diff --git a/spec/spec.md b/spec/spec.md
index e3da1ad..12e6770 100644
--- a/spec/spec.md
+++ b/spec/spec.md
@@ -267,4 +267,6 @@ optional:{default}
 	submissionAllowedFiletypes={rar|zip|7z}     Allowed file extensions like rar|zip|7z|webm|avi etc;
 	submissionMaxFileNameSize={255}  			12 characters are used for hash, How big a file name can be the default persumes the NAME_MAX length within common file systems
 	submissionMaxFilePathSize={4096}  			How big a file path can be the default persumes the PATH_MAX length within common file systems
+	submissionBlacklistedCharacters={#|%|&|{|}|\|<|>|*|?|/|$|!|'|"|:|@|+|`|=|\|}	#default blacklist of characters that may cause issues can be overwritten, For "|" and "=" write it as "OR" and "EQUAL" since the config splits by | and =
+
 
diff --git a/src/default-cavecomm.conf b/src/default-cavecomm.conf
index de9f83d..810d993 100644
--- a/src/default-cavecomm.conf
+++ b/src/default-cavecomm.conf
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@
 # submissionAllowedFiletypes={rar|zip|7z}       # Allowed file extensions like rar|zip|7z|webm|avi etc;
 # submissionMaxFileNameSize={255}  # 12 characters are used for hash, How big a file name can be the default persumes the NAME_MAX length within common file systems
 # submissionMaxFilePathSize={4096}  # How big a file path can be the default persumes the PATH_MAX length within common file systems
+# submissionBlacklistedCharacters={#|%|&|{|}|\|<|>|*|?|/|$|!|'|"|:|@|+|`|=|\|}	#default blacklist of characters that may cause issues can be overwritten, For "|" and "=" write it as "OR" and "EQUAL" since the config splits by | and =
+
+
+
 
 
 
@@ -61,5 +65,6 @@ submissionMaxStorageDurationH=24;
 submissionAllowedFiletypes=rar|zip|7z|arc|jpg|jpeg|png|mp4|webm;
 submissionMaxFileNameSize=255;
 submissionMaxFilePathSize=4096;
+submissionBlacklistedCharacters=#|%|&|{|}|\|<|>|*|?|/|$|!|'|"|:|@|+|`|EQUAL|OR;
 
 #configend#
diff --git a/src/utilities.cpp b/src/utilities.cpp
index ed4f692..46de979 100644
--- a/src/utilities.cpp
+++ b/src/utilities.cpp
@@ -161,6 +161,7 @@ namespace Utilities {
         int submissionMaxFileNameSize = 255;
         int submissionMaxFilePathSize = 4096;
         int baseDirectoryPathSize = 0;
+        std::vector<std::string> submissionBlacklistedCharacters = {"#","%","&","{","}","\\","<",">","*","?","/","$","!","'","\"",":","@","+","`","=","|"};
 
         /*
          * calculates absolute file path length based on submission directory and current path
@@ -330,6 +331,18 @@ namespace Utilities {
                                 submissionMaxFilePathSize = std::stoi(lineString);
                                 continue;
                             }
+                            if (lineVector.at(0) == "submissionBlacklistedCharacters") {
+                                submissionBlacklistedCharacters = Utilities::splitStringIntoVector(lineString, '|');
+                                if (lineString.find("EQUAL") != std::string::npos || lineString.find("OR") != std::string::npos) {
+                                    for (std::string& submissionBlacklistedCharacter : submissionBlacklistedCharacters) {
+                                        if (submissionBlacklistedCharacter == "EQUAL")
+                                            submissionBlacklistedCharacter = "=";
+                                        if (submissionBlacklistedCharacter == "OR")
+                                            submissionBlacklistedCharacter = "|";
+                                    }
+                                }
+                                continue;
+                            }
                         }
                     }
                 }