Are you dealing with the 403 Forbidden error on your WordPress site? It is one of the most dreadful errors that a WordPress beginner can come across. In this article, we will show you how to easily fix the 403 forbidden error in WordPress.
What is a 403 Forbidden – Access Denied Error in WordPress?
WordPress shows codes and messages when an error occurs on your website. See our list of most common WordPress errors and how to fix them.
403 Forbidden error code is shown when your server permissions don’t allow access to a specific page.
This is why the error is usually accompanied by the text:
403 Forbidden – You don’t have permission to access ‘/’ on this server.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
There are different scenarios when you can see this error. For example:
- 403 Forbidden – Access denied on wp-admin or WordPress login page.
- 403 Forbidden – during WordPress install.
- 403 Forbidden error when visiting any page on your WordPress site.
- It is also possible that you only get to see ‘Access Denied’ instead of full 403 Forbidden status.
- You may also see ‘Access to yourdomain.com was denied. You don’t have authorization to view this page.’
Now that you know about the different types of 403 errors, let’s talk about what causes this error.
What Causes 403 Forbidden Error in WordPress?
The most common cause for the 403 Forbidden error in WordPress is due to poorly configured security plugins. Many WordPress security plugins can block an IP address (or a whole range of IP addresses) if they believe them to be malicious.
This is why we use Sucuri to improve security of all our WordPress sites.
Another possible cause could be a corrupt .htaccess file or incorrect file permissions on your server.
Your WordPress hosting company can sometimes make accidental changes to their server settings. This may result in 403 Forbidden error on your site.
Having said that, let’s take a look at how to solve 403 forbidden error in WordPress.
Video Tutorial
If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.
Fixing 403 Forbidden Error in WordPress
Before you do anything, we recommend that you create a complete WordPress backup of your website. Here is our guide on how to manually create a WordPress backup.
If you were already using an automatic WordPress backup plugin, then make sure that you have access to a latest backup before moving forward.
1. Fixing 403 Forbidden Error Caused by a WordPress Plugin
First thing you need to do is to temporarily deactivate all WordPress plugins. This includes any security plugins that you may have installed on your site.
If this resolves your problem, then this means one of the plugins on your website was causing this error.
You can figure out which plugin was causing the error by activating all your plugins one at a time until you are able to reproduce the 403 forbidden error.
2. Fix 403 Forbidden Error Caused by Corrupt .htaccess File
Often the 403 error is caused by a corrupt .htaccess file in your WordPress site. Repairing this file is quite easy.
First you need to connect to your website using a FTP client or file manager in cPanel.
Next, locate the .htaccess file in the root folder of your WordPress site. See this guide if you can’t find .htaccess file in Your WordPress folder.
You need to download the .htaccess file to your computer so that you have a fresh backup of it. After that, you need to delete the file from your server.
Try accessing your website. If 403 forbidden error is resolved, then this means that your .htaccess file was corrupt.
You can generate a fresh .htaccess file by logging into your WordPress admin area and going to Settings » Permalinks page.
Simply click on the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page and WordPress will generate a fresh .htaccess file.
3. Fix 403 Forbidden Error Caused by File Permissions in WordPress
All files stored on your website have file permissions. These file permissions control who can access files and folders on your website.
Incorrect file permissions can cause 403 forbidden error. It makes your web server thinks that you do not have permission to access those files.
If the above two solutions do not solve the 403 forbidden error on your site, then incorrect file permissions can be the most likely cause.
You can ask your WordPress hosting provider to check your website for correct file permissions. Some hosts are very supportive, they wouldn’t mind and will probably fix that for you.
Changing file permissions yourself can have serious consequences. If you do not feel confident doing it yourself, then ask a friend for help or hire a professional.
However, if you want to do it yourself, then here is how you would check your file permissions.
Simply connect to your WordPress site using an FTP client. Navigate to the root folder containing all your WordPress files.
Click to select a folder, right click and then select File Permissions from the menu.
Your FTP client will show you a file permissions dialog box like this:
All folders on your WordPress site should have a file permission of 744 or 755.
All files on your WordPress site should have a file permission of 644 or 640.
You can set the file permission to the root folder to 744 or 755. Check the box next to ‘Recurse into subdirectories’ and then check the option that says ‘apply to directories only’.
Click on the OK button. Your FTP client will now start setting permissions to all subdirectories in that folder.
Once it is done, you need to repeat the process for all the files. This time you will use file permission of 644 or 640 and don’t forget to select ‘Recurse into subdirectories’ and ‘apply to files only’. options.
Click on the OK button and your FTP client will start setting file permissions for all the selected files.
Try accessing your website now, and 403 forbidden error should be gone now.
We hope this article helped you fix the 403 forbidden error in WordPress. You may also want to see our expert tips and hacks to protect your WordPress admin area.
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I never knw .htaccess get corrupt. Tip number 2 fixed it quickly but I was unable to generate the .htaccess. So I downloaded, delete and re-upload the .htaccess and it worked super fine. Thank you, WPBeg
glad our recommendations could help
Thank you so much for this. Really helped
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Hi,
Suddenly my website is showing a message “This site can’t be reached” .Can anybody help me ? i am unable to fix it for last 7days.
