Unable to open a non-PHP file in a web-browser: file permissions deny server access

Symptoms

• When opening a non-PHP file in a web-browser, the following error appears:

  PLESK_INFO: 403 Forbidden

• The following error message appears on the domain's Logs page or in the domain logfile /var/www/vhosts/system/example.com/logs/error_log:

  CONFIG_TEXT: (13)Permission denied: AH00132: file permissions deny server access:

• When checking permissions on the file via Plesk File Manager, Others do not have a Read access to the file:

  
  
  
  

  OR

  When checking via SSH directly on a Plesk server, the file has permissions other then 644:

  # stat /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/uploads/uploaded_file.txt | grep Access
  Access: (0600/-rw-------) Uid: (10003/ jdoe) Gid: ( 1003/ psacln)

Cause

The file has no read permissions for Others.

By default, files inside a domain's /httpdocs directory should have 644 permissions.

Resolution

Correct permissions on the file:

Via Plesk File Manager

• In Plesk, change permissions on the file in question as follows:

  
  
  
  

Via SSH access to a Plesk server

1. Connect to a Plesk server via SSH.

2. Change permission to the file with the following command:

   # chmod 644 /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/uploads/uploaded_file.txt