1000 FAQs, 500 tutorials and explanatory videos. Here, there are only solutions!
Resolve a 403 error as a website visitor
This guide explains what you need to determine if you get a 403 error in order to resolve this issue.
What is error 403?
HTTP error code 403 usually means that access to a resource is denied to the client by the server.
When does this error occur?
The user is not authenticated : the server requires that the user identify himself to access the resource. This may be the case for private pages requiring authentication, for example.
The user is authenticated but does not have the necessary permissions : the server recognizes the user but does not allow him access to the requested resource due to permission or role restrictions. This cause of 403 error can be an incorrect permission problem, on a folder or file. For a folder, the error message is "403 Forbidden", for a file, "failed to open stream: Permission denied". In this case, you must check that the permissions of your folders/files are correct, i.e. minimum 644 for a file and 755 for a folder. Learn more
The user's IP address is blocked or restricted : the server can block access to a specific IP address for security reasons, protection against attacks... Learn more
The requested resource does not exist on the server : in this case, the server returns a 403 error rather than a 404 error to avoid disclosure of confidential information. If you are trying to simply access your home page or part of your site, by indicating an address such as www.domain.xyz or www.domain.xyz/folder/ make sure that there is a home page named "index.html or .htm or .php" placed in the right place (at the root of your FTP space, in the /web directory, or in the /folder/ directory). Learn more
In addition, check that there is no capital letter in the file name, all file or folder names present in your FTP space must be in lower case, without accents or spaces.
Script error : if you were running a script, filling out a form, uploading a file online and you get this type of message:
Access forbidden!
You do not have the right to access the requested object.
Either it is protected or it cannot be read by the server.
If you believe this is a server error, please contact the site manager.
Error 403
the cause may be a filter that prevents unwanted use of scripts by spammers. In fact, our antivirus blocks the upload of files via scripts on our servers or via FTP. This means in concrete terms that when a hacker sends a file identified as a virus via a form, an unsecured script or via FTP, its installation is directly blocked, the file is not uploaded to the server and the upload generates an error 403.
In the event of a false positive, you must contact us by giving us the URL of the page where you encounter this error message so that we can accurately diagnose the origin of the problem.
However, there are many other cases in which you could get a "403 forbidden" message and for very diverse reasons (PHP scripts, perl, mod_security, .htaccess, ...).