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Apache 2.4.54 - 403 Forbidden scenarios on Static Files with Custom Directory Permissions

👀 Views: 23 💬 Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-07-15
apache 403 htaccess permissions Apache

I'm getting frustrated with I've looked through the documentation and I'm still confused about I'm running Apache 2.4.54 and have been struggling with a 403 Forbidden behavior when trying to access static files in a specific directory... The directory structure is as follows: ``` /project-root/ ├── public/ │ ├── css/ │ ├── js/ │ └── images/ ├── .htaccess └── index.php ``` Inside my `.htaccess`, I have the following configuration: ``` <Directory /project-root/public/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All Require all granted </Directory> ``` Despite having `Require all granted`, when I try to access `http://example.com/public/css/style.css`, I receive a 403 Forbidden behavior. I've confirmed that the file permissions are set correctly (`644` for files and `755` for directories), and the user that Apache runs under (www-data) has access to the entire project directory. Additionally, I’ve checked the Apache behavior logs, and I see the following entries: ``` [Fri Nov 03 12:34:56.789012 2023] [access_compat:behavior] [pid 1234:tid 140134567890112] [client 192.168.1.1:54321] AH01797: client denied by server configuration: /project-root/public/css/style.css ``` I've attempted to add `Require all granted` to the main Apache configuration file (`apache2.conf`) as well, but that didn't resolve the scenario. I've also tried clearing my browser cache and restarting Apache after every change. Could there be any other directives or configurations that I may have overlooked that could be causing this scenario? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.