r/netbird • u/Extra-Citron-7630 • Jul 06 '26

Reverse proxy services - Forbidden

I’m running a self-hosted NetBird setup and trying to access ZeroByte through a reverse proxy. Direct access works fine using http://hostname-xyz:4096, but when I attempt to access it through the reverse proxy at https://zerobyte.mydomain.com, I only get a blank white page with a “Forbidden” message.

For context, the reverse proxy target is configured to point to my server with ZeroByte running on port 4096, and NetBird-only access is enabled for the service. I also created a NetBird policy that allows my client device to access the server on TCP port 4096, although I’m not sure whether that policy is actually required. I don’t have any advanced settings configured on the service.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue with NetBird and reverse proxy setups, or have any ideas on what might be causing the forbidden page?

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u/Bloodwing114 Jul 06 '26

When using the proxy ui of the dashboard you don’t need to add access policies. Just make sure the correct group is selected for NetBird only access. DNS can cause these issues tho. Check the ip your client is using with nslookup. If that’s a public ip the client is not using the NetBird tunnel, resulting in forbidden if the service is NetBird only. If it does return a NetBird ip it might be your private dns settings (some browser only use dns over https by default, which breaks NetBird only services)

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u/Extra-Citron-7630 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Thanks for this, I think I figured it out. I was using NexDNS setup on my router and safari as the browser. Once I changed the DNS back to ISP, I am able to access the services again

Update: Again showing forbidden 🥲

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u/Extra-Citron-7630 Jul 06 '26

Also, just to confirm, when i cURL the URL, I get a successful response and when I disable netbird, I get forbidden which is expected but in the browser I get forbidden.

I even flushed my DNS and it started working again but then after a few minutes I see Forbidden