nginx config_error ai_generated true

nginx: rewrite or internal redirection cycle while processing "/index.html"

ID: nginx/rewrite-loop-detected

Also available as: JSON · Markdown
88%Fix Rate
90%Confidence
3Evidence
2023-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
1 active — — —

Root Cause

Infinite redirect loop in nginx rewrite rules or try_files. Request bounces between locations or rewrites indefinitely.

generic

Workarounds

  1. 92% success Add a break or last flag to stop rewrite processing 
    rewrite ^/old(.*)$ /new$1 last;  # 'last' restarts location matching; 'break' stops all rewriting

    Sources: https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html

  2. 90% success Use return instead of rewrite for simple redirects 
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;  # return is simpler and cannot loop within the same server block
  3. 82% success Use 'if' with specific conditions to prevent recursive matches 
    if ($request_uri !~ ^/new) { rewrite ^/(.*)$ /new/$1 last; }  # guard against re-matching

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Add more rewrite rules to try to break the loop 82% fail

    Adding rewrites to fix rewrites increases complexity. Simplify the existing rules instead of layering more.

  2. Use proxy_pass to localhost to escape the rewrite loop 90% fail

    Proxying to self creates a new request that hits the same rewrite rules, causing the same loop.