn’t enabled. I had just updated to 5.41 a day or two ago. So … I read the instructions and enabled that firewall. I don’t know for sure if that had anything to do with what I’ve seen since. I also installed and ran another plugin (a timthumb vulnerability scanner) that may have caused the problem — but the files it updated did not seem to have anything to do with the javascript slider and I tried restoring those files anyway but it didn’t help. Anyhow, whether the Plugin Firewall had anything to do with it or not, a very simple site that was working rather well until just this evening has been giving me trouble ever since. First off, I had an alternate front page for mobile set up with some plugins called WP Mobile Ninja & WPRotator that worked very well when the site’s front page was hit by a mobile device, like an iPhone. It stopped working, but when I updated that mobile page again, i.e., went into the mobile page and edited it and then updated it, that much started working again — But then I noticed the javascript slider on the actual front page of the site (for ordinary desktop/laptop/browser type devices) doesn’t seem to work anymore. It’s always worked without a hitch before. I tried updating that, too, but it didn’t help. I’ve done just about everything I can think of, several times now. And so far am not getting anywhere with it. If you think there is any chance that the firewall or something else related to BPS could have caused this, I’d appreciate you taking a look … ? If not, I guess I’ll be talking to some other folks a little later on.

[AITpro Admin]

Please do these troubleshooting steps to determine if the Plugin Firewall is the cause of the problem.

1. Go to the B-Core htaccess File Editor page.
2. Click on the Your Current Plugins htaccess File tab.
3. Check that your plugins htaccess file.  Do you see these default Firewall settings below?

Allow from aitpro.local
Allow from 127.0.0.1
# BEGIN PUBLIC IP
Allow from 127.0.0.1
# END PUBLIC IP

If so, the problem is either that the Plugin Firewall setup steps were not done correctly or your Server Configuration type is blocking you from creating the Plugin Firewall Master .htaccess file and activating it.

If you do see your correct Domain name, Server IP Address and your Public IP address in the .htaccess file do these steps below.

1. Go to the B-Core Security Modes page.
2. On the Security Modes page, click the Plugin Firewall BulletProof Mode Deactivate button.
3. Test your jQuery Slider.

If the jQuery Slider is working now then this means that a plugin script/file name is being blocked by the Plugin Firewall and has not been whitelisted.

Since the Plugin Firewall is very new as of BPS Pro 5.4.1 I will contact you to login to your site and document the exact problem and post it here.

Thanks.

[AITpro Admin]

Email Reply:
Actually everything is working now. It was due to ‘Use Google Library’ and the ‘Chennai Central’ plugins. Weird, but just as soon as I disabled them (I didn’t even think about it before as I have never had any problems with them), everything started working. Sorry to bother you …

[AITpro Admin]

There is no such thing as “bothering us/me”.  😉   We want to know everything that could potentially be a problem/issue related to BPS Pro or even other factors or issues that are not directly related to BPS Pro.  

BPS Pro could still be the reason these scripts are being blocked in these plugins in another way (security filters/rules in the root .htaccess file) that does not have to do with the Plugin Firewall.  I have seen this before in another plugin that was calling scripts in a way that is not the correct way to call scripts in WordPress, which is to enque scripts.  I will test both plugins.  Warning!  the Chennai Central plugin has not been updated since 9-20-2009.

[AITpro Admin]

Both plugins have been tested and there are no direct issues/conflicts with BPS or BPS Pro, but I can definitely see how they would conflict with the other plugins you are using.

Use Google Libraries – calls google libraries instead of using the WordPress Bundled libraries. So if you have a plugin that is using the WP bundled libraries and your plugins enque jQuery scripts before the admin init then this plugin is known to have conflicts with those plugins.

Chennai Central – this plugin claims to save Bandwidth. The method it is using to do that is to block bots. This plugin is not really capable of saving Bandwidth because the plugin author assumes in his coding of this plugin that bad bots play fair and of course they do not. I can see why the plugin was abandoned. It was not a good approach to take.  This plugin could cause problems with other plugins if those plugins rely on or use good bots communicating back with the site in an expected way.

[AITpro Admin]

A new Plugin Firewall Read Me First Troubleshooting post has been created here >>> http://forum.ait-pro.com/forums/topic/plugin-firewall-read-me-first-troubleshooting/

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