NGINX - Password Protect Folder - Error 502 - Bad gateway - SOLVED!

Hi Team ISPConfig
I am trying to password protect a folder on NGINX and getting Error 502 - Bad gateway
I am using Debian 12, PHP 8.2 on ISPConfig 3.3.0p3 and the Document Root is /var/www/clients/client0/web28
This is my NGINX Directive entered via ISPConfig nginx Directives UI: -

Code:

#RESTRICT USER ACCESS
###WARNING THIS MUST ALWAYS BE THE FIRST BLOCK OR IT WILL NOT WORK###
location ^~ /media_asset_main/ {
 location ~ \.php$ {
            try_files $uri =404;
            include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
            fastcgi_pass unix:/var/lib/php8.2-fpm/web28.sock; ##web?? needs to match Linux User for our website
            fastcgi_index index.php;
            fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
            fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
  }
   auth_basic "Hello, please login";
   auth_basic_user_file /var/www/foo.foo.com/private/.htpasswd;
}
#RESTRICT USER ACCESS
###WARNING THIS MUST ALWAYS BE THE FIRST BLOCK OR IT WILL NOT WORK###

When I try and access "https://foo.foo.com/media_asset_main/mediaupdate.php
I get: -
1/ Auth popup which works all OK
2/ Error 502 - Bad gateway
This is the error that gets logged: -

Code:

2026/02/01 13:36:15 [crit] 2098141#2098141: *8 connect() to unix:/var/lib/php8.2-fpm/web28.sock failed (2: No such file or directory) while connecting to upstream, client: 123.123.123.123, server: foo.foo.com, request: "GET /media_asset_main/mediaupdate.php HTTP/2.0", upstream: "fastcgi://unix:/var/lib/php8.2-fpm/web28.sock:", host: "foo.foo.com"

If I remove the above block of directive everything works as expected!
I just cannot see what I am doing wrong???
I need to be able to process .php files which are password protected.
Any pointers / help would be very welcome.
Many thanks in advance for any kind help
Regards
HTA

 

Try this to test your nginx configs (sure there are a lot of others out there): https://www.getpagespeed.com/check-nginx-config

So far it only says "try_files $uri =404;" is the culprit.

 

Hi ahrasis - Thank You for your time.
Sadly that did not resolve the issue!
Thanks also for the nginx config checkup link - very useful
Kind regards
HTA

 

Hi all,
I managed to solve the problem!
If anyone has this issue, please see the solution below: -

Code:

## RESTRICT USER ACCESS - START
location ^~ /media_asset_main/ {
 location ~ \.php$ {
            include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
            fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/web23.sock; ##web?? needs to match Linux User for our website
            fastcgi_index index.php;
            fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
            fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
  }
   auth_basic "Hello, please login";
   auth_basic_user_file /var/www/foo.foo.com/private/.htpasswd;
}
## RESTRICT USER ACCESS - END

Hope this helps someone?
Kind regards
HTA

 

Will it work if you remove this part in your added directive as I think by default, ISPConfig already set it in each website's vhost.

Code:

 location ~ \.php$ {
           include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
           fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/web23.sock; ##web?? needs to match Linux User for our website
           fastcgi_index index.php;
           fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
           fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
  }

 

I also forgot about that folder protection feature.

 

Hi ahrasis,
The short answer is no it will not work by removing the code you mention!
If I did that, the PHP file would just get downloaded.
Regards
HTA

 

Hi Till,
I need four different people (with unique passwords) to be able to run various PHP scripts in that folder!
I believe that the folder protection feature in ISPConfig is limited to one user?
HTA

 

Wow, I stand corrected!
I wish I had known this three days ago!