I'm seeing a lot of error messages in our server logs which indicate that
someone is trying to load URLs with bold tags in them, like this:
http://www.vec.ca/English/2/<b>hotels</b>-<b>toronto</b>.cfm
This is the correct URL:
http://www.vec.ca/English/2/hotels-toronto.cfm
This fills up our log files. It is also apparently preventing people
from smoothly navigating to our site. Consequently, I would like to
identify where the bad links are coming from. That's my question.
Where are people finding these links? |
Request for Question Clarification by
mother911-ga
on
22 Jul 2004 02:29 PDT
Have you checked the referrer in your logs?
Is it always the same url?
My first three thoughts went like this:
1. bad link from another site most likely a search engine. If you
search for something on most search engines, they highlight or bold
the items you searched for. For example if I searched for Toronto
Hotels on google.com I would receive as a response a title of the
site, a small description of the site, and the url. That URL would
have http://www.vec.ca/English/2/<b>hotels</b>-<b>toronto</b>.cfm this
look. If I had searched for English Hotels and Toronto the link would
look like this http://www.vec.ca/<b>English</b>/2/<b>hotels</b>-<b>toronto</b>.cfm
2. An internal link with bad html code on it. Based on the frequency
you mentioned, I thought perhaps an internal link or a site search
engine link like the one on your site. I checked as best I could for
both with no success. Perhaps if you check your logs you can see if
the person or persons linking to a URL with tags in it are previously
in your site, or if this is the first page they hit.
3. A hack attempt. I know it sounds silly, but I am an admin and
remembered reading something about webalizer having a vulnerability
which allowed a hacker to use html tags to attack the system.
If you think one of these was the issue, please let me know..i'd love
to collect my reward. If you want more information on the webalizer
vulnerability, I would hope you would accept it as an answer as I did
alot of researching for this question. Worst comes to worst, none of
these helps but it brings your question to the attention of the other
researchers and maybe one of them thinks of something new.
Best of luck
Mother911-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
fullthrottle-ga
on
01 Aug 2004 08:33 PDT
Mother911-ga,
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I was waiting for my
webmaster to respond. He was busy cleaning off his desk before his
vacation and now he's gone. I'll get him on it when he returns in a
week.
In the meantime, I can clarify a couple of things.
It is not always the same URL. The </b><b></b> pattern, however, is
always the same.
We have ruled out the possibility of an internal bad link. We did
extensive site searches for fragments of the bad URLs. We have also
checked the entire http://www.vec.ca site for bad links with Web Link
Validator.
I'll give you more clarification when our webmaster is back in the saddle.
Thanks.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
mother911-ga
on
01 Aug 2004 15:48 PDT
Hello Fullthrottle,
I am glad to see you back. Perhaps your webmaster could also check if
there is any pattern to the bold links, for instance a browser type,
or referring URL.
Is it possible to post the bold link logs?
Mother911-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
fullthrottle-ga
on
01 Aug 2004 18:23 PDT
And I'm glad that you haven't given up on me.
I'll have our logs posted. It will take a week, though.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
mother911-ga
on
01 Aug 2004 18:32 PDT
I will keep checking on this for as long as you need.
Mother911-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
fullthrottle-ga
on
08 Aug 2004 13:16 PDT
mother911-ga, I stumbled across the answer. Months ago, I tried
making a mini site map using the results from my internal search. It
looked terrible but I forgot about it. Yesterday, I came across the
page and fixed it.
I still can't figure out why my searches didn't bring this up but it
doesn't really matter now. I have other ways to find any other pages
with the same problem.
Anyway, you have answered the question to the best of your ability
with the information you were given. I consider this to be a case
closed and your job well done.
Thanks.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
mother911-ga
on
08 Aug 2004 15:37 PDT
Hi fullthrottle,
I am glad you found your problem, I was pretty sure we had narrowed it
down to the only possibilities. I am just a little confused about this
part.
"Anyway, you have answered the question to the best of your ability
with the information you were given. I consider this to be a case
closed and your job well done."
Does this mean you accept my information as an answer and would like
to pay the 40 dollars you offered as payment for a solution? I would
just like this to be clear so that I can accept payment, or not.
Thanks and best wishes,
Mother911-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
fullthrottle-ga
on
08 Aug 2004 18:47 PDT
Yes, that means that I accept your information as an answer and would like
to pay the 40 dollars I offered as payment for a solution.
Thanks!
|
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