Title: HTML5 PDF Viewer – 403 Error
Last modified: February 19, 2017
---
# HTML5 PDF Viewer – 403 Error
* Resolved [RafaelDeJongh](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rafaeldejongh/)
* (@rafaeldejongh)
* [9 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html5-pdf-viewer-403-error/)
* I’m getting a 403 error when using HTML5 PDF Viewer by Envigeek Web Services (
[https://wordpress.org/plugins/pdf-viewer/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pdf-viewer/))
* I’ve already tried fixing it with searching on the BPS forums and using this
code:
* ```
# TIMTHUMB FORBID RFI and MISC FILE SKIP/BYPASS RULE
# Use BPS Custom Code to modify/edit/change this code and to save it permanently.
# Remote File Inclusion (RFI) security rules
# Note: Only whitelist your additional domains or files if needed - do not whitelist hacker domains or files
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^.*(http|https|ftp)(%3A|:)(%2F|/)(%2F|/)(w){0,3}.?(blogger|picasa|blogspot|tsunami|petapolitik|photobucket|imgur|imageshack|wordpress\.com|img\.youtube|tinypic\.com|upload\.wikimedia|kkc|start-thegame).*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*(http|https|ftp)(%3A|:)(%2F|/)(%2F|/)(w){0,3}.?(blogger|picasa|blogspot|tsunami|petapolitik|photobucket|imgur|imageshack|wordpress\.com|img\.youtube|tinypic\.com|upload\.wikimedia|kkc|start-thegame).*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* index.php [F]
#
# Example: Whitelist additional misc files: (example\.php|another-file\.php|phpthumb\.php|thumb\.php|thumbs\.php)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (viewer\.php|timthumb\.php|phpthumb\.php|thumb\.php|thumbs\.php) [NC]
# Example: Whitelist additional website domains: RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*(YourWebsite.com|AnotherWebsite.com).*
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*ninavanrompaey.be.*
RewriteRule . - [S=1]
```
* But that didn’t seem to work as this is the error log I’m receiving:
* ```
[403 GET Request: February 19, 2017 - 23:18]
BPS: .54.4
Event Code: BFHS - Blocked/Forbidden Hacker or Spammer
Solution: N/A - Hacker/Spammer Blocked/Forbidden
REMOTE_ADDR: 2a02:1810:0406:2d00:759d:2758:cad4:02ca
Host Name: ptr-4chfqzwj07mclb7kju.18120a2.ip6.access.telenet.be
SERVER_PROTOCOL: HTTP/1.1
HTTP_CLIENT_IP:
HTTP_FORWARDED:
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR: 2a02:1810:0406:2d00:759d:2758:cad4:02ca
HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP:
REQUEST_METHOD: GET
HTTP_REFERER: https://ninavanrompaey.be/resume/
REQUEST_URI: /wp-content/plugins/pdf-viewer/stable/web/viewer.html?file=https://ninavanrompaey.be/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/NinaVanRompaey-CV.pdf
QUERY_STRING:
HTTP_USER_AGENT: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/57.0.2987.54 Safari/537.36
```
* Anyone could assist me with this?
* Thanks in advance!
- This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by [RafaelDeJongh](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rafaeldejongh/).
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
* Plugin Author [AITpro](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aitpro/)
* (@aitpro)
* [9 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html5-pdf-viewer-403-error/#post-8827012)
* You need to change the file extension from php to html.
Example: viewer\.php
should be changed to viewer\.html
* Plugin Author [AITpro](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aitpro/)
* (@aitpro)
* [9 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html5-pdf-viewer-403-error/#post-8827114)
* I have created a new forum that documents this very common problem and solution
in this forum topic for this plugin: [https://forum.ait-pro.com/forums/topic/html5-compliant-pdf-viewer-for-wordpress-403-error/](https://forum.ait-pro.com/forums/topic/html5-compliant-pdf-viewer-for-wordpress-403-error/)
* I’m not sure why so many plugin authors use this type of method to open/view
files, but it is identical to exactly the same RFI hacking methods that hackers
use. Most likely someone started this a long time ago and other plugin authors
just keep copying this horrible coding method. 😉 There are several other methods
to open/view files in a safe standard way.
- This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by [AITpro](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aitpro/).
- This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by [AITpro](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aitpro/).
* Thread Starter [RafaelDeJongh](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rafaeldejongh/)
* (@rafaeldejongh)
* [9 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html5-pdf-viewer-403-error/#post-8827248)
* Awesome thanks for the answer and explanation! This pretty much fixed the problem
as expected.
* Do you perhaps know any better/safer PDF viewer? I mainly downloaded this one
because of its reviews/rates…
* Either way thanks for the assistance!
* Plugin Author [AITpro](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aitpro/)
* (@aitpro)
* [9 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html5-pdf-viewer-403-error/#post-8827283)
* Great! Thanks for confirming that worked.
* I don’t have have any experience or knowledge about any PDF viewer plugins beyond
finding solutions for this type of problem. I was not saying that the plugin
is unsafe. I was just remarking on this very common issue that I have been seeing
for many years now. Just logically wondering out loud why this is so common when
there are many other better ways to do this same thing. 😉
* Thread Starter [RafaelDeJongh](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rafaeldejongh/)
* (@rafaeldejongh)
* [9 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html5-pdf-viewer-403-error/#post-8827312)
* Haha alrighty, thanks for the additional information.
Let’s hope in the near
future people will understand this and look more into these safe solutions.
* Either way thanks for the help!
* Plugin Author [AITpro](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aitpro/)
* (@aitpro)
* [9 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html5-pdf-viewer-403-error/#post-8827344)
* ha ha ha – not likely my friend. 😉
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
The topic ‘HTML5 PDF Viewer – 403 Error’ is closed to new replies.
* 
* [BulletProof Security](https://wordpress.org/plugins/bulletproof-security/)
* [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/bulletproof-security/)
* [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/bulletproof-security/active/)
* [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/bulletproof-security/unresolved/)
* [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/bulletproof-security/reviews/)
## Tags
* [BPS](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/bps/)
* 6 replies
* 2 participants
* Last reply from: [AITpro](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aitpro/)
* Last activity: [9 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html5-pdf-viewer-403-error/#post-8827344)
* Status: resolved