Title: bdolor's Replies | WordPress.org

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# bdolor

  [  ](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)

 *   [Profile](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 *   [Topics Started](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/topics/)
 *   [Replies Created](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/replies/)
 *   [Reviews Written](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/reviews/)
 *   [Topics Replied To](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/replied-to/)
 *   [Engagements](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/engagements/)
 *   [Favorites](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/favorites/)

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## Forum Replies Created

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)

1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/replies/page/2/?output_format=md)
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 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Openstax Import for Pressbooks] Fix for “Undefined index: page” log entry](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/fix-for-undefined-index-page-log-entry/)
 *  Plugin Author [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [7 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/fix-for-undefined-index-page-log-entry/#post-10467305)
 * Hi Paul,
 * A fix was put in place about a month and a half ago, so I’m guessing you are 
   using an earlier version?
 * [https://github.com/BCcampus/pressbooks-openstax-import/commit/14b1eb8cab7b2ecde755c6c824761189952d17ac](https://github.com/BCcampus/pressbooks-openstax-import/commit/14b1eb8cab7b2ecde755c6c824761189952d17ac)
 * If you are able to upgrade to version 1.2.1 that would likely remedy the problem.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Textbooks for Pressbooks] CSS funkiness](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-funkiness/)
 *  Plugin Author [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [9 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-funkiness/#post-8670273)
 * It looks like you’re using Pressbooks 3.7.1 on that site. The latest Pressbooks
   version is 3.9.6. Pressbooks Textbook version 3.0.1 is made to work with the 
   latest version of Pressbooks.
 * [https://github.com/pressbooks/pressbooks/releases](https://github.com/pressbooks/pressbooks/releases)
 * Starting with version 3.8, Pressbooks stopped using the WP repo to deliver updates
   to the code base and now releases updates via Github. In order to receive updates
   to Pressbooks through the WP admin interface, instructions are to use the WP 
   plugin Github Updater: [https://github.com/afragen/github-updater](https://github.com/afragen/github-updater)
 * [https://github.com/pressbooks/pressbooks/releases/tag/v3.8.0](https://github.com/pressbooks/pressbooks/releases/tag/v3.8.0)
 * There have been a lot of changes to both the code base and server dependencies
   since PB 3.7.1
 * [https://github.com/pressbooks/pressbooks/blob/dev/docs/installation.md](https://github.com/pressbooks/pressbooks/blob/dev/docs/installation.md)
 * If you are not currently in a position to update Pressbooks to 3.9.6 I would 
   roll back your version of Pressbooks Textbook to 2.7.1
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Textbooks for Pressbooks] CSS funkiness](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-funkiness/)
 *  Plugin Author [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [9 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/css-funkiness/#post-8669944)
 * Hi Rowena,
 * thanks for reaching out. On the book that you provided a link to, it looks like
   your theme is currently set to Luther? Were you previously using the Open Textbook
   Theme?
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Import and export users and customers] upload csv not working](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/upload-csv-not-working/)
 *  Thread Starter [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/upload-csv-not-working/#post-6644281)
 * Thanks, just bad timing – closing
 *   Forum: [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/reviews/)
    In reply to:
   [[Textbooks for Pressbooks] does not activate](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/does-not-activate-7/)
 *  Plugin Author [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/does-not-activate-7/#post-8008322)
 * Ah, I see you are not a troll, just a misinformed noob. There is no paid customer
   service associated with this plugin. It is not a ‘product’ and there is no ‘service’
   to be had beyond what you bring to the table. Poor guy. I don’t know who you 
   were talking to, but it was no one associated with this plugin. You’re confused
   and flailing about for all to see. Thanks for the tip on attitude though — yours
   is a shining example.
 * I’m done here. All the best!
 *   Forum: [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/reviews/)
    In reply to:
   [[Textbooks for Pressbooks] does not activate](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/does-not-activate-7/)
 *  Plugin Author [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/does-not-activate-7/#post-8008311)
 * Hi,
 * you sound like a troll, and not like someone who actually wants help.
 * I see that you’ve recently posted an inflammatory comment on another eBook plugin:
   [](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/worst-experance?replies=1)
 * Sorry about your luck. Hope you get the response you’re looking for absolutely
   nowhere.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Textbooks for Pressbooks] Search and Import](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/search-and-import/)
 *  Plugin Author [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [10 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/search-and-import/#post-6416180)
 * Hi,
 * There are no explicit conditions in the code that would produce the effect that
   you are describing. Existing/non-existing chapters in the book that you are importing
   into have no bearing on what gets filtered for search/import. Search results 
   get returned if the book/chapter is marked as ‘public’, if the search term is
   found in the book/chapter title and if the book/chapter license is not ‘all-rights-
   reserved’. Those are the only conditions that are necessary. Importing chapters
   requires only that you mark the book/chapter for import and hit ‘Start’.
 * If you are getting any error messages or can describe what can be done to recreate
   the behaviour I can look into it further, but right now I can’t think of anything
   that will be helpful to you besides confirming that this is not how it works 
   on my system, nor was it a specific design decision.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Textbooks for Pressbooks] Front page mPDF link is created incorrectly](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/front-page-mpdf-link-is-created-incorrectly/)
 *  Plugin Author [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [10 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/front-page-mpdf-link-is-created-incorrectly/#post-6324063)
 * Hi [@bseeger](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bseeger/),
 * thanks for identifying an issue. Moments ago, I put in fix for this.
 * [https://github.com/BCcampus/pressbooks-textbook/commit/a18bb8f5ee619d1ccc3f607b7307b11ffbc53c26](https://github.com/BCcampus/pressbooks-textbook/commit/a18bb8f5ee619d1ccc3f607b7307b11ffbc53c26)
