403 Forbidden Error – Causes and Fixes

You spend months building your website. After endless hours of coding, the big moment arrives-you finally test it. You enter the URL, press Enter, and instead of your homepage, a 403 Forbidden Error appears. This moment feels extremely frustrating for any web designer.

A 403 Forbidden Error means your browser reached the web server, authenticated the request, and the server processed the request-but denied access to the specific page. Some websites purposely trigger 403 errors as part of their design.

For example, a login page might intentionally redirect users to a 403 error if they enter the wrong credentials. But what if a page shows a 403 Forbidden Error when it shouldn’t?

Before we fix the issue, remember how a request flows:
A user enters a URL → The server receives the request → The server locates the file → The server loads the code and returns the webpage to the browser.
If any part of this flow breaks, the server may return a 403 error.

Let’s explore the most common causes and how you can fix them:

403 Forbidden Error: Causes & Fixes

1️⃣ No Content in the Root Directory

The server directs all incoming requests to the root directory, usually named httpdocs (or htdocs in WordPress). When website files are missing from this folder, the server returns a 403 error.

How to fix

• Log in to your hosting panel

• Open the httpdocs directory

• Confirm all website files exist inside the root folder

• Upload any missing files

2️⃣ Missing or Incorrect Index Page

After accessing the root directory, the server searches for the index page, usually:

• index.html or

• index.php

If the index file is missing or incorrectly named-like home.html-the server cannot load the homepage and returns a 403.

How to fix

• Check the root directory for the index file

• Rename incorrectly labeled homepages to index.html or index.php

3️⃣ Incorrect File Permissions

Wrong access permissions frequently block users from loading certain files. Admins must set permission levels properly to allow visitors to read website files.

Recommended permission settings:

Denying read permission causes a 403 Forbidden Error instantly.

How to fix

• Log in to the server

• Locate the file or folder returning the error

• Update permissions to 755 or 644

4️⃣ Hidden or Restricted Pages

Some files might have permissions set to 000, meaning they are completely blocked from public access. Clicking links that lead to such files triggers a 403 error.

Fix

• Check the URL triggering the error

• Navigate to that file in the root directory

• Update permissions to 755 or 644

5️⃣ ModSecurity Firewall Blocking Requests

ModSecurity protects websites against cyber threats such as XSS, SQL injection, and session hijacking. When the firewall flags a request as insecure, it blocks it and returns a 403.

How to fix

• Check the ModSecurity logs

• Identify which rule triggered the block

• Adjust the SecRuleEngine value to permit safe requests

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