DocumentationExperience Cloud KCS

Secured PDFs aren’t served through GET requests in AEM Publisher

Last update: October 27, 2026

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Publisher may not serve secured PDFs through HTTP GET requests when the servlet or handler doesn’t correctly process authentication headers or required request parameters. To resolve the issue, review and update the request handling and authentication configuration, deploy the changes, and verify access to the secured PDF.

Description description

Environment

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Publisher environment

Issue/Symptoms

  • Secured PDF files aren’t served correctly when accessed through HTTP GET requests.
  • Secured PDFs can’t be downloaded or viewed as intended.

Root cause

The servlet or handler responsible for processing secured PDF requests doesn’t correctly handle authentication headers or request parameters required for secured resources.

Resolution resolution

Follow the steps below to resolve the issue:

  1. Review the servlet or handler implementation responsible for processing GET requests to secured PDF resources in the AEM Publisher environment.

  2. Ensure that the servlet or filter configuration allows GET requests for secured PDF resources and correctly handles authentication headers, such as a custom authorization header.

  3. Update the request-parsing logic in the servlet or handler to correctly process the authentication headers and request parameters required for secured PDFs.

  4. After making the necessary changes, deploy the updated servlet or handler to the AEM Publisher environment.

  5. Test the resolution by issuing a GET request to a secured PDF endpoint. For example, use a curl command similar to:

    code language-none 
    curl --request GET \
--url 'https:///path/to/secured.pdf' \
--header 'Authorization: Basic '

  6. Verify that the secured PDF is served as expected and is accessible to authorized individuals.

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