Upside down webpage!

rfrick · 4-18-12, 08:27 PM

I have a Perl program that takes uploaded information and produces a webpage. Yesterday, a webpage ended up upside down!

Here is the link: http://110bridge.com/gr/012041787729c1.htm

I would suspect a once-in-a-million fluke except the same thing happened last week. If you look at the source code, it is like ǝɹoɔs ʇןnsǝɹ sʌ ןnʌ ɹןp pɹq That's presumably the code for upside down letters.

My program has been running daily for like 10 years without seeing this problem or anything remotely like it. If you think of the effort it would take to do that intentionally, it really can't be a bug. Even if something converted every symbol to that code, you still would have the symbols in the forward order -- it also had to reverse the order of the symbols.

I guess it is a practical joke by some hacker. If so, I like it. But it will get tiring if it happens again.

Bob

entrecon · 4-20-12, 02:42 PM

Not knowing anything about it, is there any chance that there is something on the input that would trigger it?

rfrick · 4-21-12, 03:35 PM

The input is text, i think. From a standard source, so there can't be any clever tricks in it. It's from a program and I have been using the same program for input for the last 10 years (with updates)

So pretty impossible to be the input.

entrecon · 4-23-12, 12:06 PM

I guess I wasn't thinking tricks as much as an accident. Depending on how the values are being read in, if you haven't escaped out all the code a semi-colon or quote in the input. If there was something in recent files that weren't in previous files it could explain it.

4-18-12, 08:27 PM	#1
rfrick Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Long Island Posts: 320 Reputation: 32	Upside down webpage! I have a Perl program that takes uploaded information and produces a webpage. Yesterday, a webpage ended up upside down! Here is the link: http://110bridge.com/gr/012041787729c1.htm I would suspect a once-in-a-million fluke except the same thing happened last week. If you look at the source code, it is like ǝɹoɔs ʇןnsǝɹ sʌ ןnʌ ɹןp pɹq That's presumably the code for upside down letters. My program has been running daily for like 10 years without seeing this problem or anything remotely like it. If you think of the effort it would take to do that intentionally, it really can't be a bug. Even if something converted every symbol to that code, you still would have the symbols in the forward order -- it also had to reverse the order of the symbols. I guess it is a practical joke by some hacker. If so, I like it. But it will get tiring if it happens again. Bob

4-20-12, 02:42 PM	#2
entrecon Custom User Title Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 2,669 Reputation: 337	Not knowing anything about it, is there any chance that there is something on the input that would trigger it? __________________ ________________________________ Find me on twitter: @entrecon

4-23-12, 12:06 PM	#4
entrecon Custom User Title Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 2,669 Reputation: 337	I guess I wasn't thinking tricks as much as an accident. Depending on how the values are being read in, if you haven't escaped out all the code a semi-colon or quote in the input. If there was something in recent files that weren't in previous files it could explain it. __________________ ________________________________ Find me on twitter: @entrecon

4-21-12, 03:35 PM	#3
rfrick Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Long Island Posts: 320 Reputation: 32	The input is text, i think. From a standard source, so there can't be any clever tricks in it. It's from a program and I have been using the same program for input for the last 10 years (with updates) So pretty impossible to be the input.