Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end. Topic is solved

Users and developers helping users with generic and technical Pale Moon issues on all operating systems.

Moderator: trava90

Forum rules
This board is for technical/general usage questions and troubleshooting for the Pale Moon browser only.
Technical issues and questions not related to the Pale Moon browser should be posted in other boards!
Please keep off-topic and general discussion out of this board, thank you!
digitalaudiorock
Moonbather
Moonbather
Posts: 64
Joined: 2017-08-16, 14:12

Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by digitalaudiorock » 2018-07-27, 21:43

OMG...Starting today I CANNOT get to https://weather.gov, specifically in my Linux palemoon only. I get this sort of stuff:

Code: Select all

Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://weather.gov/" on this server.

Reference #18.7d3ad8a2....etc...
I thought it might be my VPN but disabling that had no affect. I can get to it from my Windows laptop with palemoon. I still have a version of FF installed on this machine and I can get to it using that. Insane. I recently upgraded to 27.9.4 and to be honest I'm not sure if I've used the site since then, but I think I have.

Completely at my wits end with this. What on earth could cause that?

Tom
Last edited by digitalaudiorock on 2018-07-27, 21:45, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Night Wing
Knows the dark side
Knows the dark side
Posts: 5151
Joined: 2011-10-03, 10:19
Location: Piney Woods of Southeast Texas, USA

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by Night Wing » 2018-07-27, 21:53

I clicked on your link and I can get to the weather.gov site without any problems.

I'm using 64 bit linux Pale Moon 27.9.4 running in 64 bit linux Mint 19 (Tara) Xfce. The only addons/extensions I use are NoSquint and Adblock Latitude with ABL enabled for the site.
Last edited by Night Wing on 2018-07-27, 22:19, edited 1 time in total.
Linux Mint 21.3 (Virginia) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox
MX Linux 23.2 (Libretto) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox
Linux Debian 12.5 (Bookworm) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox

digitalaudiorock
Moonbather
Moonbather
Posts: 64
Joined: 2017-08-16, 14:12

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by digitalaudiorock » 2018-07-27, 21:59

This is actually 32 bit. I also tried with -safe-mode and that didn't help. I see some other threads here and there with similar issues with other sites and no clear resolution on any of them.

Really annoying as hell. I also tried changing compatibility modes which didn't help.

Tom

User avatar
Nigaikaze
Board Warrior
Board Warrior
Posts: 1322
Joined: 2014-02-02, 22:15
Location: Chicagoland

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by Nigaikaze » 2018-07-27, 22:20

digitalaudiorock wrote:Starting today I CANNOT get to https://weather.gov, specifically in my Linux palemoon only.
I use weather.gov at least once/day with Pale Moon on Linux and I've never encountered that. What do you have your User Agent Mode set to (in Preferences > Advanced > General tab, under "Compatibility")?
Nichi nichi kore ko jitsu = Every day is a good day.

User avatar
Night Wing
Knows the dark side
Knows the dark side
Posts: 5151
Joined: 2011-10-03, 10:19
Location: Piney Woods of Southeast Texas, USA

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by Night Wing » 2018-07-27, 22:27

I don't think this is a user agent sniffing problem. The site sees my linux Pale Moon as:

Code: Select all

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:52.9) Gecko/20100101 Goanna/3.4 Firefox/52.9 PaleMoon/27.9.4
Linux Mint 21.3 (Virginia) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox
MX Linux 23.2 (Libretto) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox
Linux Debian 12.5 (Bookworm) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox

digitalaudiorock
Moonbather
Moonbather
Posts: 64
Joined: 2017-08-16, 14:12

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by digitalaudiorock » 2018-07-27, 22:30

That's always been set to firefox compatible, but trying others didn't help. However this did:

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=17887

I added a string for general.useragent.override.weather.gov using the one suggested there for Linux actually worked. Insane. What I don't get is that there are a bunch of those already in there that I definitely did NOT add. Where would they have come from?

In any case for whatever reason that worked.

EDIT: The fact that sites (let alone one paid for with my taxed) do this level of user agent sniffing to test for functionality sucks beyond words to begin with...but really? A 403 error is how they chose to "warn" me?

Tom
Last edited by digitalaudiorock on 2018-07-27, 22:36, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Nigaikaze
Board Warrior
Board Warrior
Posts: 1322
Joined: 2014-02-02, 22:15
Location: Chicagoland

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by Nigaikaze » 2018-07-27, 22:35

digitalaudiorock wrote:What I don't get is that there are a bunch of those already in there that I definitely did NOT add. Where would they have come from?
Those are the useragent overrides that are set by default in Pale Moon. Previous problems with those sites led the devs to determine these specific useragents work the best for these specific sites.

Cool, glad to hear that worked for you. I've got no explanation for why you need a special override set for that and Night Wing and I don't, but I'm glad it works! :thumbup:
Nichi nichi kore ko jitsu = Every day is a good day.

digitalaudiorock
Moonbather
Moonbather
Posts: 64
Joined: 2017-08-16, 14:12

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by digitalaudiorock » 2018-07-27, 22:42

Nigaikaze wrote:Those are the useragent overrides that are set by default in Pale Moon. Previous problems with those sites led the devs to determine these specific useragents work the best for these specific sites.
Ahhh....got it. Thanks for the explanation! I'm actually not sure what my default user agent is reporting.

