Article inaccessible after updating to Version 25.12.4

[jans214]

Describe the Bug

Books and articles are no longer accessible after updating from 25.12.3 to 25.12.4.
There is no extra content on those pages.

Please be kind first issue on GitHub

Steps to Reproduce

Try to open any book or article.

Expected Behaviour

To see my content.

Screenshots or Additional Context

There are Error messages in the laravel.log

[2026-02-17 14:50:19] production.ERROR: Directory /var/www/bookstack/storage/framework/purifier not writable. (View: /var/www/bookstack/resources/views/books/show.blade.php) {"exception":"[object] (Illuminate\View\ViewException(code: 0): Directory /var/www/bookstack/storage/framework/purifier not writable. (View: /var/www/bookstack/resources/views/books/show.blade.php) at /var/www/bookstack/vendor/ezyang/htmlpurifier/library/HTMLPurifier/DefinitionCache/Serializer.php:296)
[stacktrace]

[previous exception] [object] (ErrorException(code: 0): Directory /var/www/bookstack/storage/framework/purifier not writable. at /var/www/bookstack/vendor/ezyang/htmlpurifier/library/HTMLPurifier/DefinitionCache/Serializer.php:296)
[stacktrace]

Browser Details

Edge 145.0.3800.58, Chrome 145.0.7632.76

Exact BookStack Version

25.12.4 Running on Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS

[sandholzerk]

same here - seems to be an issue with the permissions in the directory /storage/framework/...

After I added write permissions for the group as well (apache-user) Bookstack worked even after the update.

Also see here: #6024 (comment)

The log in /storage/logs/laravel.log helps a lot.

[ssddanbrown]

Yeah, I introduced a new storage folder but it's causing permission problems due to how it gets created relative to how it's used in most environments.

For a standard Ubuntu-based environment, with Bookstack installed via one of our scripts, the following should get things working again:

sudo chgrp -R www-data /var/www/bookstack/storage/framework/purifier 
sudo chmod -R g+rwx /var/www/bookstack/storage/framework/purifier

I'll look to address this at a more fundamental level via an update (probably by having the server-side create the folder within an existing writeable folder) but it may take me a moment while I ensure changes won't create further issues.

[ssddanbrown]

Okay, I've just pushed out v25.12.5 to address this: https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/releases/tag/v25.12.5

For anyone that had this issue and did not apply manual fixes, let me know if that fixes things.
I've tested this in a few replicated scenarios, but just want to be sure before closing this off.

Apologies for introducing this error in the last release, was totally a scenario oversight when adding that new folder.

[casuffitsharp]

@ssddanbrown We ran into this issue when updating from v25.12.3 to v25.12.4 and worked around it by downgrading back to v25.12.3. We’ve now upgraded to v25.12.5 and can confirm everything is working fine. Thanks!

[projectflx]

@ssddanbrown I had the same error in version v25.12.4, which I run in a Docker container (https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-bookstack). The image maintainer has already updated the image to version v25.12.5, and I can confirm that the error no longer occurs.

I hope this helps, even though I don't run a standalone installation.

Thank you for the incredibly quick fix!

[ssddanbrown]

@casuffitsharp @projectflx Thanks both for confirming!

I'll keep this issue open for a couple of days more before closing, just in case others come to the issues about this problem so there's some context/guidance.

[Janfy]

Hi,

I encountered the same issue when upgrading from v25.1.3 to v25.1.4. Upgrading to v25.1.5 afterwards did not resolve the problem.

The solution was to revert to v25.1.3 and upgrade directly to v25.1.5, skipping the intermediate version entirely.

Summary of my tests:

v25.1.3 → v25.1.4 : 💥 (Issue starts here)
v25.1.4 → v25.1.5 : 💥 (Issue persists)
(rollback to 25.1.3)
v25.1.3 → v25.1.5 : ✅ (Success)

Conclusion: Skip v25.1.4 and upgrade directly to v25.1.5.

Thanks for the fix.
Best regards

[jans214]

I can confirm in my case the update from 25.12.4 to 25.12.5 resolve the problem.
Thank you for your fast response.

[parveenrhce]

Solution for geeks who are running docker compose:

1. Login to the bookstack docker container
   $ docker exec -it <your_bookstack_container_name> bash

2. Check if this exisist
   $ ls -ltr /app/www/storage/

3. Change permission
   $ chown -R abc:abc /app/www/storage

4. logout from the bookstack docker container
   $ exit

5. Restart your bookstack docker container
   $ docker restart <your_bookstack_container_name>

Your bookstack will start working again