Unexpected 422 HTML Error on Frontend: Where Is It Coming From?

Below is one likely explanation:

---

Where the Error Page Is Coming From

This error page isn’t coming from your Laravel application at all. Even though Laravel uses custom error views (and you can publish and customize them), a “422 Unprocessable Content” page shown on a GET request is unexpected from Laravel. Instead, it’s most likely generated by an upstream security layer—for example:

• ModSecurity (on your Plesk server): Many hosting setups include ModSecurity rules that can block requests (even GET requests) if they match certain attack patterns. When ModSecurity intercepts a request, it may return its own HTML error page with a 422 status code.
• Cloudflare: Although Cloudflare’s own error pages tend to use other codes (like 403 or 503), in some configurations a misbehaving rule can result in a 422 response.

Since nothing in your Apache logs or Laravel logs lines up with a typical Laravel CSRF error (which normally only affects state-changing requests), it strongly suggests that the error is coming from one of these external security modules. In other words, a request triggered one of the upstream rules and was blocked before reaching your Laravel code.

---

What Can You Do?

1. Check your ModSecurity logs: Look into the ModSecurity audit logs (usually provided by Plesk) when a 422 is returned. This can give a clue as to which rule was triggered.

2. Review Cloudflare settings: Although less common for a 422 error, double-check if any Cloudflare firewall rule or page rule might be interfering with valid GET requests.

3. Test your CSRF setup: Since Laravel returns a 422 when a CSRF token isn’t valid on POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE requests, make sure that:

   • Your forms include the proper @csrf token.
   • You’re not accidentally triggering a CSRF check on a GET route (which normally isn’t done).

4. Replicate the Request: If possible, simulate what one of your users did and inspect the full response (headers and body). Tools like curl or Postman can be helpful to further pinpoint the originating layer.

---

In summary, the “Oops! An Error Occurred” page with a status code of 422 on a GET request is most likely coming from an upstream security system (such as ModSecurity) rather than Laravel.