Are you stuck with Nginx 403 forbidden error? We can help you in fixing it.
This error occurs mainly due to incorrect set up of index file and wrong file permissions.
At Bobcares, we often receive requests to fix this error as part of our Server Management Services.
Today, let’s discuss how our Support Engineers fix this error easily for our customers.
Why does Nginx 403 forbidden error occur?
Before discussing how to fix the error, let’s have a look at the error.
Usually, it is quite common to find the 403 forbidden error when dealing with Nginx.
And, this error occurs when Nginx cannot deliver the requested process.
Also, the location of the Nginx configuration files is by default /etc/nginx.
The major causes of this error are incorrect settings in the index file and wrong file permissions.
How we fix the forbidden error?
Now, let’s check the major causes in detail and discuss their respective fixes by our Support Engineers.
Wrong file permissions
One major cause of Nginx 403 error is the incorrect file permissions.
By default, the standard permission for the directory is 755 and that of the file is 644.
And, any error with these permissions will result in 403 forbidden.
Also, it is necessary that the Nginx user must be the owner of the files.
We change the ownership of all the files to the Nginx user with the command,
sudo chown -R nginx:nginx *Also, we change the permissions of each directory to 755 using the command,
sudo chmod 755 [directory name]Similarly, we go to the directory and change the permissions of all the files using the following command.
sudo chmod 644 *
Incorrect setting up of index file
The Nginx configuration file will specify the index files to load and the order in which they should load.
And, incorrect set up of the index file will cause this error. For instance, we will give it as follows,
The above line shows that the index.html will load first and then the index.php file.
If these files are not found in the directory, it will result in a 403 forbidden error.
Similarly, if we want to load another index file, we will add it along with the list of recognized index files.
[Need more assistance to fix this error?- We’re available 24/7.]
Conclusion
In short, Nginx 403 forbidden error occurs due to incorrect set up of index file and wrong file permissions. In today’s writeup, we discussed how our Support Engineers fix this error for our customers.
I had to delete /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default to stop getting 403 and 404 errors on a fresh nginx install in debian.
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo systemctl reload nginx