[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #54471: WordPress accepts non-alpahbetical characters in the URL

[WordPress Trac]

#54471: WordPress accepts non-alpahbetical characters in the URL
--------------------------+-----------------------------
 Reporter:  lubosr        |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  General       |    Version:
 Severity:  critical      |   Keywords:
  Focuses:                |
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 Hello,

 Originally I have created a forum post to address this issue as I thought
 that this problem is affecting only my website. Here is the original post:
 https://wordpress.org/support/topic/issue-with-urls-and-extra-characters
 /#new-topic-0

 The wordpress accepts any of the following ( but not limited to)  url's
 for the same post and does not throw 404 error. Examples:

 https://exmaple.com/my-awesome-article- ( note the trailing - )
 https://exmaple.com/-my-awesome-article ( note the leading - )
 https://exmaple.com/my-awesome.article ( note the . instead of - )
 https://exmaple.com/my-awesome-article, ( note the trailing , )

 This issue has a potential for double content as the URL is distinct for
 all pages.

 First I have spend some time to rectify this issue by changing and saving
 permalink settings, changing theme, checking to apache redirection and
 site config file etc but to no avail.

 However, then I have discovered that many of the wordpress websites are
 plagued with the same issue. Here are some examples:
 Correct URL:
 https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/18/webcams-and-microphones-for-better-
 video-calls/
 Broken URL:
 https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/18/webcams-and-microphones.------for-
 better-video-calls/
 The issue is not limited to only "." in the url. See the "=" and ",". Here
 is another example from microsoft website:
 Correct URL:
 https://news.microsoft.com/transform/novartis-empowers-scientists-ai-
 speed-discovery-development-breakthrough-medicines/
 Broken URL:
 https://news.microsoft.com/transform/novartis-empowers-scientists===.=ai-
 speed-discovery.-------development-breakthrough-medicines,,,/

 Here is the wget output for the above URL as you can see no 404 has been
 shown:

 {{{
 wget https://news.microsoft.com/transform/novartis-empowers-scientists
 ===.=ai-speed-discovery.-------development-breakthrough-medicines,,,/
 --2021-11-19 12:39:02--  https://news.microsoft.com/transform/novartis-
 empowers-scientists===.=ai-speed-discovery.-------development-
 breakthrough-medicines,,,/
 Resolving news.microsoft.com (news.microsoft.com)... 141.193.213.21,
 141.193.213.20
 Connecting to news.microsoft.com
 (news.microsoft.com)|141.193.213.21|:443... connected.
 HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
 Length: unspecified [text/html]
 Saving to: ‘index.html
 }}}

 The list of the websites goes on and on as I have tested multiple portals.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54471>
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