No option to upload when accessing NC from outside local network

ℹ️ Support
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1

Production Server Details

Host Environment : vmware esxi 8 (CPU: AMD EPYC 7513 32-Core Processor (2 cores))

Memory: 2 GB

PHP 8.1.17

OS : Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS

NextCloud Server version : 27.0.1

Filesystem: ext4

PostgreSQL 14.8 (Ubuntu 14.8-1.pgdg20.04+1) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Ubuntu 9.4.0-1ubuntu1~20.04.1) 9.4.0, 64-bit

The system is presented to the outside world behind a Barracuda WAF (Model: V660, Firmware v12.2.0.006)

The issue is when accessed from outside our local network the users don’t have the option to upload (the Plus symbol is missing), but when accessing from within our local network the plus symbol is there and users can upload), after exhaustive investigation (including WAF upgrades) with Barracuda the cause cannot be established so I have cloned the production server to a POC server and upgraded to the below spec:-

Host Environment : vmware esxi 8 (CPU: AMD EPYC 7513 32-Core Processor (2 cores))

Memory: 2 GB

Operating system:Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS

NextCloud Server version : 28.0.14

Webserver: Apache (fpm-fcgi)

Database: pgsql PostgreSQL 14.17 (Ubuntu 14.17-1.pgdg20.04+1) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Ubuntu 9.4.0-1ubuntu1~20.04.2) 9.4.0, 64-bit

PHP version: 8.1.17

Modules loaded: Core, date, libxml, openssl, pcre, zlib, filter, hash, json, Reflection, SPL, session, standard, sodium, cgi-fcgi, PDO, xml, bcmath, bz2, calendar, ctype, curl, dom, mbstring, FFI, fileinfo, ftp, gd, gettext, gmp, iconv, igbinary, imap, intl, ldap, exif, pdo_pgsql, pgsql, Phar, posix, readline, redis, shmop, SimpleXML, smbclient, soap, sockets, sysvmsg, sysvsem, sysvshm, tokenizer, xmlreader, xmlwriter, xsl, zip, libsmbclient, Zend OPcache

Nextcloud version: 28.0.14 - 28.0.14.1

Filesystem: ext4

Now the plus symbol is showing when accessing from the outside world but it is dimmed/greyed out and if I hover the mouse pointer I get the alert : “you don’t have permission to upload or create files here”

Can anyone assist here please

2

When accessing what from the outside? A shared folder or the user’s own files?

If it’s a share, does the user have permission to upload?

Have the permissions in the data folder on disk been altered in any way?

3

Nextcloud 28 is EOL, not supported anymore. View Nextcloud server changelog.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, support will end 31 May 2025.

So you shall not spend much effort into this system, but update both to newer versions.

4

User’s own files, permissions have not been altered (works ok from inside LAN).
Thanks

5

The plan is to update to a supported version in a staged approach. Thanks

6

Is the cloned system also behind the WAF?

If the WAF is the main difference for external versus internal users, that sounds like a prime candidate for the culprit. Nextcloud doesn’t suggest WAFs in front (which is why the support template asks about mod_security for example), because it’ often leads to problems like this.

Also, can you please show the Web Browser + Nextcloud logs as described in the support template.

Lastly, screenshots?

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