How to Fix a 403 Forbidden Error on Your Website?

You must have encountered some common errors while trying to access your WordPress site that show a forbidden message.  You likely came across a 403 forbidden error. In this guide, we will take you through how to fix the 403 error code. We will cover detailed information on how to resolve the issue so without any further delay let’s get started.

First things first, before making any changes we recommend you take a backup of your files and database. In case you are using WordPress and can access the WordPress Dashboard you can take the help of a backup plugin. We recommend using a backup plugin that creates automatic backups at regular intervals.

1. Check Missing Core Files and Theme Files

Please check that all WordPress Core Files are in place, you can upload the core files manually using a File Transfer tool.

Also, check that all these files are properly uploaded. Specially check the index.php files at root, inside wp-admin, theme folder, and individual plugin folders.

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2. Check .htaccess File Configuration

.htaccess is a hidden file in the public_html directory of your Apache-based web server. The function of the .htaccess file is to define the web response to various queries, especially to set up the redirects, restrict access to various bots, etc. In some cases, there are differences .htaccess files for the root directory and subdirectories in WordPress like wp-admin and wp-includes.

To access this hidden file you can go to File Manager, and select the hidden checkbox in the options provided in the pop-up as shown in the image below:

If a pop-up doesn’t appear you can go to Settings under File Manager at Top Right as shown below:

Once you have selected to show the hidden files you will be able to see the .htaccess file

You can download it to your local machine and edit using an editor, a Notepad, Dreamweaver, or any other similar editing tool.

You can also right-click on it and Edit it as shown below:

This will open up an editable file like this:

If a .htaccess file is not yet created on your system, you can create it as well. To create it go into your public_html folder, or the website-specific default folder if you have hosted multiple websites on your Cpanel, and click on Add New File:

So, if your WordPress website is facing a 403 forbidden error issue, and a .htaccess file exists, delete it and try to access the website or the specific page with the issue. If it works fine, it means that your .htaccess file was not configured correctly. If you don’t want to delete the .htaccess file, you can just remove all the code and save the empty file instead.

You can regenerate the fresh .htaccess file now from your WordPress Dashboard. You will have to go to Permalinks under Settings, as shown below:

And Click on the Save Changes button. Please note, that you don’t have to change the settings here unless you want to change the permalink settings or URL structure.

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3. Directory Browsing and 403 Error

Directory browsing simply means in the absence of a default home page file (index.php or index.html) the server will display the directory content to the visitor. A visitor will be able to see files and subfolders of the main folder and certainly, you don’t want to display it, as shown below:

Most of the servers by default disallow directory browsing to hide the content of the folder. In such cases, if the default root file (index.html or index.php) is missing the server will return a 403 Forbidden error.

How to Disable Directory Browsing using the .htaccess file?

Open the editable .htaccess file, as described in the previous section. (Note: remember to back up the existing .htaccess file)

By default, the WordPress .htaccess file looks like this:

#BEGIN WordPress
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} ! - f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} ! - d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
#END WordPress

Just add this line of the code after the last line:

Options -Indexes

Update or Upload the edited .htaccess file, and refresh the page to see if the problem is resolved.

4. Check File and Folder Permission

The default file permission settings are applied to the core file and folders when WordPress is installed or a new file or folder is created in your cPanel.
You can go to each folder and change the permission settings. You can do it for specific files as well. Some hosting providers also provide tools to reset the permission settings.

You can also edit permission settings using the FTP tool (Filezilla for example). It will give you additional options as follows:

• Permission settings to be only applied to selected directories or files
• It is to be applied in all subdirectories and files within the selected directory
• Also, it is to be applied only in all subdirectories within the selected directory
• Permissions settings are to be applied only in all files within the selected directory

Following are the default permission settings for WordPress Files:

• First of all change permission settings to 755 or 750 for all the directories
• Change permissions settings to 644 or 640 for all the files (select the “Apply to files only” option)

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Note: There is an exception to the above rule for the wp-config.php file. The WP Config file is used to connect WP files to the Database. It includes the necessary database name, DB username, and password. The file permission for wp-config should either be 440 or 400.

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Changing the permission settings accordingly should resolve the 403 forbidden error issues.

