# Strange Requests broke my nginx server

> Since the last month I am developing a Node.js application with Vue.js and recently, I bought a server and uploaded my still in development site there. I deployed my test application to the server just one week ago and…

- Canonical: https://preview.arshadmehmood.com/security/strange-requests-broke-nginx-server/
- Published: 2018-09-29
- Section: Security
- Tags: security, nginx, server, attack
- Author: Arshad Mehmood

Since the last month I am developing a Node.js application with Vue.js and recently, I bought a server and uploaded my still in development site there. I deployed my test application to the server just one week ago and yesterday, I noticed a strange 504 Gateway error. Hmm...strange! Upon googling, I found out that the **504 Gateway Timeout error** is an HTTP status code that means that one server did not receive a timely response from another server that it was accessing while attempting to load the web page or fill another request by the browser. I checked my backend and it is working fine,  for my other server too. 

I am running [NGINX] (https://www.nginx.com/) web server and decided to look at the access and error logs. I saw some strange requests which look like hacking attempts by a bot. There are a lot of http requests and most of them are served with a 404 error. A preview of the requests is here:

![Strange requests](/assets/images/posts/access-logs.PNG)

It looks like the bot is trying to access the server files using http. I still don't know what exactly happened, but, these request broke my server and perhaps installed a worm or a malware on the system too.  For now, I have redeployed my application and blocked all http requests, as the requests are mostly http based. SSL is already configured on my server. 

The closest thing I found is this answer on [Stackoverflow](https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/40291/strange-requests-to-web-server), which also says that they are automated attacks. I have to do some digging, if anyone has any clue, please do write in the comments. I will post an update on my blog, of what I find.