Symbolic Link not Allowed or Link Target not Accessible

Solutions

Problem Description

apache2 can not access the symbolic link which located in default directory. Gives error “Forbidden You don’t have permission to access … on this server”.

Detection

Check the Error Log

  • Apache error log is in /var/log/httpd, the error is "AH00037: Symbolic link not allowed or link target not accessible: /var/www/moodle".
  • Create a directory which not use symbolic link, like /var/www/test, it turns out OK.

Solution

chmod o+x /root/

The fix is immediate - no need to restart apache. But it’s not recommended, as you changed the integrity of root account privilege, the better to way is to work in /var or /opt instead of /root.

Reason

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[root@localhost /]# ll
total 31
lrwxrwxrwx.   1 root root     7 Nov 25  2018 bin -> usr/bin
dr-xr-xr-x.   6 root root  4096 Mar 24 11:58 boot
drwxr-xr-x    2 root root   258 Apr  2 12:44 com.fr.intelli.record.FocusPoint
drwxr-xr-x   21 root root  3520 Apr  7 11:02 dev
drwxr-xr-x. 157 root root 12288 Apr 10 00:24 etc
drwxr-xr-x.   6 root root    58 Apr  9 13:50 home
lrwxrwxrwx.   1 root root     7 Nov 25  2018 lib -> usr/lib
lrwxrwxrwx.   1 root root     9 Nov 25  2018 lib64 -> usr/lib64
drwx------.   2 root root     6 Nov 25  2018 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x.   2 root root     6 Apr 11  2018 media
drwxr-xr-x.   2 root root     6 Apr 11  2018 mnt
drwxr-xr-x.   6 root root    92 Apr  9 13:26 opt
dr-xr-xr-x  518 root root     0 Apr  7 11:02 proc
dr-xr-x---.  13 root root  4096 Apr 10 18:51 root
drwxr-xr-x   44 root root  1360 Apr 10 06:25 run
lrwxrwxrwx.   1 root root     8 Nov 25  2018 sbin -> usr/sbin
drwxr-xr-x.   2 root root     6 Apr 11  2018 srv
dr-xr-xr-x   13 root root     0 Apr  7 11:02 sys
drwxrwxrwt   24 root root   600 Apr 10 03:07 tmp
drwxr-xr-x.  13 root root   155 Apr  9 13:16 usr
drwxr-xr-x.  22 root root  4096 Mar 27 16:54 var
  • Symbolic link needs X right for every directory in the source link, /root is the culprit.
  • For others, they don’t have execution right on root direction