Re: RewriteRule and redirect loop with htaccess

[Dave Wreski <dwreski@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I have a rewrite that's creating a loop because the origin is contained in the final destination. I know it then is processed again by the .htaccess in the document root, but I don't understand why or how to stop it. What's the solution here?

RewriteRule ^/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat$ https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat-updated [L,R=301,END]

I've tried variations of the above but it always creates a loop.

$ wget -O /dev/null https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat 2>&1|grep -E 'Location|HTTP'
HTTP response 302  [https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat]
HTTP response 301  [https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat-updated]
HTTP response 200  [https://linuxsecurity.com//feature

If you don't depend on mod_rewrite for anything else, I would recommend using RedirectMatch instead.

Yes, we have many existing rules. Can't it be used in combination with mod_rewrite? I also tried this rewritematch and it has the same loop problem.

That rule on its own won't loop, unless you have other conflicting directive or rewrite rules.

If you must use mod_rewrite, then enabling the rewrite log will help you pinpoint the source of the loop.

I thought the problem was that it is a subset of the destination URL?

RewriteRule ^/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat$ https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat-updated [L,R=301]

This is what the request looks like with the above rewriterule:

$ wget -O /dev/null https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat 2>&1|grep -E 'Location|HTTP'
HTTP response 301  [https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat]
HTTP response 301  [https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat-updated]
HTTP response 200  [https://linuxsecurity.com//features]

I don't understand why this didn't match? After this rule, it went on to check other rules below it. I've spent an exhausting number of hours stepping through the rewriterules to understand what's happening. I hope you can follow to help me fix this.

applying pattern '^/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat$' to uri '/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat-updated'

After it processed all rules, it passed it to .htaccess:

pass through /features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat-updated

When there was no match until the very end of .htaccess, it replaced the URI with index.php:

applying pattern '.*' to uri 'features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat-updated'
rewrite 'features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat-updated' -> 'index.php'
add per-dir prefix: index.php -> /var/www/linuxsec/html/index.php
trying to replace prefix /var/www/linuxsec/html/ with /
internal redirect with /index.php [INTERNAL REDIRECT]

What does [INTERNAL REDIRECT] mean and how is it different from other redirects?

It then loops through the rewrite rules, doesn't match any, then loops through .htaccess again (as you said) until it matches /index.php.

RewriteRule ^index.php(/.*){0,1}$ - [L]

$ wget -O /dev/null https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat 2>&1|grep -E 'Location|HTTP'
HTTP response 301  [https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat]
HTTP response 301  [https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-malware-the-truth-about-this-growing-threat-updated]
HTTP response 200  [https://linuxsecurity.com//features]

What am I missing?

You likely should be using FallbackResource for that as well.

As well? I need both?

I'm trying to confirm whether the problem is related to the match being a subset of the final destination? I really don't see any other matches

Lastly, why are you using .htaccess files?

Primarily it consists of rules to manage bots, run our image resizer, and an explicit list of files that are accessible - it's a default deny policy, which is why it redirects to the index.php at the end.

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index\.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]

Thanks,
Dave