# malformed regular expression

**URL:** <https://community.zeek.org/t/malformed-regular-expression/154>\
**Category:** Zeek\
**Created:** [May 2, 2001, 11:54pm UTC](https://community.zeek.org/t/malformed-regular-expression/154 "2001-05-02T23:54:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Vern](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/community.zeek.org/vern/32/630_2.png) [@Vern](https://community.zeek.org/u/Vern)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 11:54pm UTC](https://community.zeek.org/t/malformed-regular-expression/154/1 "2001-05-02T23:54:17Z")

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The problem is that Bro was incorrectly processing an empty regular  
expression (corresponding to the "skip\_authentication" variable,  
which was empty because you commented out its redefinition).

Here's a patch.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Vern

\*\*\* RE.cc.ORIG Sun Oct 24 22:55:24 1999  
--- RE.cc Wed May 2 16:48:03 2001

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/zeek/original/1X/f09d732bc2cc7c7cc7e35db67cf4e1d5233ce7a7.png) [@system](https://community.zeek.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 3:36pm UTC](https://community.zeek.org/t/malformed-regular-expression/154/2 "2022-05-06T15:36:19Z")

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