Permissions & Security (Chmod/Chown/ACLs/SELinux/AppArmor)

Quit guessing why your web server cant read that file

🧩 The Challenge

You finally fixed the Unix permissions, but the app is still throwing a 403 or Permission Denied error and you are staring at a blank screen. It is almost always SELinux being a pain in the neck because it doesn’t care about your chmod 777 hacks.

💡 The Fix

Check the context labels on the directory compared to what the process actually expects. You can use the audit logs to see exactly what triggered the denial and apply the fix with a context restore.

ausearch -m AVC -ts recent | audit2why
restorecon -Rv /path/to/your/web/root

⚙️ Why It Works

Because these tools log every single blocked system call, you get the exact label the file has versus the label the policy requires. Running restorecon resets the file metadata to match the default policy configuration, which is usually exactly what you need.

🚀 Pro-Tip: If you just want to test if SELinux is the culprit, flip it to permissive mode temporarily with setenforce 0, but never leave it there.

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 11/5/2026