Captcha Failure (I know why, need advice on resolution)

Paul_K · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:11 am

Hi Guys,

Ok, So here goes... I logged out as admin today as I wanted to see how the frontpage was looking without the additional clutter, once satisfied I went to log back in as admin and started having captcha issues Sad

The captcha image was being displayed properly but no matter how many times I typed the codes I saw in it would just cycle straight onto the next one as if I had entered it wrong. As the image was being displayed I assumed I must have forgotten my password or something so remade it in phpmyadmin. Still no joy!

It was about this time I realised I hadn't logged in since having a bit of an issue with Gallery. You see I recently moved host and was unable to access ImageMagik properly once the site had transferred, something about account security rights or similar. The host resolved it by placing a php.ini file in the root of RavenNuke with one line in "disable_functions =" This sorted out my ImageMagik problems BUT if I delete this file captcha starts working properly again i.e. My typed code is accepted as correct!

So what can I do guys? Can I amend this php.ini file with something to make captcha and ImageMagik work or do I just have to lose that part of Gallerys functionality? I'd rather not live without captcha Sad

Cheers, Paul K

Edit. Just checked and this is what my host said originally. Not sure if it will shed any light at all?

Paul_K's Host wrote:

Hello,

There was exec functions was causing problem to ImageMagic. We have disabled this function on the server due to security. I have enabled it for just your account so now ImageMagick Test Settings works. Please check and verify the same at your end.

Regards,

Raven · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:43 am

Without seeing more information I can't tell exactly. Here is what I would do.

- With the php.ini file in place, run a phpinfo() script.
- Then, rename php.ini so it won't work. Run another phpinfo() script.
- Compare the 2 outputs and see what changes between the two.

Hopefully that will point you to the issue/resolution.

Paul_K · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:07 pm

Hi Raven,

Thanks for the advice, there are quite a few differences and I don't really know what I'm looking for so I saved the outputs as two different pages...

and

Anything that catches your eye with a quick glance?

Cheers, Paul K

Raven · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:13 pm

YIKES! You published your httpauth id/password. I deleted them, hopefully before anyone else saw them. You shouldn't have many differences at all unless you have a number of changes in your php.ini file. You will have to do a line by line comparison and note the differences. Then as long as the differences don't involve security, just post the differences.

Paul_K · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:41 pm

Whoops

Will have a look through and post back...

Paul_K · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:20 pm

Okay, here are the differences that I can see. I've left out the error logging ones.

With php.ini.

disable_functions no value
max_execution_time 30
max_input_nesting_level 64
max_input_time -1
memory_limit 128M
output_buffering 0
safe_mode_exec_dir /usr/local/php/bin
upload_max_filesize 2M
url_rewriter.tags a=href,area=href,frame=src,form=,fieldset=

No php.ini

disable_functions shell_exec,system,passthru,exec,popen,proc_close,proc_get_status,proc_nice,proc_open,proc_terminate,highlight_file,escapeshellcmd,
define_syslog_variables,posix_uname,posix_getpwuid,apache_child_terminate,posix_kill,posix_mkfifo,posix_setpgid,posix_setsid,posix_setuid,
escapeshellarg,posix_uname,ftp_exec,ftp_connect,ftp_login,ftp_get,ftp_put,ftp_nb_fput,ftp_raw,ftp_rawlist,ini_alter,inject_code,syslog,openlog,define_syslog_variables,apache_setenv
max_execution_time 900
max_input_nesting_level 64
max_input_time 60
memory_limit 32M
output_buffering no value
safe_mode_exec_dir no value
upload_max_filesize 10m
url_rewriter.tags a=href,area=href,frame=src,input=src,form=,fieldset=

The info for the non-php.ini setup has additional sections that the php.ini one doesn't! Namely...

SQLite
PDO
pdo_mysql
pdo_sqlite
suhosin
Zend Optimiser

The url_rewriter.tags one looks like it might be something?

Raven · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:00 pm

Paul, no offense, but I don't think your host, or at least the person "helping" you, knows what they are doing. I won't say anything more but I would strongly suggest that you either get another host or get someone else to help you.

Try changing your php.ini to this.
memory_limit=128M
output_buffering=4096

Then let me know what the results are. I'm going to start with the most restrictive and tweak from there.

Paul_K · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:17 pm

Hi Raven,

I was more than happy with my last host but he was a one man band outfit and decided he needed to spend more time with his family. A decision I can't really hold against him. The latest hosts would appear to have some knowledgeable guys in the UK but I only ever seem to get dealt with by a help center in China. I got the impression last time that the guy was struggling to sort my issue out as the same problem on the last host was resolved in about a minute with no php.ini files being added to the folder!

I tried your suggestions but alas, the problem remains. I appreciate that your time is valuable to you and that this could take a large amount of it so I'll understand if you just want to walk away! lol

Raven · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:51 pm

And I would tend to agree that it's probably not a php.ini issue but the 2 overrides mentioned above are better than what the hosts' default values are so that's the reason you should probably keep them Smile

Please email, to me, the following info and I will try to sort it all out tonight.
raven @AT@ ravenphpscripts .DOT. com

Site url, admin id/pass
NukeSentinel(tm) id/pass (if using)
FTP url, id/pass

Just to make sure that it's not a caching issue, have you cleared your cache, closed down all browser instances, and deleted any/all cookies that reference your site url?

Paul_K · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 4:27 am

Hi,

I never did e-mail you my details, work got hectic and tbh the whole thing had slipped my mind. At the time I just left it so that the captcha system worked so users would be able to log in.

However, a new member wants to upload some pictures and can't Sad

Raven, is there any chance you would be willing to take a quick look?

Oh, and while installing a gallery update today I got this message...

Warning: The exec() function is disabled in your PHP by the disabled_functions parameter in php.ini. You won't be able to use modules that require external binaries (e.g. ImageMagick, NetPBM or Ffmpeg). This can only be set server-wide, so you will need to change it in the global php.ini.

Shed any light at all?

Cheers, Paul K

Raven · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:59 am

Your host is the only one who can enable the "exec" function.