Tom

User avatar
Nigaikaze
Board Warrior
Board Warrior
Posts: 1322
Joined: 2014-02-02, 22:15
Location: Chicagoland

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by Nigaikaze » 2018-07-27, 22:45

digitalaudiorock wrote:Thanks for the explanation! I'm actually not sure what my default user agent is reporting.
You're very welcome. You can find that information under Help > Troubleshooting Information, in the "Application Basics" section.
Nichi nichi kore ko jitsu = Every day is a good day.

digitalaudiorock
Moonbather
Moonbather
Posts: 64
Joined: 2017-08-16, 14:12

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by digitalaudiorock » 2018-07-27, 23:12

Nigaikaze wrote:
digitalaudiorock wrote:Thanks for the explanation! I'm actually not sure what my default user agent is reporting.
You're very welcome. You can find that information under Help > Troubleshooting Information, in the "Application Basics" section.
OMG...I think you just helped me figure out my original problem! That actually was empty for me. Somehow in about:config the string general.useragent.override had "user set" with an empty string. No clue how that got set, but when I reset that one I no longer need that override! Very odd. I recently tried the "Eclipsed Moon" user agent addon and frankly could NOT figure out how it worked. I think that might have somehow done that.

Thanks!
Tom

User avatar
Nigaikaze
Board Warrior
Board Warrior
Posts: 1322
Joined: 2014-02-02, 22:15
Location: Chicagoland

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by Nigaikaze » 2018-07-27, 23:23

You're welcome. Yeah, that is pretty peculiar. I'm glad you mentioned that, I'm going to have to file this for future reference whenever another one of these "access denied" threads pops up. Thanks!
Nichi nichi kore ko jitsu = Every day is a good day.

User avatar
Moonchild
Pale Moon guru
Pale Moon guru
Posts: 35477
Joined: 2011-08-28, 17:27
Location: Motala, SE
Contact:

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by Moonchild » 2018-07-28, 03:58

Nigaikaze wrote:You're welcome. Yeah, that is pretty peculiar. I'm glad you mentioned that, I'm going to have to file this for future reference whenever another one of these "access denied" threads pops up. Thanks!
There are a few misguided "guides" and "user pref files" out there that do this in an attempt to "improve privacy" by not sending a UA at all (empty string) -- needless to say that is a really bad idea because it makes you look like a broken bot or hacking script by not looking like an actual web browser. It makes sense that websites refuse access in that case.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

digitalaudiorock
Moonbather
Moonbather
Posts: 64
Joined: 2017-08-16, 14:12

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by digitalaudiorock » 2018-07-28, 14:02

Moonchild wrote:There are a few misguided "guides" and "user pref files" out there that do this in an attempt to "improve privacy" by not sending a UA at all (empty string) -- needless to say that is a really bad idea because it makes you look like a broken bot or hacking script by not looking like an actual web browser. It makes sense that websites refuse access in that case.
Yea, it definitely does. I know for a fact I never did that myself. No clue what did unless something went wildly wrong while I was trying that Eclipse Moon plugin. Thanks!

Tom

User avatar
therube
Board Warrior
Board Warrior
Posts: 1650
Joined: 2018-06-08, 17:02

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by therube » 2018-07-28, 15:15

Are you sure it's not a "www." issue?
Your link is https://weather.gov/.
What happens if you use https://www.weather.gov/?

Perhaps not.
Last edited by therube on 2018-07-28, 15:35, edited 1 time in total.

digitalaudiorock
Moonbather
Moonbather
Posts: 64
Joined: 2017-08-16, 14:12

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by digitalaudiorock » 2018-07-28, 15:27

therube wrote:Are you sure it's not a "www." issue?
Your link is https://weather.gov/.
What happens if you use https://www.weather.gov/?
Definitely not. As noted above this was without question caused by having an erroneous blank default user agent.

Tom

User avatar
therube
Board Warrior
Board Warrior
Posts: 1650
Joined: 2018-06-08, 17:02

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by therube » 2018-07-28, 15:53

Yes, OK.

And from the looks of it, a Pref set with a "blank" value, i.e., "", is different (at least for general.useragent.override) from that Pref, Reset.
When set to "", that in fact sets your UA to "".
But when Reset (again for general.useragent.override), it must actually remove that Pref from memory cache (immediately), at which point your UA goes back to its default.

Disk "cache", aka prefs.js won't reflect that change (it's non-existence) until PM is closed, at which point (a Reset) general.useragent.override is actually purged from prefs.js.

digitalaudiorock
Moonbather
Moonbather
Posts: 64
Joined: 2017-08-16, 14:12

Re: Access denied on weather.gov? At my wits end.

Unread post by digitalaudiorock » 2018-07-28, 18:45

therube wrote:And from the looks of it, a Pref set with a "blank" value, i.e., "", is different (at least for general.useragent.override) from that Pref, Reset.
Yup. I fixed it by using reset (thus removing it), though I still don't know what set it in the first place.

Tom

Locked