Yahoo emits fake IE error page

hans2010 · 6 Jan 2014, 10:24 PM

This is just weird/funny enough that I thought I'd post it here. I noticed this a few months ago and it's still happening now (Jan. 2014).

What happens is that on Yahoo Mail, on certain failed actions, the Yahoo server produces an error message that pretends to be an IE error page (a nearly-exact forgery!), telling you to check your IE settings. This is particularly funny when using a browser other than IE!

How to reproduce: Using a browser other than IE (e.g., Firefox), log into Yahoo Mail (I'm on the non-javascript, i.e., neo-Classic, interface), look at your Inbox, then sign out. Then, use your browser's "back" button to get back to the Inbox page. You will get (from Yahoo's server!) an error page that is designed to look exactly like an IE error page (probably IE6), saying "502 Cannot find server or DNS error" (google that phrase, including the 502, and you'll see, most hits are related to Yahoo) and other nonsense about checking your IE settings. The only part of this that does not look like it came from IE is the Yahoo "Y" favicon, which appears in the tab displaying the error page.

Another way to reproduce this is, while not logged in to Yahoo, try to connect to the host that your account is on, without anything after the hostname. For me, it's "us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com", so I just paste that into the Firefox address bar (while not logged in to Yahoo), and, viola, there's the IE error (in Firefox!). You can get the same result with Lynx on unix. Advanced troubleshooters can confirm that the error is generated by Yahoo's server by telnetting to port 80.

My only point is that it's kind of comical to see IE error pages in Firefox (or Lynx!), but also sad that Yahoo Mail (along with many other technical failings in the past year or so) would resort to misleading customers with forged IE error messages instead of something more honest and informative. I regard that as "conduct unbecoming".

Disclosure: I'm a former Yahoo Mail Plus subscriber (as well as a former fan of the company), and switched to FastMail in 2013 (after learning about it on this site, and after being affected by Yahoo Mail problems far more serious than the above). So far, so good.

Davesnothere · 11 Jan 2014, 07:01 AM

Hmmm, that link just gives me my Yahoo WebMail login page.

What version of FireFox and what add-ons might you have ?

I'm on Win XP Home / SP3 and FF 14.

As much as I too am grumpy at Yahoo (over several bigger reasons this past year), and have backed up my accounts there and am testing alternative providers as we speak, I cannot finger them for THIS anomaly.

(I did not try your other method so far.)

Davesnothere · 11 Jan 2014, 08:12 AM

OK, I see it now, after logging in, setting current Yahoo Mail to what THEY call Basic and logging out, then hitting the Back button.

Pretty weird, yes.

How did YOU stumble upon this ?

hans2010 · 12 Jan 2014, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davesnothere

How did YOU stumble upon this ?

Long story. I had been using Yahoo Mail in its most basic form (what came to be known as "Classic") for many years. At some point along they way, they started doing Ajax and I didn't like it. I found out somewhere online that I could disable Ajax by adding "noajax" in the URL, and then that keyword would automatically be retained in all subsequent page loads during that session, which was great. But it still meant that, right after logging in each time, I'd have to edit the URL and reload the page. The way to eliminate that step was to save the post-login URL as a bookmark (after putting "noajax" in there), and from then on, use that bookmark to get into my mail. If I wasn't already logged in it would first redirect me to the login page, while retaining the original URL so after login I would still land on the "noajax" URL (and then proceed to view my Inbox or whatever, completely Ajax-free). Yay! (A secondary benefit was that since the bookmark worked in both logged-in and not-logged-in cases, I needed to keep only one bookmark for mail.)

Once they upgraded [sic] me to Neo, my bookmark no longer worked because the URL format in Neo was completely different. So I changed my bookmark to the new post-login URL (to get the above-mentioned secondary benefit; neo-basic uses neither javascript nor ajax), and then I found out two things: 1. You can't login to Neo with a post-login URL (well, I could not, dunno if it works for anyone else), and 2. You get a faux IE error page.

FYI, I'm using Win XP Professional, SP3, and FF 26 with NoScript plugin. So seeing an IE error page was completely unexpected.

6 Jan 2014, 10:24 PM	#1
hans2010 Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 47	Yahoo emits fake IE error page This is just weird/funny enough that I thought I'd post it here. I noticed this a few months ago and it's still happening now (Jan. 2014). What happens is that on Yahoo Mail, on certain failed actions, the Yahoo server produces an error message that pretends to be an IE error page (a nearly-exact forgery!), telling you to check your IE settings. This is particularly funny when using a browser other than IE! How to reproduce: Using a browser other than IE (e.g., Firefox), log into Yahoo Mail (I'm on the non-javascript, i.e., neo-Classic, interface), look at your Inbox, then sign out. Then, use your browser's "back" button to get back to the Inbox page. You will get (from Yahoo's server!) an error page that is designed to look exactly like an IE error page (probably IE6), saying "502 Cannot find server or DNS error" (google that phrase, including the 502, and you'll see, most hits are related to Yahoo) and other nonsense about checking your IE settings. The only part of this that does not look like it came from IE is the Yahoo "Y" favicon, which appears in the tab displaying the error page. Another way to reproduce this is, while not logged in to Yahoo, try to connect to the host that your account is on, without anything after the hostname. For me, it's "us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com", so I just paste that into the Firefox address bar (while not logged in to Yahoo), and, viola, there's the IE error (in Firefox!). You can get the same result with Lynx on unix. Advanced troubleshooters can confirm that the error is generated by Yahoo's server by telnetting to port 80. My only point is that it's kind of comical to see IE error pages in Firefox (or Lynx!), but also sad that Yahoo Mail (along with many other technical failings in the past year or so) would resort to misleading customers with forged IE error messages instead of something more honest and informative. I regard that as "conduct unbecoming". Disclosure: I'm a former Yahoo Mail Plus subscriber (as well as a former fan of the company), and switched to FastMail in 2013 (after learning about it on this site, and after being affected by Yahoo Mail problems far more serious than the above). So far, so good.

11 Jan 2014, 07:01 AM	#2
Davesnothere Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: Canada Posts: 45	Not Happening Here Hmmm, that link just gives me my Yahoo WebMail login page. What version of FireFox and what add-ons might you have ? I'm on Win XP Home / SP3 and FF 14. As much as I too am grumpy at Yahoo (over several bigger reasons this past year), and have backed up my accounts there and am testing alternative providers as we speak, I cannot finger them for THIS anomaly. (I did not try your other method so far.) Last edited by Davesnothere : 11 Jan 2014 at 07:07 AM.

11 Jan 2014, 08:12 AM	#3
Davesnothere Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: Canada Posts: 45	FIrst Method Duplicated OK, I see it now, after logging in, setting current Yahoo Mail to what THEY call Basic and logging out, then hitting the Back button. Pretty weird, yes. How did YOU stumble upon this ?