CGI binary does not execute, instead gets downloaded

Question

I have an apache 2.4.46-3 server, which serves out of /srv/http. I have a folder /srv/http/bin with 2 files:

.htacces (mode 644):

AddHandler cgi-script .exe
Options +ExecCGI

main.exe (mode 755): compiled from main.cpp:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main () {
   cout << "Content-type:text/html\r\n\r\n";
   cout << "<html>\n";
   cout << "<head>\n";
   cout << "<title>Hello World - First CGI Program</title>\n";
   cout << "</head>\n";
   cout << "<body>\n";
   cout << "<h2>Hello World! This is my first CGI program</h2>\n";
   cout << "</body>\n";
   cout << "</html>\n";
   
   return 0;
}

But when I visit the page localhost/bin/main.exe, it offers to download the exe instead of displaying the html. Did I forget to enable something?

edit:

Problem with cgi-bin directory this did NOT solve my issue!

Replacing all instances of exe with cgi also did not solve my issue!

Adding

<Directory "/srv/http/bin">
    Options +ExecCGI
    AddHandler cgi-script cgi pl exe
    AllowOverride All
    Require all granted
</Directory>

To httpd.conf also did NOT solve the issue! There are no errors in /var/log/httpd/error_log related to cgis or exes or the /srv/http/bin folder, so what could be going on here?

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 01 '21 at 22:58

It turns out I did not have the cgi module loaded in httpd.conf.

Here is the relevant configuration (search for "cgi_module" in your config):

<IfModule !mpm_prefork_module>
        LoadModule cgid_module modules/mod_cgid.so
</IfModule>
<IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
        LoadModule cgi_module modules/mod_cgi.so
</IfModule>

CGI binary does not execute, instead gets downloaded

edit:

1 Answers1