Apache directory trailing slash issue behind https

Question

I run an apache server behind an https portal and have an issue with directory redirection. My apache server is a docker container that receives requests forwarded by an https portal container (steveltn/https-portal). Everything works fine, except the default http redirections that are made to http instead of https. For instance, let say we have a directory named test in my apache website. Calling https://example.com/test returns a 301 code with redirection to http://example.com/test/. The right behaviour would be to have a redirection to https.

I first thought it was a misconfiguration of my https portal, and asked steveltn/https-portal team. But they replied it's a problem in my apache configuration (https://github.com/SteveLTN/https-portal/issues/67#issuecomment-257934618). The summary of the answer is

PORTAL does tell the Apache about its existence by the request header X-Forwarded-Proto: https. Some web apps recognize this header automatically, such as WordPress. I guess now it up to you to configure your web app to recognize this header

I tried a lot of configuration found on the Internet for instance this one, but none fixes the problem:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto} !https
    RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]
</VirtualHost>

If I change the RewriteCond to %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto} https, I get a infinite redirection loop.

Any idea ?

ESP32 · Answer 1 · 2016-11-05T18:43:04.540

1

Might it be that you have an .htaccess file which causes this redirect?

If the problem is really caused by the config above, you could try the following:

RewriteEngine On

# add a trailing slash to all directories
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(.*)/$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1/ [L,R=301] 

## redirect to https 
RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto} !https
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]

edited Nov 05 '16 at 18:43

answered Nov 05 '16 at 18:35

ESP32

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Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. The problem with that solution is request to missing resources are also redirected. I will update my question with the solution I built upon your suggestion. – Jean-Marc Astesana Nov 06 '16 at 09:16

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 06 '16 at 09:27

After working on Gerfried proposal here is the solution I use.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/%{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(.*)/$
RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto} https 
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI}/ [L,R=301]

It works in the following situations:

Request to a directory -> https redirect
Request to an existing file -> serves the file
Request to a missing resource -> http 404 error.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 01 '18 at 15:17

As documented in the mod_rewrite documentation one should use the %{LA-U:REQUEST_FILENAME} form to get at the directory name; this form is immune to all <Location>, mod_rewrite etc. path translations. So:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{LA-U:REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(.*)/$
RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto} https 
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI}/ [L,R=301]

Apache directory trailing slash issue behind https

3 Answers3

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