From a2fd184b8d5c72fed50a828c6d2086d82d92edb5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Martinski4GitHub <119833648+Martinski4GitHub@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:34:48 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Fixes and Code Improvements

- Fixed issue where setting the email format to "Plain Text" in the SSH CLI menu, the WebUI would show the selection box as empty instead of reflecting the "Plain Text" setting made previously by the user.

- Fixed parsing issues when handling unusual but valid user input for the "Secondary Email Address" option.

- Improved functions that set and get configuration settings, also making sure values stored as assignment statements are defined as literal strings (e.g. KeyName='KeyValue').

- Included fix in the WebUI from @maghuro to properly handle the colon separator in login credentials (i.e. username:password).

- Miscellaneous code improvements.
---
 MerlinAU.asp |  15 ++++---
 MerlinAU.sh  | 115 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------
 README.md    |   2 +-
 3 files changed, 81 insertions(+), 51 deletions(-)

diff --git a/MerlinAU.asp b/MerlinAU.asp
index 81bce796..e2ed2795 100644
--- a/MerlinAU.asp
+++ b/MerlinAU.asp
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ input[value="Uninstall"] {
 <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
 
 /**----------------------------**/
-/** Last Modified: 2026-May-16 **/
+/** Last Modified: 2026-Sep-25 **/
 /**----------------------------**/
 
 // Separate variables for shared and AJAX settings //
@@ -2337,8 +2337,9 @@ function GetConfigSettings()
                         keyName = tokenStr.substring(0, splitIndex).trim();
                         keyValue = tokenStr.substring(splitIndex + 1).trim();
 
-                        // Remove surrounding quotes if present //
-                        if (keyValue.startsWith('"') && keyValue.endsWith('"'))
+                        // Remove surrounding single or double quotes if present //
+                        if ((keyValue.startsWith('"') && keyValue.endsWith('"')) ||
+                            (keyValue.startsWith("'") && keyValue.endsWith("'")))
                         { keyValue = keyValue.substring(1, keyValue.length - 1); }
 
                         AssignAjaxSetting(keyName, keyValue);
@@ -2354,8 +2355,9 @@ function GetConfigSettings()
                         {
                             keyValue = tokenList[kIndx + 1].trim();
 
-                            // Remove surrounding quotes if present //
-                            if (keyValue.startsWith('"') && keyValue.endsWith('"'))
+                            // Remove surrounding single or double quotes if present //
+                            if ((keyValue.startsWith('"') && keyValue.endsWith('"')) ||
+                                (keyValue.startsWith("'") && keyValue.endsWith("'")))
                             { keyValue = keyValue.substring(1, keyValue.length - 1); }
 
                             AssignAjaxSetting(keyName, keyValue);
@@ -2456,7 +2458,8 @@ function AssignAjaxSetting (keyName, keyValue)
            try
            {
                var decoded = atob(keyValue);
-               var password = decoded.split(':')[1] || '';
+               var splitIndex = decoded.indexOf(':');
+               var password = (splitIndex > 0) ? decoded.slice(splitIndex + 1) : '';
                ajax_custom_settings.routerPassword = password;
            }
            catch (e)
diff --git a/MerlinAU.sh b/MerlinAU.sh
index 1b567ab1..4619d959 100644
--- a/MerlinAU.sh
+++ b/MerlinAU.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #
 # Project Created: 2023-Oct-01 by @ExtremeFiretop
 # Official Co-Author: @Martinski W. since 2023-Nov-01
-# Last Modified: 2026-Sep-22
+# Last Modified: 2026-Sep-25
 #
 # MerlinAU™ / MerlinAutoUpdate™
 # Official project: https://github.com/ExtremeFiretop/MerlinAutoUpdate-Router
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ set -u
 
