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Alastair Irvine
Asked: 2017-05-10 00:52:45 +0800 CST

Apache 500 error for .htaccess: "<Files not allowed here"

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In my Apache virtual host config file, I am using AllowOverrideList. I am using the default of AllowOverride None because I only want to enable specific directives in .htaccess, not groups of directives.

However, I am getting an HTTP 500 error code, with this in the error log:

[Tue May 09 10:16:03.271831 2017] [core:alert] [pid 16415] [client 196.52.43.51:42111] /var/www/xyz/.htaccess: <Files not allowed here

The first thing in the .htaccess file is a properly-formed <Files> section. This shouldn't be causing a problem, because it's more of a "meta directive" that's used to contain other directives.

apache-2.4

1 Answers

  1. If AllowOverrideList and AllowOverride are both set to None, then .htaccess won't be loaded at all. However, it turns out that there is some kind of Apache bug in which .htaccess is loaded but not processed properly -- causing errors -- if just AllowOverrideList but not AllowOverride is used in the main Apache config.

    To fix the problem and get <Files> or one of the other sections to work in .htaccess, add this in addition to your AllowOverrideList statement in the main Apache config:

    AllowOverride Limit

    Your needs may vary and it's up to you to evaluate the security implications of the above.

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