Post #2425683
2026-04-01 09:58 UTC
@fooflington@infosec.exchange If there's a 403, the user agent is definitely not buggy. It was likely instructed to perform something invalid by the website, like with a dead link, or a normal link that leads to a page where the server is misconfigured.
For a dead link, the problem is not that the browser made the invalid request, but that there was a dead link on a website. The people responsible for fixing the issue are the website operators.
For users that don't understand HTTP, it does not matter what the exact cause was, whether their browser was directed to an incorrect page or whether the server has a bug.
For website operators the nuance is of course very important, that's why HTTP has it. But for users? it's really not
Replies (1)
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@tdp_org@mastodon.social 2026-04-01 10:01
@noratrieb@hachyderm.io @fooflington@infosec.exchange Unless it's a temporary misconfiguration - which does happen of course, but I'd argue is the exception rather than the rule - trying again is not going to make any difference. Most 403s are there to protect content from unauthorised users and are permanent.