 ## Set version for each Production Release ##
 readonly SCRIPT_VERSION=1.6.9
-readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="26092216"
+readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="26092501"
 readonly SCRIPT_NAME="MerlinAU"
 ## Set to "master" for Production Releases ##
 SCRIPT_BRANCH="dev"
@@ -678,8 +678,10 @@ _AcquireMutexFLock_()
 ##-------------------------------------##
 ## Added by Martinski W. [2025-Sep-01] ##
 ##-------------------------------------##
+# Intended for BOTH 'grep' & 'sed' cmds
+#---------------------------------------#
 _EscapeChars_()
-{ printf "%s" "$1" | sed 's/[][\/$.*^&-]/\\&/g' ; }
+{ printf "%s" "$1" | sed 's/[][\/{}()$|.*^&+-]/\\&/g' ; }
 
 ##-------------------------------------##
 ## Added by Martinski W. [2023-Dec-26] ##
@@ -1622,8 +1624,11 @@ _InitCustomUserSettings_()
    sendEMail_CC_Name="$(Get_Custom_Setting FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Name)"
    sendEMail_CC_Address="$(Get_Custom_Setting FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Address)"
    if [ "$sendEMailFormaType" = "HTML" ]
-   then isEMailFormatHTML=true
-   else isEMailFormatHTML=false
+   then
+       isEMailFormatHTML=true
+   else
+       isEMailFormatHTML=false
+       sendEMailFormaType="Plain Text"
    fi
 
    _SetUp_FW_UpdateZIP_DirectoryPaths_
@@ -1631,7 +1636,7 @@ _InitCustomUserSettings_()
 }
 
 ##----------------------------------------##
-## Modified by Martinski W. [2025-Jan-05] ##
+## Modified by Martinski W. [2025-Sep-25] ##
 ##----------------------------------------##
 Get_Custom_Setting()
 {
@@ -1641,7 +1646,7 @@ Get_Custom_Setting()
     local setting_value=""  setting_type="$1"  default_value="TBD"
     [ $# -gt 1 ] && default_value="$2"
 
-    if [ -f "$CONFIG_FILE" ]
+    if [ -s "$CONFIG_FILE" ]
     then
         case "$setting_type" in
             "ROGBuild" | "TUFBuild" | \
@@ -1655,7 +1660,7 @@ Get_Custom_Setting()
             "FW_New_Update_EMail_Notification" | \
             "FW_New_Update_Notification_Date" | \
             "FW_New_Update_Notification_Vers")
-                setting_value="$(grep "^${setting_type} " "$CONFIG_FILE" | awk -F ' ' '{print $2}')"
+                setting_value="$(grep -E "^$setting_type .+" "$CONFIG_FILE" | awk -F' ' '{print $2}')"
                 ;;
             "FW_New_Update_Postponement_Days"  | \
             "FW_New_Update_Changelog_Approval" | \
@@ -1669,7 +1674,7 @@ Get_Custom_Setting()
             "FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Name" | \
             "FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Address")
                 grep -q "^${setting_type}=" "$CONFIG_FILE" && \
-                setting_value="$(grep "^${setting_type}=" "$CONFIG_FILE" | cut -f2- -d'=' | sed "s/['\"]//g")"
+                setting_value="$(grep -E "^${setting_type}=.+" "$CONFIG_FILE" | cut -f2- -d'=' | sed "s/['\"]//g")"
                 ;;
             *)
                 setting_value="**ERROR**"
@@ -1677,7 +1682,7 @@ Get_Custom_Setting()
         esac
         if [ -z "$setting_value" ]
         then echo "$default_value"
-        else echo "$setting_value"
+        else printf '%s\n' "$setting_value"
         fi
     else
         echo "$default_value"
@@ -1685,7 +1690,7 @@ Get_Custom_Setting()
 }
 