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Caution: Perform this step when you are sure about what you are doing. It is an expert job. Playing around with file permissions can lead to compromising your website or server’s security. Incorrectly configured file permissions can leave a gate open for hackers or malware.

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5. Check Plugin

If the issue is still not resolved you need to check if there is a plugin that is causing the issue.

To do this first deactivate and uninstall any of the recently installed plugins. If it resolves the issue you can identify the incompatible plugin.

If still, the problem persists, deactivate the other plugins one by one and check the website. You will be able to identify the problematic plugin, and you can replace it with another plugin that provides similar functionality.

• Deactivate all the plugins from your WordPress Dashboard
• Check the website if it works now.
• If it works Re-activate the plugins one by one to identify the problematic ones.
• Repeat steps two and three until the 403 error is shown.
• Congratulations, you have identified the plugin that is causing the problem.
• You may need to delete it entirely and replace it with another plugin with similar functionality.

One of the other lesser recommended methods of deactivating plugins is changing the name of the Plugins folder to something else.

You can also change the name of individual plugin folders one by one If you follow this process of changing folder names, you will see several errors in your WordPress dashboard stating that “Plugin file doesn’t exist”.

Don’t panic seeing this error message as it will be fine once the folder name is changed back to what it was originally. You will have to activate them again from the WP Dashboard after changing them back to their original name.

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Note: Most of the time the issue is found with either one of the caching plugins or the security plugins. So, keep an eye on these plugins.

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“403 forbidden access to this resource on the server is denied!” Error in WordPress Multisite

If you have WordPress Multisite installation and getting a 403 error the chances are you have created a wildcard subdomain.

Just change it to remove the wildcard setting for a subdomain, and it should resolve the issue.

You also need to check the subdomain redirects.

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6. Clear Chrome Browser Cache and Cookies

If you are still seeing a 403 Forbidden error, try deleting the specific cookies of your web browser. This is how website-specific cookies are deleted in Google Chrome:

• Open Chrome.
• Click on More Settings
• Next, click on Advanced.
• In this menu, find ‘Content settings’ Under “Privacy and Security”
• Click on ‘Cookies’.
• Under “All cookies and site data,” search for the website’s name.
• To the right of the site, click Remove

To clear all the cookies, you can just go to Google Chrome History, and delete the Cache completely. A similar process can be followed in other leading web browsers.

Go to History, and click on Clear Browsing Data as shown below:

You can select the time range, select the option of Cookies and other site data, select Cached Images and files, and then click on the “Clear data” button.

7. Deactivate Chrome Browser Extensions

All the browsers have some extensions installed on them by the user. While troubleshooting the 403 Forbidden error it is recommended to deactivate browser extensions.

8. Check Firewall Settings

There is a possibility that due to one of your Firewall settings, the server is not displaying the requested page. You can momentarily disable the firewall while troubleshooting the 403 Forbidden error issue.

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What does 403 Forbidden mean?

403 forbidden error or 403 forbidden access to this resource on the server is denied! This is one of the HTTP errors that you face while working on WordPress. There are some HTTP status codes defined by Microsoft’s Internet Information Services which are considered standard internet codes.

These codes are used by web servers to communicate with your web browsers (like Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc.). These codes are defined within the HTTP header. In normal circumstances when the website is working fine, the server sends a Status Code of 200.

In case there is something wrong with the requested resource, it returns an error code. There are lots of error codes used by HTTP, for example, a 404 error is returned for a resource not found and a 500-error code signifies an internal server error. Another such HTTP response code is 403 which signifies that the user is prohibited or forbidden to access the requested web resource, which exists on the web server. We have tried to resolve all the common errors like 404 errors, 504 gateway timeout errors, 502 bad gateway errors, etc while working on WordPress.

These types of errors are classified into two categories, they are either “client-side” errors or they are “server-side” errors.

Example of Client-Side Errors:

• 400 Bad Request
• 401 Unauthorized
• 403 Forbidden
• 404 Not Found, and
• 408 Request Timeout Error

Example of Server Side Errors:

• 500 Internal Server Error
• 502 Bad Gateway
• 503 Service Unavailable and
• 504 Gateway Timeout

To make the identification of these HTML errors easier 4xx are client-side errors, while 5xx are server-side errors.

In this article, we will learn about the reasons for 403 errors, and possible ways to troubleshoot them so your visitors to easily access your website or web application without any errors.