Thanks,
Have you reached out to your hosting provider? They can normally let you know any errors they can find on your site.
Thank you so much for sharing!! Finally able to fix it myself
You’re welcome, glad our article could help
I’m glad I read the post and tried everything mentioned here but it did not work. However, the user comments were resourceful. I tried step by step all the suggestions people have mentioned and I found that MOD SECURITY, just as others have mentioned, is the main culprit.
Since I’ running a VPS, I disabled it from my control panel and did the adjustments I wanted on my site and it worked like a charm!.
Glad the recommendations from our other readers was able to help
Bingo! MOD SECURITY same issue here.
Thanks Dear,
MODSECURITY is a real culprit. I have fixed mine as well. Thanks for tip. Cheers!
After I installed wordpress. My webpage is still on 403 error and when I go to /wp-admin a 404 error appears. Basically wp-admin is missing. How should I fix this?
You may need to check with your hosting provider with the 404 error for wp-admin but some steps you could try we cover in our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-troubleshooting-wordpress-errors-step-by-step/
Hi,
My images don’t appear at all when I view my site on different web browsers.
What could be causing this?
cheers
It’s difficult to say the one specific reason but for a starting point you could go through our troubleshooting guide here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-troubleshooting-wordpress-errors-step-by-step/
I have tried all the things, checked stackoverflow, google, than tried these paths and none of them work. The last thing i did i reinstalled wordpress from dashboard and it worked. 403 forbidden disappeared…
Thank you anyway for this article. hope my exp will help others also
Thanks for sharing what solved the issue for you.
Thank you so much for your helpful tips! It was my .htaccess file.
Glad our recommendations could help
For me Yoast plugin was making problem. I`ll try to reinstall it and see whats happens next.
Should the problem continue with yoast, if you reach out to the plugin’s support they may be able to update and fix the problem
Thanks so much
It works for me
You’re welcome, glad it worked for you
Thanks a lot, changing permissions of the folder worked for me.
Glad our recommendations helped and thanks for sharing what worked for you
How do you fix an RSS 403 error in WordPress??
The methods in this article should also work for fixing your RSS
File uploads with illegal characters (e.g. apostrophe in my recent cases) cause a 403 error. I have seen this with file submissions in Gravity and WPForms.
Thanks for sharing this additional possibility
I have started a new website for an individual through WP. When old website is pulled up, it gives a “Forbidden- access denied on this server”. I have tried many things through WP to fix the problem, but since it was that way before, would it be something from the last webhost? I have changed the nameservers on the domain site to the new host site I’m using. The new host has it as primary domain, but says domain is locked. Would unlocking the domain name make a difference? Any help would be MUCH APPRECIATED!!
If the domain is locked then your old hosting provider normally may not be accepting the nameserver edits. If you reach out to where the domain is currently hosted they should be able to ensure the domain is pointing correctly.
Thank you!
Goodbye .htaccess… Hello website!
Glad our article could help
“Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 403 (Forbidden) async-upload.php:1” is the console error log I am seeing when I try to upload an image to media in the dashboard. It says “http error” when I try upload any files. And they’re only a few kb, also the upload size has been increased already.
Any suggestions?!
For that specific error you would want to take a look at our guide here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-the-http-image-upload-error-in-wordpress/
I have tried all the things but still not getting a solution. What is should do?
Reach out to your hosting provider and let them know about the issue and they should be able to assist
Hiya Folks, I worked through everything and nothing seemed to fix my problem then I had a spark of genius. If you use Cpanel then check under the Security option for Hotlink protect. You may have it turned on. Just add your full site website web address to it and click submit it should work. It did for me
Thanks for sharing what solved it for you
why i am getting this problem –
Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 403 (Forbidden)
wp-content/themes/health/assets/slabText/css/slabtext.css?ver=5.0.3
You would want to take a look at step 3 in the article for an error like that with your theme
Thanks, that really helped me!
Works for me after i disabled ModSecurity on Cpanel. If you don’t have access to this option, contact your host provider and say that you want to disable this option.
Hope that works for y’all!
Thanks brother, I couldn’t solve the problem, your answer helped me.
Hi, Please help.. I got this error when i tried to log in my wp-admin ..
HTTP Error 403 – Forbidden
The Web server is configured to not list the contents of this directory or you do not have enough permissions to access the resource
Error. Page cannot be displayed. Please contact your service provider for more details. (14)
Thanks in advance
When i was putting my second addon doamin i select blog in directory (optional). I think it should be empty now i can’t see my website when i enter sitename .com its says error. i can access my wp admin as sitename .com/blog/wp-admin. i want to remove blog from it. My first website on this hosting is working fine with wordpress, Godaddy. I don’t know what to do please some one help me???
Thanks guys.
You saved me a whole lot.
I just discovered my Public Permissions were not readable and Executable.
