[Bug] Rewrite rules are not specific enough, instead capturing adjacent naming

[possumbilities]

Description

/config/web-sites-available/000-default.conf : lines 156-162 (assuming)

  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/rdf
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/publicdomain
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/platform/toolkit
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/licen[cs]es
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/faq
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/choose
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/cc-legal-tools

These rewrite rules are too generic. If someone creates a page within WordPress labelled faq-cert-program or faq_groups or choose-our-campaign or chooseusnow it throws a white page with the following error:

Not Found
The requested URL was not found on this server.

Not only is this incorrect behavior, it also doesn't allow WP to handle the 404 condition, sending a user to a stripped down page, absent the theme.

Reproduction

1. Visit any URL prepended by the above plus additional text. For example https://creativecommons.org/choose-our-campaign
2. See error.

Expectation

These conditions should be more exacting matches. The condition should occur when /faq is requested, but NOT when /faq-cert-course is. The same limited behavior should occur for all these conditions.

Example expected behaviors to model from:

• If a user navigates to /faq the rewrite/redirect SHOULD occur.
• if a user navigates to /faq/thing the rewrite/redirect SHOULD occur.
• if a user navigates to /faq-item-here the rewrite/redirect should NOT occur.
• if a user navigates to /choose-use-this-holiday-season the rewrite/redirect should NOT occur.
• if a user navigates to /publicdomainday the rewrite/redirect should NOT occur.

These are not all encompassing, but hopefully provide a good framework to start from.

Screenshots

Additional context

I believe the correct direction would be this pattern of change, for all of the above items:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/faq ➡ RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/faq$

However, if the aim is to also redirect any sub-routes of /faq/ further changes may be required.

❗❗ Note: This is a blocking behavior within this repository as well as index__stage and index__prod for the new FAQs behavior within vocabulary-theme, as well as a possible collision for the new Cert site migration, which has its own FAQ page.

Resolution

• I would be interested in resolving this bug.

[TimidRobot]

Reproducible tests

Prep

In local dev WordPress Admin:

1. Create and publish faq-cert-program page in WordPress
2. Create and publish choose-our-campaign page in WordPress
3. Create and publish publicdomainday page in WordPress

FAQ redirect

• Description:

  • If a user navigates to /faq the rewrite/redirect SHOULD occur.

• Command:

  http --all --follow --headers 'http://localhost:8080/faq'
  

• Output (✅ redirect and non-WordPress 200 OK):

  HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
  Connection: Keep-Alive
  Content-Length: 311
  Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
  Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2025 05:45:33 GMT
  Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
  Location: http://localhost:8080/faq/
  Server: Apache/2.4.59 (Debian)
  
  HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  Accept-Ranges: bytes
  Connection: Keep-Alive
  Content-Encoding: gzip
  Content-Type: text/html
  Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2025 05:45:33 GMT
  ETag: "38039-62907b0195ec6-gzip"
  Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=99
  Last-Modified: Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:20:56 GMT
  Server: Apache/2.4.59 (Debian)
  Transfer-Encoding: chunked
  Vary: Accept-Encoding
  

FAQ link

• Description:

  • if a user navigates to /faq/thing the rewrite/redirect SHOULD occur.

• Command:

  http --all --follow --headers 'http://localhost:8080/faq/#for-licensors'
  

• Output (✅ non-WordPress 200 OK):

  HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  Accept-Ranges: bytes
  Connection: Keep-Alive
  Content-Encoding: gzip
  Content-Type: text/html
  Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2025 05:47:39 GMT
  ETag: "38039-62907b0195ec6-gzip"
  Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
  Last-Modified: Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:20:56 GMT
  Server: Apache/2.4.59 (Debian)
  Transfer-Encoding: chunked
  Vary: Accept-Encoding
  

WordPress FAQ-other

• Description:

  • if a user navigates to /faq-item-here the rewrite/redirect should NOT occur.

• Command:

  http --all --follow --headers 'http://localhost:8080/faq-cert-program'
  

• Output (❌ non-WordPress 404 Not Found):

  HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
  Connection: Keep-Alive
  Content-Length: 273
  Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
  Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2025 05:54:58 GMT
  Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
  Server: Apache/2.4.59 (Debian)
  

WordPress choose-other

• Description:

  • if a user navigates to /choose-use-this-holiday-season the rewrite/redirect should NOT occur.

• Command:

  http --all --follow --headers 'http://localhost:8080/choose-our-campaign'
  

• Output (❌ non-WordPress 404 Not Found):

  HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
  Connection: Keep-Alive
  Content-Length: 273
  Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
  Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2025 06:00:27 GMT
  Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
  Server: Apache/2.4.59 (Debian)
  

WordPress publicdomain-other

• Description:

  • if a user navigates to /publicdomainday the rewrite/redirect should NOT occur.

• Command:

  http --all --follow --headers 'http://localhost:8080/publicdomainday'
  

• Output (❌ non-WordPress 404 Not Found):

  HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
  Connection: Keep-Alive
  Content-Length: 273
  Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
  Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2025 06:01:24 GMT
  Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
  Server: Apache/2.4.59 (Debian)