4xx Client Errors

HTTP 423 Locked

The resource that is being accessed is locked (WebDAV).

When is 423 used?

  • Document locked by another user in collaborative editing

How to handle a 423 response

Inspect the request — URL, method, headers, credentials, and body. Retrying the same request unchanged will usually fail again; 429 is the exception, where you should wait for the Retry-After period.

Check the status code a URL returns from the command line:

curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" https://example.com

How to return 423 from your server

Node.js (Express)

res.status(423).json({ message: 'Locked' });

Python (Flask)

return {"message": "Locked"}, 423

Go (net/http)

w.WriteHeader(423)

Frequently Asked Questions

What does HTTP 423 mean?

423 Locked: The resource that is being accessed is locked (WebDAV).

Is 423 an error?

Yes. 423 is in the 4xx Client Errors class. Client errors: the request is malformed, unauthorized, or targets something that does not exist.