Title: post.php: 412 Precondition failed
Last modified: August 18, 2016
---
# post.php: 412 Precondition failed
* [firebadger](https://wordpress.org/support/users/firebadger/)
* (@firebadger)
* [18 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postphp-412-precondition-failed/)
* Hi all,
* I seem to be having a problem writing about a block of output from my router’s
debug function; when I try to save, save and continue, or post the entry, I receive
the error:
* Precondition Failed
* The precondition on the request for the URL /wp-admin/post.php evaluated to false.
* I have noticed this error comes up in a search of the forums, for other pages,
but not post.php – and as it seems to be centred on a particular block of text–
I thought it may be a creditable bug.
* That said, there is a .htaccess option to enable [here](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/130095),
that I will try. But again, I’m not entirely sure it will be relevant to my problem.
* I’ve included a dump of what I’m trying to post in the pastebin, [here](http://wordpress.pastebin.ca/660886).
* Thanks for any help in advance 🙂
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
* Thread Starter [firebadger](https://wordpress.org/support/users/firebadger/)
* (@firebadger)
* [18 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postphp-412-precondition-failed/#post-608382)
* And to update: the fix described [here](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/130095)
does in fact work (just substitute the file name for ‘post.php’ obviously.)
* Still seems like a bug, but this is a good enough work-around (I hope). Anyone
know what the .htaccess code actually does? 🙂
* [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/)
* (@whooami)
* [18 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postphp-412-precondition-failed/#post-608384)
* that does exactly what it says — it disables mod_security when that specifically
named file is accessed.
* And judging by what you are attempting to post, I’m going to hazard a guess that’s
the problem. Especially, if using that didnt produce an Apache 500 error – which
would be the normal response to that being used if your server was **not** using
mod_security.
* You might want to disable it completely for your admin area, and see if that
helps. Note that you can re-enable it after you have posted if you like, or leave
it, it doesnt matter.
* IF YOU DO NOT HAVE an .htaccess in your wp-admin/ directory:
* create a text file on your desktop:
* put the following inside it:
* ```
SecFilterInheritance Off
```
* save the file. name it whatever you want
* Upload the file to your wp-admin directory.
* Rename the uploaded file to .htaccess (with the .)
* IF YOU DO HAVE an .htaccess in your wp-admin/ directory:
* Edit it, and add the following:
* ```
SecFilterInheritance Off
```
* save the new .htaccess
* ——-
* PS: it’s not a bug, btw 🙂
* [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/)
* (@whooami)
* [18 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postphp-412-precondition-failed/#post-608385)
* and if you want to know what mod_security is:
* [http://www.modsecurity.org/](http://www.modsecurity.org/)
* Thread Starter [firebadger](https://wordpress.org/support/users/firebadger/)
* (@firebadger)
* [18 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postphp-412-precondition-failed/#post-608543)
* Thanks for the explanation, whooami. It’s working with mod_security off on post.
php, so I’ll keep it turned on for the rest of it, at least for now.
* I know that what I was posting would a challenge for any script attempting to
parse it – I know it’d cause me a few nightmares, but come now, isn’t this what
the code tags are meant for?
* I thought they were meant to escape anything within the pasted code/output.
* I still maintain that it’s an inevitability which WordPress doesn’t cope with,
and gives a very ungraceful error – it is a bug. I won’t be the last person to
try and paste in Cisco router output and when met with the same error (which
doesn’t describe anything useful) I doubt I’ll be the last person to find it
frustrating.
* [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/)
* (@whooami)
* [18 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postphp-412-precondition-failed/#post-608554)
* Youre confusing apples with oranges..
* mod_security and wordpress have nothing to do with one another .. the code tags
works exactly as they should, and what they do has no impact on mod_security.
* It isnt a bug — because its not a wordpress issue as no amount of escaping (within
reason) is going to circumvent what mod_security reacts to within a given http_post
* For instance, if mod_security doesnt allow for an http_post that contains the
word “.htaccess” how might that be escaped in order to circumenvent m_s? (and
that is a very real possibility on a good deal of default mod_security setups)
And how would WP know to escape that word, if it even could?
* If you find mod_security to be more trouble than its worth disable site-wide
and be done with it.
* Lastly, while there __have been__ a good deal of other issues …
* [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/130745?replies=2](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/130745?replies=2)
* …that probably do need addressing as far as how wp triggers mod_security, WHY
should wp developers concern themselves with learning the ins and outs of something
such as m_s just so the word “.htaccess” can be posted? What about the next word,
and the next, and the next.
* I use approximately 3-400 lines of mod_security specific code on my own site —
how many words/strings am I catching?
* Thread Starter [firebadger](https://wordpress.org/support/users/firebadger/)
* (@firebadger)
* [18 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postphp-412-precondition-failed/#post-608564)
* Ok, I see what you’re getting at now – I apologise.
* Thanks for the explanation 🙂
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
The topic ‘post.php: 412 Precondition failed’ is closed to new replies.
## Tags
* [Failed](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/failed/)
* [mod_security](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/mod_security/)
* [precondition](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/precondition/)
* [problem](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/problem/)
* In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
* 6 replies
* 2 participants
* Last reply from: [firebadger](https://wordpress.org/support/users/firebadger/)
* Last activity: [18 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postphp-412-precondition-failed/#post-608564)
* Status: not resolved
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