Reoccurrence of 16023 - 403 Failure Performing file_get_contents on URL With No Restrictions

[oleibman]

Description

The is a repeat of issue #16023. The solution suggested when that issue was closed worked successfully from Sept. 24 through Dec. 10. It no longer works as of Dec. 11 on github (see https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/actions/runs/12277531354/job/34257128156?pr=4272). I have tried using TLSv1_3 as well as TLSv1_2.

I cannot reproduce the problem on a local Windows or Linux machine.

The following code:

<?php
$ctx = stream_context_create(["ssl" => ["crypto_method"=>STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLSv1_2_CLIENT]]);
file_get_contents('https://phpspreadsheet.readthedocs.io/en/latest/topics/images/01-03-filter-icon-1.png', false, $ctx)

Resulted in this output:

Exception: file_get_contents(https://phpspreadsheet.readthedocs.io/en/latest/topics/images/01-03-filter-icon-1.png): Failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden

But I expected this output instead:

// no warning/error message

PHP Version

PHP 8.3.14, PHP 8.1.31, PHP 8.4.1

Operating System

Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS

[cmb69]

Have you contacted readthedocs.io? Possibly they limit automated downloads in some way.

[oleibman]

I will, but last time they said they didn't do anything and sent me to you ... which worked. The fact that I can't get it to fail locally is worrisome.

[oleibman]

FWIW, I created a PR which uses curl rather than file_get_contents for https. That PR was successful. I don't know that adding a requirement for curl is something we want to do. PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet#4274

[cmb69]

That 403 hints at something that is actively blocked by the server; possibly too many accesses from a certain IP, or generally they block some IP range. Or maybe it's the missing user_agent.

[oleibman]

I have opened readthedocs/readthedocs.org#11845 with readthedocs.

[cmb69]

Okay, let's see what comes out of that report. I'm switching to "need feedback", so this ticket will be open for at least two weeks.