 * I will be pushing out an updated version to the WP repo soon.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Solid Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection] iThemes Security false positive ITSEC_Lib::get_ip()](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/)
 *  Thread Starter [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [10 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/#post-5918664)
 * 2 months later…we find the source of the problem to be unrelated to this plugin.
 * The default settings of our f5 (BIG-IP) appliance/load balancer which sits in
   front of Apache on our network does not always preserve source IP addresses. 
   A blast of `HEAD` requests from a ‘bad IP’, probing for the existence of known
   WP vulnerabilities, triggered the f5 to share an open TCP connection to our machine
   with another client. Hence, the false positives detailed above. It is all [here in the f5 documentation](https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/7000/200/sol7208.html).
 * I understand the efficiency aspect of this ‘feature’, but why it’s desirable 
   to trade efficiency for accuracy in the logs is beyond me. At any rate, I wanted
   to mark this as resolved and document it here for anyone else who may come across
   it with similar issues.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Textbooks for Pressbooks] import problems](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-problems-8/)
 *  Plugin Author [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [11 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-problems-8/#post-6047834)
 * Hey colomet, sorry you’re having trouble. I can’t help you with the very little
   amount of information you’ve provided about your problem. Typically, you’ll want
   to provide enough information so that others can re-create your issue, or be 
   able to ascertain if it’s something specific about your setup. Providing error
   messages from log files is very helpful, for instance.
 * Please ensure that you read and follow the instructions at [http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_the_Support_Forums](http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_the_Support_Forums)
   if you want help. The part titled ‘Not Enough Information’ is relevant.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Solid Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection] iThemes Security false positive ITSEC_Lib::get_ip()](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/)
 *  Thread Starter [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/#post-5918612)
 * We do not sit behind a proxy server so you are correct in thinking it will not
   be relevant. As mentioned, Disable Proxy Detection is on/checked/enabled — we
   are relying on $_SERVER[‘REMOTE_ADDR’] to return an IP address when logging brute
   force attempts.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Solid Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection] iThemes Security false positive ITSEC_Lib::get_ip()](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/)
 *  Thread Starter [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/#post-5918609)
 * Thanks for letting me know. If it continues to be helpful while troubleshooting
   issues with `get_ip()` — After disabling the cache plugin for a week we see the
   same behaviour. I also disabled APC on the server this weekend. The problem persists.
   This should remove any doubt that the problem is either our server configuration
   or installed plugins.
 * What I continue to see in the access logs are 4 or 5 login attempts per second
   coming in from a malicious IP, one login attempt from our user, then more, rapid
   attempts from the same malicious IP. What I see in the database are 5 invalid/
   brute_force login attempts attributed to our user’s IP. The application seems
   to attribute the brute force behaviour to the wrong IP.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Solid Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection] iThemes Security false positive ITSEC_Lib::get_ip()](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/)
 *  Thread Starter [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/#post-5918557)
 * In most circumstances it is relevant to highlight that a plugin hasn’t been updated
   in a while, but in this particular case, I can’t imagine how it would play any
   part in why we are seeing what we are seeing.
 * thank you for your feedback, dwinden.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Solid Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection] iThemes Security false positive ITSEC_Lib::get_ip()](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/)
 *  Thread Starter [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/#post-5918554)
 * Thanks for running tests, although I do suspect that the rate at which the test
   logins are being attempted is generous, comparatively. The frequency of login
   attempts would need to tighten up to mimic what we are experiencing. That said,
   if this problem comes down to caching, this detail is a moot point.
 * Indeed, PHP is installed with the APC extension [http://www.php.net/manual/en/apc.configuration.php](http://www.php.net/manual/en/apc.configuration.php)
   and the APC Object Cache Backend is installed, which ‘provides a persistent memory-
   based backend for the WordPress object cache’.
 * By identifying that we are using a caching plugin, are we confident that this
   plugin is incompatible with object caching?
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[Solid Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection] iThemes Security false positive ITSEC_Lib::get_ip()](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/)
 *  Thread Starter [bdolor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bdolor/)
 * (@bdolor)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ithemes-security-false-positive-itsec_libget_ip/#post-5918400)
 * Thank you dwinden, for presenting a possible scenario. The only thing the two
   types of login attempts share in common is the time of the attack/attempted login.
 * My attempt at encapsulating the problem: A brute force attack launched from one
   IP gets interpreted as having come from two IPs. My proposal: It’s not actually
   happening; data recorded in the database is incorrect.
 * Reasoning that apache’s access_log is the source of truth, data in the plugin’s`[
   prefix]_itsec_log` table isn’t accurate. What we’re seeing is a host/IP lockout
   on both legitimate and illegitimate attempts.
 * On the server I see 5 login attempts from the ‘nefarious’ IP over a period of
   8 seconds. A 200 status code is returned for all 5 of those login attempts. During
   that same 8 second period I also see 1 login attempt from the legitimate user
   coming from a different IP which also returns a 200 status code.
 * The plugin interprets that pattern as 5 invalid login attempts from the ‘bad’
   IP (this is good) and 5 invalid login attempts from the legitimate user’s IP.
   We tried interpreting this literally; that the attack was indeed coming from 
   our network and also from another foreign network, until we ruled it out by looking
   at firewall and apache logs.
 * On the server, over the next 20 seconds I see more attempts from the ‘nefarious’
   IP to POST to the wp-login.php page, but a 403 status code is returned. I also
   see a 403 status code returned for the legitimate user.
 * Both the ‘nefarious robot’ and the legitimate user get locked out.

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