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1. Incorrect configuration for the index file

As we have already mentioned earlier, one of the most common reasons that cause 403 Forbidden Nginx errors is the Incorrect configuration for the index file.

If you are not familiar with index files, let us make it simple for you. The index file is the file that Nginx serves to the client when the client requests the root URL of the website or directory.

This particular file has specified rules that control which index file to load and in what order. By default, Nginx looks for files named

“index.html”, “index.htm”, “index.php”, or “index.cgi” to serve as the index file.

location / {
index index.html index.htm index.html inde.php;
}

If none of the mentioned files are found in the directory, the Nginx will return a 403 forbidden error.

2. Check File Permissions

When you try to access a resource, the first thing you need to do is to check the File Permissions. It is because, if the file or directory doesn’t have the correct permissions, the Nginx will not be able to serve you.

To make sure everything is working great and the Nginx can serve specific files and resources to the clients. It is essential to have the correct read, write, and execute (RWX) permissions set on the entire path.

If you set the permissions incorrectly it will result in a 403 Forbidden Nginx Error.

To fix this particular issue, you need to change the directory permissions to 755 and the file permissions to 644. Plus, make sure that if you are running Nginx, it must have its files.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data *
sudo chmod 755 {dir}
sudo chmod 644 {files}

3. Verify Nginx configuration

The Nginx configuration file can contain errors that cause the 403 Forbidden Nginx error. To check the configuration file, run the command:

sudo nginx -t

This command tests the configuration file and reports any errors. If there are errors, fix them before restarting Nginx.

4. Restart Nginx

If you have made any changes to the Nginx configuration file, you need to restart Nginx to apply the changes. Use the command following command to restart Nginx.

sudo systemctl restart nginx

5. Check for IP-based restrictions

Nginx can block requests from certain IP addresses. To check if your IP address is being blocked, use the command

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

This command shows the Nginx error log in real-time. If your IP address is being blocked, you can add it to the “allow” list in the Nginx configuration file. For example,

location / {
deny 124.33.126.127;
allow 55.159.63.90/24;
deny all;
}

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6. Check the web location

When you try to access a website or web resource, it is important to make sure that you are accessing the correct location on the web. It includes double-checking the URL or web address to make sure that the spellings are correct and accurate.

However, if you have entered the wrong or incorrect URL or web address, you might be redirected to a different location on the web. This can result in errors and prevent you from accessing the desired resources.

7. Contact the website admin

If none of the above solutions work, contact the website administrator to see if any server-side issues are causing the error. The website administrator may be able to provide more information about the cause of the error and how to fix it.

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Effects of 403 Forbidden Error on Search Engine Rankings

If your website has started showing a 403 error page which is already ranked, then it is for sure that it will end up losing search engine rankings on prominent websites like Google, Bing, etc. As per the algorithm of search engines, they first downgrade the rankings and then eventually remove the pages from their index which are no more accessible to users or bots.

To avoid such a situation it is recommended that you keep a close watch on your website’s analytics, search console, and webmaster data, and see if there are no such errors.

You can simply log in to Google Search Console (previously known as Google Webmasters), Select your website, and click on Coverage under Index, as shown below:

It will display the number of errors as well as the type of errors faced by your visitors.

You can just keep an eye on it to keep your website Indexing healthy and avoid getting lower ranks on search engines.

In case you have recently changed the URL of a page make sure to use a redirection plugin, and redirect the old URL to the new one. Also, update the XML sitemap in the search console.

We also recommend following the above-described troubleshooting methods under the guidance of a WordPress expert if you are a beginner.

Conclusion

Understanding it, in a nutshell, a 403 forbidden error means the resource or requested file exists on the server but is not accessible to the visitor due to one of the above-specified reasons.

Following the above-described method will most probably solve the issue quickly if you are still not able to troubleshoot using any of the above methods we suggest you contact the tech support of your hosting provider immediately and see what the problem is.

During maintenance or other phases, the server technical team possibly makes configuration changes accidentally. Also, there is a possibility that your IP has been blocked by the server. Ask the technical team to check and unblock your IP Address.

Hope you are enjoying our article. if you find anything missed or would like to add some value to it, please do let us know in the comment section below.

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If you have any queries or would like to add any valuable points to it, please do let us know in the comment section below.

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