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Admin Tools

#10097 Colors disappeared after ADMINTOOL upgrade

Posted in ‘Admin Tools for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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Everybody will be able to see its contents. Do not include usernames, passwords or any other sensitive information.

Environment Information

Joomla! version
n/a
PHP version
n/a
Admin Tools version
n/a

Latest post by nicholas on Saturday, 12 November 2011 15:46 CST

Saturday, 12 November 2011 12:01 CST

user28657
Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? YES
Have I searched the forum before posting? YES
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? YES
Joomla! version: 1.5.23
PHP version: 5.36
MySQL version: 5.1.56
Host: Rochen
Admin Tools version: 2.1.11


Description of my issue:

I recently upgraded to ADMINTOOLS 2.1.11 and now my websites have lost their colors. (I also upgraded Backup to version 3.3.6 at the same time)

While attempting to log into one site, I could not access the backend and got the "you are spammer..." message although I have my IP address on the whitelist.

Short of restoring prior to the upgrade, do you have any idea why it would do this and how to fix?

Saturday, 12 November 2011 12:13 CST

user28657
I might add that my IP address has changed which would account for it thinking I'm a spammer. Not sure why it changed, but I can fix this part. Why the colors have disappeared is a mystery.

Saturday, 12 November 2011 13:52 CST

rkendallc
The colors missing probably means a file is not loading properly. Colors are usually associated to the template and the CSS files. Take a look at the header entries in the source with something like Firebug or Web tools in Chrome. You should be able to see if the files are loading properly.

It may be that the files did not restore or, if they are compressed or combined, it could be something being blocked by admin tools. An upgrade usually doesn't change that.

If you give us your website address, we could look and make further suggestions, but you did not include it.

Saturday, 12 November 2011 14:11 CST

user28657
Thank you for the response.
I'm looking at it with chrome but don't have webtools installed. I'll have learn to do this.

Some of my sites are ok, 4 are not: Here are a couple urls:
psnea.com
stpaulspt.org

I wouldn't think upgrading would cause this either. But it happened immediately afterwards and I did not touch anything else. Appreciate your help!

Saturday, 12 November 2011 14:24 CST

rkendallc
Because the colors file is a .php file that passes parameters, it looks like the admin tools has thrown an exception for that file on the front-end. It is causing a 403 error,which means the file can't be accessed / security issue.

You need to check the security exception log:

Go to your site's back-end, Components, Admin Tools, Web Application Firewall, Security Exception Log. Take a look at the topmost row on the table. What is the Reason mentioned?

Let us know the reason it was flagged. It may be that an exception was removed or reset on the upgrade. If it does, it might be a problem and Nicholas would want to know. It could also be a new "rule" added in the upgrade that you might have to remove or play with to get it right.

Let us know what you find in the security log.
Edited by rkendallc on 2011-11-12 14:26 CST

Saturday, 12 November 2011 14:32 CST

nicholas
I am not in front of a regular computer right now (3G and iPad is. close as I can get to tech till Monday), but I think I know where the problem is. Admin Tools 2.1.11 introduced a change in the .htaccess Maker. Previously, all .php files were allowed inside the template directory. Not any more (too unsafe). You can always try following our step by step instructions for determining the necessary .htaccess Maker exceptions, apply them and create a new .htaccess. The instructions are in https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/troubleshooter/athtaccessexceptions.html

As a side note, anything blocked by .htaccess make DOES NOT appear in the Web Application Firewall log because the filtering is performed in Apache level, long before any PHP code has e chance to execute ;)

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Saturday, 12 November 2011 15:06 CST

user28657
Thanks Niko.

I disabled my ATPRO and the exception report I'm seeing is a new IP for some reason was changed. Of course, it was not in my whitelist so it threw the error. Should I add this to my whiteliest? Is this normal for the IP address change from my ISP suddenly or is it suspect?

I immediately looked at the htaccesspermissions instructions at the onset since that was the major change but could not figure it out. I'm loading chrome webtools now.




Saturday, 12 November 2011 15:38 CST

nicholas
If you do not have something called a static IP, your ISP is free to change your IP address any time they like. For some ISPs this could be as frequent as once per hour, for others it could be as sparse as one per year. So, yes, it's something normal.

If this IP is not in your administrator IP whitelist and you have enabled this feature in Admin Tools, then it will prevent you from logging in to the back-end of your site. If you have also enabled the auto-ban IP addresses, you will also get to eventually ban yourself out of your site. For the workaround, check this out: https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/troubleshooter/atwafissues.html

Now, you may observe that even if you disable Admin Tools, your site's CSS is still not loading. This is normal, as disabling the "System - Admin Tools" plugin DOES NOT disable the .htaccess. You will have to follow the instructions I gave you previously to fix any .htaccess-related problems.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Saturday, 12 November 2011 15:42 CST

user28657
Got it. All ready figured out the exception...pretty easy, just never did it before. Most likely very similar errors on my other sites since they use the same template.

Thanks for the info on the IP addresses. I've had the same one for so long. I know exactly how to fix that up.

Appreciate all your support & responses.

Saturday, 12 November 2011 15:46 CST

nicholas
You're welcome!

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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