 ##----------------------------------------##
-## Modified by maghuro [2026-Sep-24]     ##
+## Modified by Martinski W. [2026-Sep-25] ##
 ##----------------------------------------##
 Update_Custom_Settings()
 {
@@ -1709,13 +1714,13 @@ Update_Custom_Settings()
         "FW_New_Update_EMail_Notification" | \
         "FW_New_Update_Notification_Date" | \
         "FW_New_Update_Notification_Vers")
-            if [ -f "$CONFIG_FILE" ]
+            if [ -s "$CONFIG_FILE" ]
             then
-                if [ "$(grep -c "^$setting_type" "$CONFIG_FILE")" -gt 0 ]
+                if [ "$(grep -c "^$setting_type " "$CONFIG_FILE")" -gt 0 ]
                 then
-                    if [ "$setting_value" != "$(grep "^$setting_type" "$CONFIG_FILE" | cut -f2 -d' ')" ]
+                    if [ "$setting_value" != "$(grep -E "^$setting_type .+" "$CONFIG_FILE" | cut -f2 -d' ')" ]
                     then
-                        fixedVal="$(printf '%s' "$setting_value" | sed 's/[\/&\\]/\\&/g')"
+                        fixedVal="$(_EscapeChars_ "$setting_value")"
                         sed -i "s/^${setting_type}.*/$setting_type $fixedVal/" "$CONFIG_FILE"
                     fi
                 else
@@ -1736,21 +1741,21 @@ Update_Custom_Settings()
         "FW_New_Update_EMail_FormatType" | \
         "FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Name" | \
         "FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Address")
-            if [ -f "$CONFIG_FILE" ]
+            if [ -s "$CONFIG_FILE" ]
             then
-                if grep -q "^${setting_type}=" "$CONFIG_FILE"
+                if grep -qE "^${setting_type}=.*" "$CONFIG_FILE"
                 then
-                    oldVal="$(grep "^${setting_type}=" "$CONFIG_FILE" | cut -f2- -d'=' | sed "s/['\"]//g")"
+                    oldVal="$(grep -E "^${setting_type}=.+" "$CONFIG_FILE" | cut -f2- -d'=' | sed "s/['\"]//g")"
                     if [ -z "$oldVal" ] || [ "$oldVal" != "$setting_value" ]
                     then
-                        fixedVal="$(printf '%s' "$setting_value" | sed 's/[\/&\\]/\\&/g')"
-                        sed -i "s/${setting_type}=.*/${setting_type}=\"${fixedVal}\"/" "$CONFIG_FILE"
+                        fixedVal="$(_EscapeChars_ "$setting_value")"
+                        sed -i "s/${setting_type}=.*/${setting_type}='${fixedVal}'/" "$CONFIG_FILE"
                     fi
                 else
-                    echo "$setting_type=\"${setting_value}\"" >> "$CONFIG_FILE"
+                    echo "$setting_type='${setting_value}'" >> "$CONFIG_FILE"
                 fi
             else
-                echo "$setting_type=\"${setting_value}\"" > "$CONFIG_FILE"
+                echo "$setting_type='${setting_value}'" > "$CONFIG_FILE"
             fi
             if [ "$setting_type" = "FW_New_Update_Postponement_Days" ]
             then
@@ -1796,16 +1801,16 @@ Update_Custom_Settings()
             ;;
         *)
             # Generic handling for arbitrary settings #
-            if grep -q "^${setting_type}=" "$CONFIG_FILE"
+            if grep -qE "^${setting_type}=.*" "$CONFIG_FILE"
             then
-                oldVal="$(grep "^${setting_type}=" "$CONFIG_FILE" | cut -f2- -d'=' | sed "s/['\"]//g")"
+                oldVal="$(grep -E "^${setting_type}=.+" "$CONFIG_FILE" | cut -f2- -d'=' | sed "s/['\"]//g")"
                 if [ -z "$oldVal" ] || [ "$oldVal" != "$setting_value" ]
                 then
-                    fixedVal="$(printf '%s' "$setting_value" | sed 's/[\/&\\]/\\&/g')"
-                    sed -i "s/^${setting_type}=.*/${setting_type}=\"${fixedVal}\"/" "$CONFIG_FILE"
+                    fixedVal="$(_EscapeChars_ "$setting_value")"
+                    sed -i "s/^${setting_type}=.*/${setting_type}='${fixedVal}'/" "$CONFIG_FILE"
                 fi
             else
-                echo "${setting_type}=\"${setting_value}\"" >> "$CONFIG_FILE"
+                echo "${setting_type}='${setting_value}'" >> "$CONFIG_FILE"
             fi
             ;;
     esac
@@ -2991,7 +2996,7 @@ _CurlFileDownload_()
 }
 
