oldnumberseven
Member
Hi there 
I'm in the middle of updating my story and after editing the 3rd chapter in a row, I got this error.
I'm in the middle of updating my story and after editing the 3rd chapter in a row, I got this error.
Potential XSS attack detected
- Thread starter oldnumberseven
- Start date
Thanks
We'll look into your unique case ASAP.
About 6 months ago Fanfiction.net was hacked by having malicious code included in writer's stories - we decided to proactively combat the issue by upping our security, but unfortunately the systems do sometimes have false positives.... which we're taking on a case by case basis.
I'll get back to you when I know more and thanks again for posting here about this!
-Ronnie
Thanks so much for reporting this!Hi there
I'm in the middle of updating my story and after editing the 3rd chapter in a row, I got this error.
View attachment 12
We'll look into your unique case ASAP.
About 6 months ago Fanfiction.net was hacked by having malicious code included in writer's stories - we decided to proactively combat the issue by upping our security, but unfortunately the systems do sometimes have false positives.... which we're taking on a case by case basis.
I'll get back to you when I know more and thanks again for posting here about this!
-Ronnie
oldnumberseven
Member
Yeah, no problem! I figured it had to do with me updating a bunch of my chapters at once Sorry to hear about the attack! I've managed sites before and that's never fun.
Sorry to hear about the attack! I've managed sites before and that's never fun.
Yeah, no problem! I figured it had to do with me updating a bunch of my chapters at once
It has less to do with updating the stories and more to do with the content within them - for example, older versions of word often included hidden <script> commands during a copy paste into our systems. Since the XSS warning system was implemented after your story was posted, it was unaffected until you attempted to update them.
Hope that makes sense
!
oldnumberseven
Member
It has less to do with updating the stories and more to do with the content within them - for example, older versions of word often included hidden <script> commands during a copy paste into our systems. Since the XSS warning system was implemented after your story was posted, it was unaffected until you attempted to update them.
Hope that makes sense
Ahhhhh ok. Yes that makes sense
Ahhhhh ok. Yes that makes sense
Turns out this is actually a legitimate XSS attack (Non intentional)
the HTML is the text they uploaded. it looks like it's copying the whole HTML structure including the chapter navigation UI from a different site
there's an "onclick" attribute on the dropdown menu that changes the url to "/story_preview.php?storyid=...")
Fortunately, that means fixing it is pretty easy... just copy paste ONLY the text of your story and not the entire site its hosted on now.
Let me know if you have any further questions or problems!
-Ronnie
oldnumberseven
Member
Aha! That makes sense, I've been copying and pasting from the same story on FF.net.
Just to double check, if I have an older version of word and copy/paste, will I run into the same issue?
Just to double check, if I have an older version of word and copy/paste, will I run into the same issue?
Nope! We've whitelisted the majority of scripts that old Word uses.
I'm glad to find at least one case where our system prevented a legitimate danger to our site - FF.net was the original site to get hacked, so now I know our measures were effective at preventing exactly this scenario (this is how it spread across fandom in the first place)
Stella Blue
New member
Hi Ronnie - I've been having this same issue as well. After reading the suggestions above I tried deleting all the text of the chapter and repasting it in from Word, but that didn't change anything. How else can I fix it?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Sounds like you found a new one and came to the right place!
We're looking into it now!
-R
Stella Blue
New member
I just tried, and got the same error again :-/
Thank you! We added some special tracking code to your story so we could hunt down the issue. I'll get back to you ASAP
-R
Stella Blue
New member
Just wondering if the issue has been fixed yet?
Hey there,
Thanks for the follow up on this. We did continue looking into this and made another change. I'm assuming you're still experiencing the same issue having tried again within the last week?
-Ronnie
Thanks for the follow up on this. We did continue looking into this and made another change. I'm assuming you're still experiencing the same issue having tried again within the last week?
-Ronnie
Stella Blue
New member
It seems to be working now, on my phone at least Thank you!!
Thank you!!
It seems to be working now, on my phone at least
Huzzah!!!! Glad it worked
- Ronnie