[vox-tech] confusing httpd log entry

[Micah J. Cowan]

On Sun, Sep 24, 2006 at 01:30:36AM -0700, Cylar Z wrote:
> Hey all,
> 
> I was looking at my httpd log the other day (via the
> Logwatch program that emails me a daily update) and I
> saw this:
> 
>  --------------------- httpd
> Begin---------------------
> 
>  0.45 MB transferred in 21 responses  (1xx 0, 2xx 13,
> 3xx 1, 4xx 7, 5xx 0)
>     11 Images (0.03 MB),
>      1 Windows executable files (0.41 MB),
>      8 Content pages (0.01 MB),
>      1 Redirects (0.00 MB),
> 
>  Requests with error response codes
>     404 Not Found
>        /favicon.ico: 4 Time(s)
>        /robots.txt: 2 Time(s)
>        http://www.searchpost.net/azenv.php: 1 Time(s)
> 
>  A total of 1 ROBOTS were logged
>     Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Yahoo! Slurp;
> http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/slurp) 2 Time(s)
> 
> ----------------------httpd
> End------------------------ 
> 
> "1 Windows executable files (0.41 MB)??" WTF? This
> system runs Linux. Why is it transferring an .EXE file
> from my server...or did someone somehow push one ONTO
> the system through my Apache httpd service? If so, how
> and why? Where in the directory tree would I look for
> it?

I don't know the answer to that... it's possible the log parser saw a
/request/ for an .exe (as often happens) that wasn't fulfilled, but it
isn't listed in the error response section... perhaps Apache is
configured to recognize certain .exe requests and redirect them (trying
to kill two questions with one answer ;) )?

If I were you, I'd scan the logs by hand from yesterday, and search for
.exe requests. I'd also do a search for .exe files in your htdocs or www
directory.

> For that matter, why is it issuing redirects when I
> haven't set up any on the system?

There are some redirects that are built into Apache. In particular, if
someone types a URL which resolves to a directory, and don't include a
final slash, Apache would redirect it to the location that includes the
slash.

-- 
HTH,
Micah J. Cowan
Programmer, musician, typesetting enthusiast, gamer...
http://micah.cowan.name/