The Movie Database Support
Support → API Support
API rejecting plugin user-agent
posted by InmatrixSTAFFMOD on March 13, 2017 at 11:10 AM
Hi, In the last 10 days or so, the image server started rejecting connections from browser user-agent "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)" (error 403).
Now I wasn't actually downloading anything from IE6, but rather, the Zoom Player scraper plugin used this user-agent (I was copy & pasting a download function that had the user-agent specified). I have now changed the user-agent to "Zoom Player (scraper plugin)" and that was enough to get the image server to start sending images again, but this restriction still breaks support for previous releases and existing users.
It would be nice if it access was restored.
P.S. No issues with this user-agent on the API server, only the server that sends the jpg images.
Reply by Travis Bell
on March 13, 2017 at 4:03 PM
Hi there,
That would be Cloudflare blocking you, not us specifically. What is the exact response you're getting back?
Reply by Inmatrix
on March 14, 2017 at 9:21 AM
Standard HTTP error 403: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_403
Reply by Travis Bell
on March 14, 2017 at 9:26 AM
What's the body? Usually Cloudflare will send along some information. That's what I'm wondering about.
Reply by Inmatrix
on March 14, 2017 at 6:42 PM
You're right, it's cloudflare (I edited out the IP myself):
Please enable cookies. One more step Please complete the security check to access tmdb.org Why do I have to complete a CAPTCHA?
Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. What can I do to prevent this in the future?
If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware.
If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices.
Cloudflare Ray ID: 33fabb8744f77331 • Your IP: 000.000.000.000 • Performance & security by Cloudflare •
Reply by Inmatrix
on March 26, 2017 at 9:38 AM
Travis, did you discover why Cloudflare is throwing up a captcha request on this user-agent?
Reply by Travis Bell
on March 26, 2017 at 12:19 PM
Well, Cloudflare throws these errors due to a combination of user agent and IP address (based on things like the reputation across their entire network).
I would say that the best thing to do is use a proper user agent, and not one that is known to be spammy (in the eyes of Cloudflare).
Reply by Inmatrix
on March 27, 2017 at 6:01 AM
Thank you, I already switched it to a specific and descriptive user agent.
Just for your information, the lock seems to be on the user agent and not any specific IP as I have been getting reports from all over the world that it failed.