LiteSpeed 403 error: Access to context [/] is denied!

Symptoms

When attempting to load a site, you encounter a 403 error, and /var/log/apache2/error_log contains an entry similar to the following.

CONFIG_TEXT: [INFO] [1225923] [T0] [CF429B-4#APVH_domain.tld:443] [ACL] Access to context [/] is denied!

Cause

The 403 error is caused by an incorrectly constructed Deny rule in the site's .htaccess file. Deny rules are frequently found in FilesMatch directives.

CONFIG_TEXT: <FilesMatch "\.(ico|pdf|flv|swf|js|mjs|css|gif|png|jpg|jpeg|txt|woff2|woff)$">
Order Allow,Deny
Deny from all
</FilesMatch>

Resolution

1. Access the server's command line via SSH or Terminal in WHM or cPanel.
2. Open the site's .htaccess file in your preferred text editor.

3. Make any needed changes to the rules associated with the Deny rule. 

   Note: When using Order Allow,Deny, the Deny from all rule will deny all traffic regardless of Allow rules.

4. Save the changes and exit the text editor.

    

Additional Resources

Apache Module mod_access_compat: Order Directive