403 Forbidden Error is the most common error in WordPress. It is an access denied error in the WordPress. 403 Forbidden error is displayed when your server permission doesn’t allow to access a specific page.

403 Forbidden – You don’t have permission to access ‘/’ on this server or while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

The error can occur due to the following reasons

  • 403 Forbidden – During WordPress Install
  • 403 Forbidden – Access denied on wp-admin or WordPress Login page
  • It also occurs when visiting any page on the 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 domainname.com was denied. You don’t have the authorization to view this page’.

Most common cause of this issue is due to poorly configured security plugins. The WordPress security plugin can block an IP address if they believe them to be malicious. Another cause is corrupted .htaccess file or incorrect file permission on your server.

Fixing 403 Forbidden Error:

1. Caused by WordPress Plugin:

You need to deactivate all WordPress plugins temporarily. If this solves your problem, any one of the installed plugins may be the cause for the issue.

2. Caused by Corrupt .htaccess File:

Connect to the website using an FTP client or file manager in cPanel. Then locate the .htaccess file in the root folder of the WordPress site. Refresh the .htaccess file by logging into WordPress admin area and go to Settings -> Permalinks. Simply click the button ‘Save Changes’ at the bottom of the page.

3. Caused by File Permissions:

Check the file permissions of the files and folders. If there are incorrect permission, it may also cause the error. The default folder permission in the WordPress site is 744 or 755. The default file permission is 644 or 640.

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