Multiple BB Codes Cause 403 Error

[ARFforum]

Hi all,

We are experiencing an issue with our forum (v4.1.7 Patch Lvl 2) and BB codes...

Every time a user attempts to post multiple lines of BB code, they are unable to post or even preview their post. Instead, they get a blank white page and the URL becomes domain.com/403.shtml

The site has been up and running for several years now without issue. However, one of our users mentioned this error to us just recently after attempting to create a thread and link images from Flickr using the [IMG] & [URL] BB codes.

Website URL: http://tinyurl.com/n36xaus - please let me know if you require any other information from our end.

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Sam.

[ForceHSS]

are they using custom bb codes

[ARFforum]

Hi ForceHSS,

Thanks for the prompt reply. No, they are using the standard BB codes such as [img] and [URL] etc.

We run a reptile forum and every now and then users post threads of field trips they have taken along with a fair few images of the landscapes & animals & they encountered on the way. They have been able to do this without issues for years by either hosting their own images on their server or, via Flickr. But now, as soon as you try to make a post with 3 or more BB codes, you get the blank page and 403.shtml error...

Even if I (admin account) try to create a post with multiple lines of [URL] (example below), I am unable to post it and experience the error.

[*URL="http://www.domain.com"]Link Name[*/URL]
* added so that the link doesn't parse

The BB codes definitely work, as there is no issue if you place 1-2x codes within the one post. And I have gone through the admin panel and BB codes are definitely on, nothing has been changed there.

Any ideas?

Cheers, Sam.

[ARFforum]

Update: Never mind. It turns out that a few mod_security rules needed to be whitelisted in order to allow more than 3x BB codes per post on the new server, as we changed server recently.

[ozzy47]

Thanks for reporting back with your solution.

[ForceHSS]

Glad to see you got it fixed.