Issue SSHFS files forbidden

[Simon de Jong]

Server operating system version

AlmaLinux 9.6

Plesk version and microupdate number

18.0.71.0

I am migrating a Laravel application from Webmin / CentOS 7 to a Plesk server. I am using the Laravel Toolkit extention to manage my app. I am using SSHFS to mount a remote storage which the app uses as it's main storage (private and public). I mount the storage as follows:

sshfs USER@IP_ADDRESS:/mnt/bigstorage/app/public ~/httpdocs/public/storage -o reconnect

sshfs USER@IP_ADDRESS:/mnt/bigstorage/app ~/httpdocs/public -o reconnect

This method of mounting is the same as what we used on the old CentOS / Webmin server. It worked fine there. However, on the Plesk server I get a 403 when trying to access the public files. The file permissions are all set the same as on the old server. Both servers use Apache and the .htaccess is identical.

Does anybody know why using SSHFS seems to cause issues on the Plesk server? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[scsa20]

Can you take a look at the logs and see what it shows? You can see the logs under the domain > logs.

 

[Simon de Jong]

Hi scsa20,

Thanks for your help. These are the relevant logs:

2025-08-07 17:46:49	Error	IP_ADDRESS	403	GET /storage/avatars/company/logo_1.png?2025-04-09+16%3A29%3A10 HTTP/1.0			1.55 K	Apache SSL/TLS access
2025-08-07 17:46:49	Error	IP_ADDRESS		(13)Permission denied: AH00035: access to /storage/avatars/company/logo_1.png denied (filesystem path '/var/www/vhosts/DOMAIN/httpdocs/public/storage') because search permissions are missing on a component of the path, referer: https://domain/login				Apache error

 

[scsa20]

It shows right there what the issue is. If you have SELinux enabled try disabling it and see what happens, you might also need to chmod +x the directory.

 

[Simon de Jong]

I have set SELinux to permissive:

SELinux status:                 enabled
SELinuxfs mount:                /sys/fs/selinux
SELinux root directory:         /etc/selinux
Loaded policy name:             targeted
Current mode:                   permissive
Mode from config file:          permissive
Policy MLS status:              enabled
Policy deny_unknown status:     allowed
Memory protection checking:     actual (secure)
Max kernel policy version:      33

Additionally, I have run `chmod +x -R` on the directory. The same error is still shown. To be sure I used the PHP `get_current_user()` method to check which user is running the PHP instance. This is the same user used to mount the remote storage using sshfs. Any idea what else might be causing the issue?

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[scsa20]

The question is, are you still getting the (13)Permission denied: AH00035: access to /storage/avatars/company/logo_1.png denied (filesystem path '/var/www/vhosts/DOMAIN/httpdocs/public/storage') because search permissions are missing on a component of the path, referer: https://domain/login error in the logs or something else now?

 

[Sebahat.hadzhi]

As suggested by @scsa20 already, the issue is very likely related to SELinux. Please try the following solution:

• https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/...403-Forbidden-or-Apache-default-page-is-shown