Server error, please try again later

[Divinum Fiat]

Hi all,

For some unexplainable reason I got logged out of my forum and when I try logging back in I get the message "server error, please try again later."

The page is frozen at that error page and no matter what tabs I click, I can't move away from the error page.

Does anyone have an idea of what this could be related to (my other domains, that share the same server, are up and running fine)?

 

[cclaerhout]

I would love that! Thank you.

Be aware of Chris, I'm sure he is a womaniser (more seriously, you can 1000‰ trust him )

 

[Divinum Fiat]

Oh how fun, now womanizers I know how to handle, piece of cake compared to this techie stuff! lol

 

[Chris D]

I'm no womaniser! My wife might read this!

 

[MattW]

Borbole, no, Hostgator didn't tell me more other than those IPs logged in. Not sure what exactly I need to do regarding the admin. Are you talking about the cpanel admin or the XF admin?

I just checked some of the IPs on my personal login for today. I have logged in only once and my IP shows up once. But meanwhile there are over 100 IPs showing in my personal account for today alone! One for just about every 15 minutes. Here is a screenshot of just the first few. I checked them individually and banned the IPs, they're all either out of Russia, China, Amman or other non U.S. countries. This is happening so fast that I am almost certain an automated software is doing this.

I'm asking for help on how to fix this once and for all. I have uploaded XF 1.1.3 but the activation instructions in their folder is useless (to me). I added the extracted XF folder into the public_html folder via Filezilla. What do I do after that?

View attachment 37941

That list of IP addresses for your admin account doesn't look good! I'd have a guess that your password has been guessed which is how they are getting in.

You mentioned earlier that your site is on a VPS. Do Hostgator manage that for you as well? If you need any help with securing the actual server once the Xenforo stuff is sorted, let me know.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

that would be awesome, Matt! Yes, Hostgator manages that VPS server and I have no idea if it's secure or not - I just assumed it was since it's their server. Passwords are now changed but I have dozens of pending member requests for today alone, all from spammers.

Why do people waste their time creating software to go spam other people's sites? What a miserable life to live with such a low purpose...

 

[MattW]

Once this is sorted, I'd recommend installing one of the anti-spam measures available on here. I personally run KeyCaptcha (on all the software I use online now, Xenforo, phpBB3, Wordpress and Opencart) and no spammers have registered since that was installed.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

Okay, something is still wrong. Even though I have changed my personal XF login password to my personal account (to which I have assigned admin rights), there still are showing up 6 more new IP addresses since my screen shot above. How the hell do they get to log in as me when I just changed the password? And yes, the flippin password is a mile long and has a gazillion symbols contained.

 

[MattW]

That sounds like a key logger on your PC to be honest if they have already got your new password.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

what's a key logger and what can I do about it?

 

[MattW]

It's something which is logging your keystrokes on your PC, and sending the information to someone else. A virus scan should detect this sort of thing though, unless it's something on your VPS and that in itself has been compromised.

 

[cclaerhout]

Full scan of your system (computer) with an anti spyware (http://www.safer-networking.org) & with your antivirus (for ie Kaspersky).

 

[Chris D]

It's a form of malware which creates a log of all the keys pressed on your keyboard. They are usually then sent electronically over the internet to people who then use them to gain access to your... hmm forums and stuff

You need an antivirus system that runs in the background and protects against such threats.

If you run Windows I highly recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.

 

[CTXMedia]

Worth checking the config file in case they've set-up a secondary super-admin account too?

 

[Taxi]

I just wanted to say that I'm so very encouraged by the help that is being given in this thread. I really shows what kind of community this is.

Thanks to all of you that are helping.

 

[Chris D]

Worth checking the config file in case they've set-up a secondary super-admin account too?

Do you know what, I was just in there and I didn't check that...

Blueprint4Love, would you feel comfortable in opening a file from your FTP and sending me the details (via PM)? I will check it over for you.

You would need to go to public_html/library/ and right click and view/edit the file called config.php

I will check out what Clickfinity just mentioned.

 

[Chris D]

I have just checked, and there doesn't seem to be any super admins defined in the config file.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

I just wanted to say that I'm so very encouraged by the help that is being given in this thread. I really shows what kind of community this is.

Thanks to all of you that are helping.

'Taxi,' you took the words right from my thoughts - I am so deeply grateful to everyone here who is reaching out and helping me get this resolved! Chris just helped me upgrade to XF 1.1.3 and helped me install his must-have add-on, RegFormTimer. I have a spammer trying to get in every 3-5 minutes, his add-on already blocked 9 attempts in just a few minutes. I've had my board for 14 months and I have not had any spammer until about 2 months ago. Suddenly I found myself sitting for a good hour a day, just manually checking IP addresses, banning IPs, manually rejecting users after I had to set members to "manual approval." Very frustrating.

I do see that these bots are registering at the speeds of 1-9 seconds. Chris' add on blocks them. It has a feature to get them to a service error page, a 'success' page or a redirect page. I have decided them to an internet spam notification page. lol. If that's doesn't work, I'll send them to an FBI or Terrorist Most Wanted page... that outta scare them silly.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

I have just checked, and there doesn't seem to be any super admins defined in the config file.

I don't have a super admin?? Is that okay?

 

[Divinum Fiat]

Okay, just checked my personal login file's IP addresses and they are still accumulating. Not sure why. However, Chris' add-on has stopped the spammer, yeewhaww! And there have been no new fake members in "waiting approval" file since we activated his add-on. I'm heading over to his add-on now and leave a message there. I definitely think everyone should have that!

 

[cclaerhout]

Chris could you send us the ip range of spammers? I could be useful to block it from our own websites.