Why does my WordPress show a 404 message for 403 forbidden directories?

Thinking on it for a minute, I suppose it has something to do with the rewrite rules from the WP .htacces is kicking in and rewriting the request to WP. It doesn’t totally make sense to me, because WP’s rewrite rules actually ignore directories, and I cannot reproduce it with a quick test, but there might be other factors at play in your environment.

Adding 

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^restricted-dir - [F,L]

in the WP .htaccess before the WordPress Rewrite Rules should have the same result, denying access to restricted-dir with a 403 response.

Related Posts:

  1. WordPress Migration: Getting 404 Errors: Only Home Page works
  2. 404 when fetching image from wp-content/uploads/
  3. REST API: No route was found matching the URL and request method
  4. WordPress REST API 404
  5. Changing Site Address (URL) causes 404
  6. In wordpress I am manipulation 404 response. I want to give the response before 404 error is given to google
  7. 404 error on homepage when using Nginx proxying to Apache
  8. page not found in Chrome, but found in Firefox
  9. Moved to new server, all pages work EXCEPT home page (page not found)
  10. High CPU usage on 404 errors
  11. How to fix “failed to set referrer policy: The value ‘ ‘ is not one of…”?
  12. “Lost password” page triggers 404
  13. 404 to 301 – Fixing old links
  14. How do I go about fixing this apparently messed up upgrade?
  15. WordPress Stats keeps showing non-existent post as a top post?
  16. What does do_action(‘admin_init’); does actually?
  17. Form in WordPress : 404
  18. Why Runtime service worker (runtime-service-worker.js) is being loaded, but can’t be found?
  19. Non-existent page returns code 200
  20. WP is redirecting instead of going to 404
  21. Nginx with WordPress not showing template 404 for certain file types
  22. post parameter ‘name’ 404 error
  23. Intermittently missing pages and posts in WordPress
  24. Intercept 404 and try to serve another content if exists?
  25. How do I show the WP admin error page?
  26. WordPress takes too long to show 404 error on images (on LEMP stack)
  27. WordPress Post – On Post – 404 Page Not Found
  28. How to find out which function is causing a 404
  29. Template redirect template loaded, but the header 404
  30. Prevent WordPress from interpreting a subfolder?
  31. How can I send an email in my plugin?
  32. All pages after level 1 showing 404 after WordPress migration plugin – how to fix?
  33. Why I get File Not Found (404 error) when the file is actual there?
  34. WP_DEBUG must be on, otherwise edit post or page will show 404 error
  35. Getting “404 page not found” error when i access to my Login page
  36. Virtual robots.txt missing
  37. Moved from Blogger to WordPress, however I can only see the Google 404 page
  38. Incorrect url for sharing blog on linkedin [closed]
  39. Catch 404 errors in nested installations
  40. WordPress 404 Page displaying on a sub directory that has it’s own 404 page
  41. make wordpress log errors in apache log file
  42. Page not found (404 Error) even if the page exists?
  43. WordPress refuses to read the .htaccess file and gives a 404 for sub-pages
  44. How to recover WordPress Adress(URL)
  45. Custom JSON feed rewrite
  46. My wordpress website does not show 404 page and results in http 500 error
  47. wp-json Returns 404 Upon Plugin Activation
  48. URL Change – Check if Post Exists Before 404
  49. When I remove get_header() from 404 page, my css doesnt work
  50. Sub Domain’s Pages return 404
  51. Google 404 Errors
  52. Page not found if mod_cache_disk is active
  53. Why aren’t links clickable on my 404 error page? [closed]
  54. full blog working fine but post-new.php throwing 404
  55. Blank TinyMCE and 404 errors on assets
  56. How do I redirect a permalink for a Draft post to a custom 404 page?
  57. Page not found but cannot make a new one because the slug is already there
  58. No 404 page available
  59. New install of wordpress, my url goes to index of/
  60. returning 404 page error on form submission [duplicate]
  61. How can I block with a child theme certain pages?
  62. Page not found when trying to link to files in child theme directory
  63. Can’t view post, goes to 404 page. Please help
  64. Custom Post Types cause 404 for pages? [closed]
  65. How can stop redirects 404 in wordpress
  66. wordpress sitemap subtypes returns 404 with correct data for pages bigger than 1
  67. Page not found after migration to localhost. I already updated the sql links and the permalinks. Wp-admin page works perfectly
  68. 404 error on new pages but only for non logged in users?
  69. Unable to change 404
  70. How to fix mime-type and (after disabling nosniff) 404 errors for css and js files in staging site
  71. Redirect search.php to 404.php
  72. Problem with a wordpress admin system. and website
  73. WordPress as backend for SPA – problem of 404 page for custom routing
  74. 404s after changing site url in settings
  75. Page 404 Error on Localhost
  76. wp-admin throws 404 when accessed from some IPs
  77. Why my post showing not found in admin side when i click on count of category?
  78. “Headers already sent” error triggered in “parse_query” action
  79. Manage 404 page over wordpress backend?
  80. I’m getting 404 when editing a post with hyperlink, what’s wrong?
  81. All files being pulled from wp-content returning 404 error
  82. What could be the reason that i can’t access to the other pages of my localhost wordpress website except the homepage?
  83. Page 2 404 Error – From main homepage, not custom post type
  84. Copying live site that is using older version of WP to localhost
  85. Intermittent Rewrite Problems
  86. Getting 404 pages when upgrading from 3.5.2 to 4.1.1
  87. My website not showing 404 error!
  88. Why are 404 errors redirecting to my homepage and not my custom 404.php?
  89. WordPress not showing custom 404 page for not found images, zip files
  90. Override private status – Enable users to read private posts
  91. Posting to most pages throws 404
  92. 404 Error for Custom Post type
  93. $_POST[‘message’] gives a 404 [duplicate]
  94. Page/2 posts don’t load and give 404
  95. %20 in URL in archive page shows error 404 on page [closed]
  96. 404 Not Found nginx on wp-admin
  97. Author page not found
  98. Getting 404 when static files have “?ver=x.y” suffix
  99. Unidentified 404 error [closed]
  100. How to include a php file in 404.php file?
techhipbettruvabetnorabahisbahis forumutaraftarium24eduseduseduedusedusedueduedueduedus