412 error when editing "Privacy Statement"

Publishing Practices
1

Open journal systems version: 3.4.0.8
Operating system: Linux
PHP version: 8.0.30
Server: Apache
Database: MySQL 8.0.30
Browser: Brave 1.77.95 and Mozilla Firefox

Dear PKP Community,
I am trying to edit the “Privacy Statement” field in the Journal Website settings/setup/privacy statement.
Whenever I click “save”, this error appears:
“An unexpected error has occurred. Please reload the page and try again”.
When I reload the page all my edits are erased and the default text replaces it.
Here is a screenshot of the error message:

Screenshot from 2025-04-24 21-25-46
Screenshot from 2025-04-24 21-25-461920×1080 412 KB

I cleared my browser cache and tried it on Firefox and Brave browsers, but still the same error appeared.

I can access and edit the config.inc.php file. According to the manual I tried the suggested changes on the file permissions but the error still occurred. I need to know what changes need to be made and how to solve this problem.

Happy to join this community!
Thank you

2

Hi @Mk2000,

It’s likely that you have a server-side security tool like mod_security that is blocking the request from getting to OJS due to some aspect of the contents you’ve entered mistakenly being interpreted as an attempt to hack the server. I’d suggest checking whether you’ve got a tool like mod_security installed, and if so, whether you can control its configuration to make it behave a little better.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

4

Hi Alec,

Mod_security on the server was blocking the request, which prevented me from saving my content. After trying many solutions, I found that entering my content as unformatted text free of HTML or HTTP, allowed me to save successfully. I’m relieved that I could find a workaround.

Thanks to the OJS team for setting extra security to critical documents in the journal.

Best regards,
Mk2000