BBB2.6 server returns "Invalid format detected (extension=pdf, content type=)

[mike....@beardon.com]

Hello all,

On a new BBB2.6 installation, our testers discovered two odd issues surrounding PDFs:

1) the default pdf presentation does not display when you open a meeting

2) when you try to upload a pdf file, you get the error "Invalid format detected (extension=pdf, content type=)".

Content types between old and new server match:

curl -I https://oldbbb2.3/default.pdf

...

content-type: application/pdf

curl -I https://newbbb2.6/default.pdf

...

content-type: application/pdf

And in a browser, https://newbb2.6/default.pdf returns the expected pdf.

I think Nginx is absolved, but I'm not sure what mechanisms are below it that could be rejecting the file.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike H

[mike....@beardon.com]

(FYI I forgot to mention we are using BBB with Moodle - server names are changed to protect the guilty!)

Grepping for "pdf" within the /var/log directory, /var/log/bigbluebutton/bbb-web-2023-08-01.log shows errors related to the default.pdf:

2023-08-01T12:40:56.681-05:00 DEBUG o.b.web.controllers.ApiController - ApiController#uploadDocuments(dfde9e932727edd4650ebba201751ab2e6d12b21-1690911656662)
2023-08-01T12:40:56.863-05:00 DEBUG o.b.web.controllers.ApiController - ApiController#downloadAndProcessDocument(https://newbbb2.6/default.pdf, dfde9e932727edd4650ebba201751ab2e6d12b21-1690911656662, )
2023-08-01T12:40:56.904-05:00 ERROR o.b.web.controllers.ApiController - Null presentation directory meeting=[dfde9e932727edd4650ebba201751ab2e6d12b21-1690911656662], presentationDir=[/var/bigbluebutton], presId=[6eb08b40d963a00c438a388303a5721643e9e2ed-1690911656890]
2023-08-01T12:40:56.911-05:00 ERROR o.b.presentation.SupportedFileTypes - Presentation is null
2023-08-01T12:40:56.915-05:00 ERROR o.b.web.controllers.ApiController - Document [https://newbbb2.6/default.pdf] sent is not supported as a presentation

I checked under /var/bigbluebutton for that meeting directory:

root@newbbb2.6:/var/bigbluebutton# find . -iname dfde9e932727edd4650ebba201751ab2e6d12b21-1690911656662 -type d
./recording/raw/dfde9e932727edd4650ebba201751ab2e6d12b21-1690911656662
./recording/raw/dfde9e932727edd4650ebba201751ab2e6d12b21-1690911656662/video/dfde9e932727edd4650ebba201751ab2e6d12b21-1690911656662

Above are owned by bigbluebutton:bigbluebutton.  Any suggestions or info requests are welcome!  Thank you.

[mike....@beardon.com]

I re-ran the installer.  Error persists for uploading PDF files.

Just to test reality, I also tried uploading both a TXT and a PNG file - got same "invalid format" error.

[mike....@beardon.com]

I ended up reverting the server back to initial state and rebuilding from scratch.  

[Jean Pluzo]

Hi Mike,

don't know if this will help, since you're installing on a clean server but:

I just installed Clamav to scan any file uploads (presentation uploads) to a BBB server. I get the exact same error as you once I upload either a txt of pdf file with a virus (eicar) on it.

An error is expected since Clamav moves the infected file to a quarantine folder and with this, the file won't be found by the web client.

In your case... can't really tell.

Regards,

J.

[mike....@beardon.com]

HI Jean,

No, not in this case.  It was a completely bare VM, except for the minimum requirements to install.  When I reverted back to my "Square One" snapshot and re-installed, the problem vanished.  Must have been something upstream that was unavailable during the initial install, that subsequently returned.  Or just some random bug.

Cheers 

- Mike