 ##----------------------------------------##
-## Modified by maghuro [2026-Sep-24]     ##
+## Modified by maghuro [2026-Sep-24]      ##
 ##----------------------------------------##
 _DownloadScriptFiles_()
 {
@@ -3839,8 +3844,11 @@ _CheckEMailConfigFileFromAMTM_()
    sendEMailNotificationsFlag="$(Get_Custom_Setting FW_New_Update_EMail_Notification)"
    sendEMailFormaType="$(Get_Custom_Setting FW_New_Update_EMail_FormatType)"
    if [ "$sendEMailFormaType" = "HTML" ]
-   then isEMailFormatHTML=true
-   else isEMailFormatHTML=false
+   then
+       isEMailFormatHTML=true
+   else
+       isEMailFormatHTML=false
+       sendEMailFormaType="Plain Text"
    fi
 
    if [ -n "$sendEMail_CC_Name" ] && [ "$sendEMail_CC_Name" != "TBD" ] && \
@@ -11037,7 +11045,7 @@ _DoUnInstallation_()
 ##-------------------------------------##
 _SetEMailFormatType_()
 {
-   local doReturnToMenu
+   local doReturnToMenu  menuFormatStr
    local currFormatOpt  nextFormatOpt  currFormatStr
 
    currFormatOpt="$(Get_Custom_Setting FW_New_Update_EMail_FormatType)"
@@ -11048,7 +11056,11 @@ _SetEMailFormatType_()
    else
        nextFormatOpt="$currFormatOpt"
    fi
-   currFormatStr="Current Format: ${GRNct}${currFormatOpt}${NOct}"
+   if [ "$currFormatOpt" = "HTML" ]
+   then menuFormatStr="HTML"
+   else menuFormatStr="Plain Text"
+   fi
+   currFormatStr="Current Format: ${GRNct}${menuFormatStr}${NOct}"
 
    doReturnToMenu=false
    while true
@@ -11070,7 +11082,7 @@ _SetEMailFormatType_()
        case $userInput in
            1) nextFormatOpt="HTML" ; break
               ;;
-           2) nextFormatOpt="Plain Text" ; break
+           2) nextFormatOpt="PlainText" ; break
               ;;
            *) echo ; _InvalidMenuSelection_
               ;;
@@ -11101,7 +11113,8 @@ _SetSecondaryEMailAddress_()
    local nextCC_NameOpt  nextCC_AddrOpt
    local currCC_NameStr="Current Name/Alias:"
    local currCC_AddrStr="Current Address:"
-   local clearOptStr="${GRNct}c${NOct}=Clear/Remove Setting"
+   local invalidChars='[][" *?\\]'  #Avoid initial parsing issues#
+   local clearOptStr="${GRNct}C${NOct}=Clear/Remove Setting"
    local doReturnToMenu  doClearSetting  minCharLen  maxCharLen  curCharLen
 
    currCC_NameOpt="$(Get_Custom_Setting FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Name)"
@@ -11115,6 +11128,7 @@ _SetSecondaryEMailAddress_()
        nextCC_AddrOpt="$currCC_AddrOpt"
        currCC_AddrStr="$currCC_AddrStr ${GRNct}${currCC_AddrOpt}${NOct}"
    fi
+   currCC_AddrStr="$(echo "$currCC_AddrStr" | sed 's/%/%%/g')"
 
    userInput=""
    minCharLen=10
@@ -11134,13 +11148,13 @@ _SetSecondaryEMailAddress_()
 
        [ -z "$userInput" ] && break
 
-       if echo "$userInput" | grep -qE "^(e|exit|Exit)$"
+       if printf '%s\n' "$userInput" | grep -qE "^(e|exit|Exit)$"
        then doReturnToMenu=true ; break ; fi
 
-       if echo "$userInput" | grep -qE "^(c|C)$"
+       if printf '%s\n' "$userInput" | grep -qE "^(c|C)$"
        then doClearSetting=true ; break ; fi
 
-       if ! echo "$userInput" | grep -qE ".+[@].+"
+       if ! printf '%s\n' "$userInput" | grep -qE ".+[@].+"
        then
            printf "\n${REDct}INVALID input.${NOct} "
            printf "No ampersand character [${GRNct}@${NOct}] is found.\n"
@@ -11149,6 +11163,16 @@ _SetSecondaryEMailAddress_()
            continue
        fi
 