None of these fix my problem as it is one page and the only way i could fix it was to rename the permalink, The page in trouble is https://example.com/blog/ and the only way i could fix it was to change it to /blog2/, any ideas?
Please somebody help me. I have two websites on the same host. I just added a third addon domain recently and installed wordpress to it through the softaculous installer.
The problem is not from wordpress, and other websites on the same host is accessible.
Please help.
I hade one page Forbiden 403 and tryied all the steps. And now i dont have permission to login wp-admin on my site?
Hey Andreas,
Please see our WordPress troubleshooting guide. It will help you find out the issue and then you can fix it.
It worked like magic
Thank you so much for this article. My problem was a corrupted htaccess file. My website is now working fine.
I still having this problem. I tried all the steps. The problem began when I installed the WooCommerce plugin in my WordPress Site. Now in my wordpress y receive a 403 Forbidden and in my other site, without wordpress i recieived a 502 Bad Gateway error.
Please someone can help me?
I discovered – after all else failed and many hours spent, that at one time (but no longer) I used Bullet Proof security. It left a stray .htaccess file in my wp-admin folder – THAT, was causing the 403 error for me. ARGH!
Hey Scott,
Thanks for sharing, glad you found the solution
how i solve this probkem…. in windows 10……
Thank you, it worked for me.
Thanks!
changing file permission works for me.
Thanks a ton. Deleting .htaccess worked for me.
There has to be a fourth step. None of these steps applied. The plugins weren’t the cause. The .htaccess file wasn’t the cause. All the permissions in all files and folders are set to the correct numerical values.
Hi Friends, One Easy step will make You free from the existing problem.
1. Go to CPanel of Your Domain
2. Click to Expand public_html folder present at the extreme left of the screen.
3. Double click on wp folder present on the write side of the screen
4. Copy All files & Folders inside the wp folder
5. Move all the files & folders inside the wp folder to UP ONE LEVEL
6. Now All files & Folders are out of WP folder, hence WP folder is empty, come one level up & delete the empty WP folder
7. Now go to browser & type your domain_name.com, PERFEFETLY it will be WORKING
All the Best…if you have doubts regarding this mail me to
Also if time permits visit my site
Thank You All
Hi, there! Thanks for this article!
I got this error, so I access with my ftp and deleted .htaccess file. I’m now able to access my dashboard. But when I go to settings and save again as you say, the error 403 comes back. What can I do?
Thank you, guys!
What if I had a dedicated server, and its happening to all 43 of my sites…I just did some kind of WHM update on Bluehost, then it happened….Ive been waiting for an hour to talk to bluehost.
Josh –
I had a similar thing happening to me here. “All of a sudden” none of my sites worked anymore.
I am hosting the sites on my own MacMini, running OS-X Server. After a night of trouble-shooting, I eventually found out that the root cause was me enabling the FTP server in OS-X Server. In there, I set folder permissions for the website root folder for “Everyone Else” to “None” (seemed a bit tricky to give everyone Read access to my sites!). Apparently one is also blocking the _www user access to the websites then…
After I changed this back to “Read Only”, my sites started working again… Pffff.
I’m now looking for a permanent solution, which is not: “Close my firewall for FTP traffic.
Hope this helps,
Ronald
This post saved my life! I can’t thank you enough for this helpful information but.. thanks a million
You don’t have permission to access /loading.php on this server.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request
The file permission option fixed it, thanks a lot.
I am getting the 403 error for my page and cannot even login into WordPress because of it… I don’t know how to fix it and don’t see anyone with the same issue.
Hi. My WordPress is handled by the hosting company itself. So I dont have root access. How can I solve this problem?
Hi Reshan,
Please contact your hosting company. They will be able to fix it for you.
Thank you. You helped me solved my problem.
Thank you, the article resolved the issue I was having on my site.
Same problem here, and ftp same result… checked in Cpanel and noticed my maindir permissions was 0000 , changed to 0755 and was fixed
In my case, I had my website for 4 years and all of a sudden today I got this error although I did not touch the files or change any permissions. I logged into the control panel and noticed that for some reason the index.php file was missing from the WordPress root folder. I downloaded a new copy of WordPress and copied the index.php file on to the root folder of my WordPress website and the website came back!
So perhaps if anyone is getting the same error, please double check that you have an index.php or index.html file. I hope that helps.
Lifesaver – thank you! This worked for me also.
Ditto…no idea why/how but the index.php disappeared while I was working on a project…I was saved a load of hassle by an automatic backup where the index still existed.
Thanks Mimi! This worked for me while the solutions in the article didn’t. In my case, the index.php file wasn’t actually missing but when I replaced the one that was there with a fresh one the site started working again so I guess it was corrupted or had some kind of other problem.
My specific error message did also mention the index.php file so that also makes sense:
Forbidden
You don’t have permission to access /index.php on this server.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Help me my website is down.I tried all the given solutions but nothing worked…
Nothing worked for me until I added “Options +FollowSymLinks” (without the quotes) above “RewriteEngine On”.