"Access denied" when trying to post

[albee1952]

Still happens here, though less often since deleting the cookies

[Oliver M]

Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://duc.avid.com/private.php?" on this server.

Reference #18.6d3d1602.1653244882.1eed870



Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://duc.avid.com/private.php?" on this server.

Reference #18.6d3d1602.1653245075.1ef17cd

[Darryl Ramm]

This is annoying. I think the source of the main problem is understood, I've discussed that with Avid. They might have made some improvements but it seems to be still happening. Now maybe you have a different problem. What exactly were you trying to do?

The main problem as far as I can tell is caused by an modsecurity like web application filter. Likely Akamai's Kona.

This problem will hit purely based on content (including maybe non-obvious or invisible characters (i.e. formatting)) in the post. You can force the error to happen by using "bad words" like say "/ b i n / s h" (without the spaces) that a security filter might reasonably look for. And you'll see the same exact error that I think folks here see at times. Test it for yourself by trying to include the bad words in a post.

Some odd combination of text characters will trip this off, and it might well be badly done character string matching across very long runs of text... which may be why breaking posts up into smaller posts helps bypass this for some posts.

All the past folklore about emptying browser caches, swapping browsers etc.... I expect you might as well sacrifice a goat. All that I suspect is happening there is folks try something and then retype or paste back in a message and in doing so make some very minor change to the text that now avoids the system tripping up doing whatever weird character string matching it's trying to do.

I am hoping Avid IT is collecting these messages as they fail, examining them and revising the Kona filters. I've made that suggestion and more. Not sure what IT staff have done. Jeffro may know more.

[albee1952]

Well, this just hit me(AGAIN!) after posting several times. This time was only a single paragraph of simple text. Its a total PITA, but I just chalk it up as something out of my control

And of course, this post went thru, but not the one where I was trying to help someone...............

[Cowboy Bob]

Originally Posted by albee1952

And of course, this post went thru, but not the one where I was trying to help someone...............

Seems like no good deed goes unpunished sometimes, don't it?

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by Cowboy Bob

Seems like no good deed goes unpunished sometimes, don't it?

True dat!

[Oliver M]

I've been back and forth with Jeffro about this a while ago. It doesn't matter which browser is used. It's a filter that's misbehaving. Just one wrong word and boom, "no permission". There is someone in Avid's IT department responsible for this, fire him/her. 😜


No, just kidding, but get to it! It sucks!

Originally Posted by Oliver M

Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://duc.avid.com/private.php?" on this server.

Reference #18.6d3d1602.1653244882.1eed870



Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://duc.avid.com/private.php?" on this server.

Reference #18.6d3d1602.1653245075.1ef17cd

[Ben Jenssen]

Again; when I get this error:
I go back
Copy the text I wanted to post
Paste it into a simple text editor, I use Stickies
Select all and copy again
Paste that into the entry field in DUC and post.


Works for me.

[Darryl Ramm]

And Ben that happens because you must be changing something in the text when you do this, maybe invisible characters like adding carriage return/formatting which looks the same on screen/in the post. That this works for you repeatedly makes me think something is specific to your posts/that this would change.

The cause for this is well understood, its related to an Akamai WAF/Web Application Filter as I explained above in this thread, it needs to be fixed. And I know folks have been working on it (thanks Jeffro!)

For most users the first effective thing to do in any posts failing with this error, is to remove any possible text that might be mistaken for UNIX commands like you would use in a shell script, (e.g. see for yourself by trying to post with the string "/ b i n / s h " (without the spaces) in a post, it really hates that). That's kind of stuff the filter is supposed to be looking for. Beyond that it appears to be drunk and slamming posts it should not. Next likely best thing to do is cutting the post up into chunks and posting as multiple shorter posts which can sometimes help identify an area of text the filter is failing on.

[Oliver M]

I always prepare my posts in Apple's TextEdit (set to Plain Text) or BBEdit because I know that sometimes after trying to post a post, DUC will ask to log in again and then everything that was typed is lost, believe me and don't mind me when I say that your advice is NOT the solution for everyone.

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

Again; when I get this error:
I go back
Copy the text I wanted to post
Paste it into a simple text editor, I use Stickies
Select all and copy again
Paste that into the entry field in DUC and post.


Works for me.