+       # Catch invalid chars that may cause parsing errors #
+       if printf '%s\n' "$userInput" | grep -qE "$invalidChars"
+       then
+           printf "\n${REDct}INVALID input.${NOct}\n"
+           printf "One or more invalid characters were found.\n"
+           _WaitForEnterKey_
+           clear
+           continue
+       fi
+
        curCharLen="${#userInput}"
        if [ "$curCharLen" -lt "$minCharLen" ] || [ "$curCharLen" -gt "$maxCharLen" ]
        then
@@ -11170,9 +11194,9 @@ _SetSecondaryEMailAddress_()
    if "$doClearSetting" || \
       { [ -z "$nextCC_AddrOpt" ] && [ -n "$currCC_AddrOpt" ] ; }
    then
-       Update_Custom_Settings FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Name "TBD"
-       Update_Custom_Settings FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Address "TBD"
-       echo "The secondary email address and associated name/alias were removed successfully."
+       Update_Custom_Settings FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Name 'TBD'
+       Update_Custom_Settings FW_New_Update_EMail_CC_Address 'TBD'
+       printf "\nThe secondary email address and associated name/alias were removed successfully.\n"
        _WaitForEnterKey_ "$advnMenuReturnPromptStr"
        return 0
    fi
@@ -11186,6 +11210,7 @@ _SetSecondaryEMailAddress_()
        nextCC_NameOpt="$currCC_NameOpt"
        currCC_NameStr="$currCC_NameStr ${GRNct}${currCC_NameOpt}${NOct}"
    fi
+   currCC_NameStr="$(echo "$currCC_NameStr" | sed 's/%/%%/g')"
 
    userInput=""
    minCharLen=6
@@ -11198,7 +11223,8 @@ _SetSecondaryEMailAddress_()
        printf "[${theADExitStr}]\n[${currCC_NameStr}]:  "
        read -r userInput
 
-       if [ -z "$userInput" ] || echo "$userInput" | grep -qE "^(e|exit|Exit)$"
+       if [ -z "$userInput" ] || \
+          printf '%s\n' "$userInput" | grep -qE "^(e|exit|Exit)$"
        then doReturnToMenu=true ; break ; fi
 
        curCharLen="${#userInput}"
@@ -11213,7 +11239,8 @@ _SetSecondaryEMailAddress_()
        break;
    done
 
-   if [ "$nextCC_AddrOpt" = "$currCC_AddrOpt" ] && [ "$nextCC_NameOpt" = "$currCC_NameOpt" ]
+   if [ "$nextCC_AddrOpt" = "$currCC_AddrOpt" ] && \
+      [ "$nextCC_NameOpt" = "$currCC_NameOpt" ]
    then
        _RunEMailNotificationTest_ && _WaitForEnterKey_ "$advnMenuReturnPromptStr"
        return 0
@@ -12165,8 +12192,8 @@ _ShowAdvancedOptionsMenu_()
            printf "\n ${GRNct}se${NOct}.  Set Email Notifications Secondary Address"
            if [ -n "$CC_NAME" ] && [ -n "$CC_ADDRESS" ]
            then
-               printf "\n${padStr}[Current Name/Alias: ${GRNct}${CC_NAME}${NOct}]"
-               printf "\n${padStr}[Current 2nd Address: ${GRNct}${CC_ADDRESS}${NOct}]\n"
+               printf "\n${padStr}[Current Name/Alias: ${GRNct}%s${NOct}]" "$CC_NAME"
+               printf "\n${padStr}[Current 2nd Address: ${GRNct}%s${NOct}]\n" "$CC_ADDRESS"
            else
                echo
            fi
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 516257e6..3f17e158 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # MerlinAU - AsusWRT-Merlin Firmware Auto Updater
 
 ## v1.6.9
-## 2026-Sep-22
+## 2026-Sep-25
 
 ## WebUI:
 <img width="775" height="1640" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/846f889b-b39f-4ffe-a37a-8892ad9b2f7f" />