Aug 29, 2018 06:47:31 AM Edited Aug 29, 2018 06:52:50 AM by Goran V
I can't submit a proposal on job invitation. I spent 2 hours writing proposal last night because of advanced queries in it and now its been about 18 hours I can't submit proposal to it. Its not working since about Upwork was down 18 hours ago. Now Upwork status is showing Up everywhere but I still can't submit proposal. Though its working if I normally submit to a default job but not on "Job Invitation". Talked to support and no update yet. I tried changing browser and its not even working there. It surely something has to do with last Disruption. The error I get is
Solved! Go to Solution.
Aug 29, 2018 08:43:30 AM by Noman R
Since Upwork is clueless about this so far, I have figured this out myself. The Upwork firewall seems very sensitive and my answers contain Local File Inclusion and XSS payloads and that's the reason I wasn't able to submit proposal since last 20 hours because Upwork's firewall was detecting it as virus and wasn't giving any security warning. I myself am a Security Engineer and the answers were also regarding security vulnerabilities which client requested for. I cut the answers from Proposal, pasted in text file and zipped it with password and attached them and it worked. Answers even in plain text file weren't getting uploaded because files also get scanned by firewall so I zipped in password making file encrypted.
Please send my message to Security Engineers up there at Upwork that do not make your firewall that sensitive as it causes functionality issues.
Aug 29, 2018 06:54:48 AM by Goran V
Hi Noman,
I`m sorry about the inconvenience this had caused. I checked your ticket and I can confirm that this was escalated and our team is investigating it. Once this is finished our team will update your ticket with more details about this. Thank you.
Aug 29, 2018 06:58:19 AM by Noman R
Just want to know if I am only one facing this issue so far? Else Upwork will not take it seriously if I am the only one.
Or if I am doing something wrong? I mean my proposal contains links so are they even allowed? I have never used links in proposal but that was custom proposal so I have to use few.
Aug 29, 2018 07:05:20 AM by Preston H
re: "I spent 2 hours writing proposal last night"
You spend 2 hours writing a proposal for a single job?
This means that you do not fully understand how Upwork works.
We don't spend 2 hours writing a proposal.
Aug 29, 2018 07:12:30 AM by Noman R
I usually never do but this was the 1st time ever I did because the job was posted from a big and well known Wordpress Plugin Developer company and I never wanted to miss the opportunity. A sample plugin with intentional security vulnerabilities was attached in the job description and they were only shortlisting candidates for interview who pointed out those vulnerabilities. Thats the only reason I spent 2-3 hours debugging that plugin. Also its coincidence that I am not able to submit that proposal yet.
Aug 29, 2018 09:06:30 AM by Petra R
@Noman R wrote:. A sample plugin with intentional security vulnerabilities was attached in the job description and they were only shortlisting candidates for interview who pointed out those vulnerabilities. Thats the only reason I spent 2-3 hours debugging that plugin. Also its coincidence that I am not able to submit that proposal yet.
The client asked for free work - this is strictly forbidden.
Aug 29, 2018 07:37:08 AM by Avery O
Hi Noman,
It looks like you are already being assisted through one of our social media channels, and through a support ticket. I would suggest that you continue communicating with us through one channel only, and in this case, through your email ticket, so that the team can assist you more efficiently.
As Goran has noted, your ticket has already been escalated to our engineers, and the team will get back to you once they have more information about your issue.
Aug 29, 2018 08:43:30 AM by Noman R
Since Upwork is clueless about this so far, I have figured this out myself. The Upwork firewall seems very sensitive and my answers contain Local File Inclusion and XSS payloads and that's the reason I wasn't able to submit proposal since last 20 hours because Upwork's firewall was detecting it as virus and wasn't giving any security warning. I myself am a Security Engineer and the answers were also regarding security vulnerabilities which client requested for. I cut the answers from Proposal, pasted in text file and zipped it with password and attached them and it worked. Answers even in plain text file weren't getting uploaded because files also get scanned by firewall so I zipped in password making file encrypted.
Please send my message to Security Engineers up there at Upwork that do not make your firewall that sensitive as it causes functionality issues.