This guide explains what you need to determine as a website visitor if you encounter a 403 error in order to resolve the issue.

What is the 403 error?

The HTTP 403 error code generally means that access to a resource is denied to the client by the server.

In which case does this error occur?

The user is not authenticated: the server requires the user to identify themselves to access the resource. This can 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 authorize access to the requested resource due to permission or role restrictions. This cause of error 403 may be an incorrect permission issue, on a folder or a file. For a folder, the error message is of type "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, namely a minimum of 644 for a file and 755 for a folder. Learn more

The user's IP address is blocked or restricted: the server may 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 instead of a 404 error to avoid disclosing confidential information. If you are trying to access your homepage or a part of your site by entering an address of the type www.domaine.xyz or www.domaine.xyz/dossier/ make sure there is a homepage named "index.html or .htm or .php" placed in the correct location (at the root of your FTP space, in the /web directory, or in the /dossier/ directory). Learn more

Moreover, check that there are no uppercase letters in the file name, all file names or folders present must be in lowercase, without accents or spaces.

Script-related error: if you were running a script, filling out a form, or uploading a file online and you receive this type of message:

Accès interdit!
Vous n'avez pas le droit d'accéder à l'objet demandé.
Soit celui-ci est protégé, soit il ne peut être lu par le serveur.
Si vous pensez qu'il s'agit d'une erreur du serveur, veuillez contacter le gestionnaire du site.
Error 403

The cause may be a filter that prevents the unwanted use of scripts by spammers. Indeed, the Infomaniak antivirus blocks the uploading of files via scripts or via FTP. This concretely means 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 a 403 error.

In case of a false positive, contact Infomaniak support by providing the URL of the page where you encounter this error message to precisely diagnose the origin of the problem.

However, there are many other cases in which you might receive a "403 forbidden" message for various reasons (PHP scripts, Perl, mod_security, .htaccess, ...).