Laravel 5.4 --> forbidden 403 on files in Storage with 'public' visibility

Question

I have been getting an issue with Laravel and the Storage class.

I have create an upload form for users to control images used as logos in their account. I use Laravel File Storage inspired by Flysystem .

When I save an image, I proceed as follows :

// Store the logo in the public filesystem, and define a 'public' visibility

$logo = $request->file('logo')->store('logos/'.$account->id, 'public');

// Save the path in the database

$account->update([
  'logo' => $logo
]);

The upload works fine, I can find the uploaded picture under the appropriate file structure : storage\app\public\logos\1\automatic-filename.jpeg

In my view, I retrieve the image url as follows :

<img src="{{ Storage::disk('public')->url($account->logo) }}" />

Which gives me the correct path : http://www.example.com/storage/logos/1/automatic-filename.jpeg

But no matter what I try, I get a 403 on the image

Forbidden You don't have permission to access /storage/logos/1/automatic-filename.jpeg on this server.

I think I have done everything correctly :

• I have created the symbolic link from public/storage to storage/app/public with php artisan storage:link

• uploaded files are saved on the server, with a 755 permission. All concerned folders have the same permissions.

I really don't know where to look...

If anyone ever got a similar issue, thanks in advance for your input !

Best regards,

Vlad

Answer 1

I'm guessing this 403 issue you were experiencing was having place in a shared hosting. When you create the symlink with php artisan storage:link it contains the full absolute path to the storage/app/public folder. This is what probably causes the 403 response by the server.

The solution is create a symlink with a relative path from the project root like

ln -s ../storage/app/public public/storage

This should solve the permissions problem.

Edit: I just noticed there is a built in option to achieve the exact same thing: php artisan storage:link --relative.

Answer 2

From inside /public, run:

chown -R username:group storage

Of course replace username:group with the same username:group combo that you find against any other public file or folder when you run ls -l whilst in the public folder.

Answer 3

To all that are interested in my solution...

I found out that Laravel was not allowed to access the files because /storage/ is before the root of my domain, which points to /public !

I changed the config/filesystem.php public root path drive to something public :

Original config :

'public' => [
   'driver' => 'local',
   'root' => storage_path('app/public'),
   'url' => env('APP_URL').'/storage',
   'visibility' => 'public',
],

Modified config :

'public' => [
   'driver' => 'local',
   'root' => public_path('uploads'),
   'url' => env('APP_URL').'/uploads',
   'visibility' => 'public',
],

Now all routes related to storage are in the public folder... and I can still use the convinient Storage class !

Hope it helps.

Vlad

Answer 4

Go to root of laravel project

1. Run this command : php artisan storage:link
2. Edit public/.htaccess and add to it : Options +FollowSymlinks
3. Run this command : chown -h USER:GROUP public/storage

Replace USER:GROUP with correct name.