Apache Directory Indexing Not Working in Subdirectory – Fix Guide

apache-2.4centos7linux

I have a simple file server (apache 2.4 on centos 7) with following structure:
/index.html – a page to make sure there is no directory listing here
/upload – php scripts for upload
/storage – base dir for files
/storage/upload – files uploaded by php
/storage/public – files that are not password protected

I can't make directory listing work. For example in /storage/public I see the /index.html page. There is no index.html in /storage/public.
If I delete this page I see default apache "testing 123" page in / page and directory listing works in /storage/public (and all other places that have +Indexes).
Why /index.html is showing in /storage/public/

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost *:443>
  DocumentRoot "/home/webroot/www"
  ServerName subdomain.example.com

  ErrorLog "/home/rootdir/log/subdomain.error.log"
  CustomLog "/home/rootdir/log/subdomain.access.log" common

  SuexecUserGroup user apache

#Set caching on image files for 11 months
<filesMatch "\.(ico|gif|jpg|png|js|css)$">
  #ExpiresActive On
  #ExpiresDefault "access plus 11 month"
  Header append Cache-Control "public"
</filesMatch>

  <Directory "/home/webroot/www" >
    AllowOverride None
    Options -ExecCGI -Indexes +Includes +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch +MultiViews

    Require all granted
  </Directory>
  <Directory "/home/webroot/www/storage/upload" >
    AllowOverride None
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Restricted Content"
    AuthUserFile /home/rootdir/.htpasswd
    Require valid-user
    <FilesMatch "\.php$">
      SetHandler "proxy:unix:/usr/local/php73/var/run/php-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost/"
    </FilesMatch>

  </Directory>
  <Directory "/home/webroot/www/storage/" >
    AllowOverride None
    Options +Indexes +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch +MultiViews

    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Restricted Content"
    AuthUserFile /home/rootdir/.htpasswd
    Require valid-user
    #Require all granted
    RemoveType .php

    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
  </Directory>

  <Directory "/home/webroot/www/storage/public" >
    Options +Indexes +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch +MultiViews
    AuthType None
    Require all granted
    Satisfy Any
  </Directory>

  <Directory "/home/webroot/www/.well-known" >
    AuthType None
    Require all granted
    Satisfy Any
    Allow from all
  </Directory>

  <Directory "/home/webroot/www/storage/upload" >
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Restricted Content"
    AuthUserFile /home/rootdir/.htpasswd
    Require valid-user
  </Directory>

  <IfModule mod_deflate.c>
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/text text/html text/plain text/xml text/css text/javascript application/x-javascript application/javascript
  </IfModule>


Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf
SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/subdomain.example.com/cert.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/subdomain.example.com/privkey.pem
SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/subdomain.example.com/chain.pem

</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>

Update:

# apachectl -M|grep autoindex
 autoindex_module (shared)

Another vhost have the following problem:
there is index.html in root folder for the vhost
I use

Options -ExecCGI -Indexes

So I have a subdirectory /test and I put another index.html, but when I open /test/ in my browser I see the /index.html instead of /test/index.html

No php in this vhost at all.

Best Answer

The listed problem gives the impression that there is issues with permissions in the folders involved.

There are several kinds of permissions to be checked:

  • process user/group of httpd:

    • use ps axo pid,user,group,comm

  • file system permissions:

    • users, groups, read-, write-, execute-flags (use ls -l and or ls -lR, ls -ld)

  • SELinux permissions:

    • in case it is active, which is likely on CentOS (use sestatus to verify status and mode)
    • File Permission contexts (use ls -lZ and or ls -lRZ ls -ldZ)
    • httpd SELinux context (use ps -axZ | grep httpd)
    • SELinux booleans (use getsebool -a | grep httpd)
    • check audit logs while trying to generate a directory listing (use tail -f /var/log/audit/audit.log)
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