Network error or server unreachable

[frankvoelker]

Issue search

• I have searched the existing issues and this bug has not been reported yet

Which component is affected?

Prowler UI

Cloud Provider (if applicable)

No response

Steps to Reproduce

When using latest docker-compose build the application in browser is not able to register new user.

it sais "network error or server unreachable".

please DON'T close this link to other issues stating we should manually replace version numbers in .env file as this is not an approprioate solution for this!

Expected behavior

docker compose build should pull and start without issues or need for manual code fixes

Actual Result with Screenshots or Logs

How did you install Prowler?

Cloning the repository from github.com (git clone)

Environment Resource

docker container locally

OS used

Kali Linux

Prowler version

5.16.0

Python version

docker python

Pip version

docker pip

Context

No response

[github-actions]

✅ Issue Triage completed successfully!

[github-actions]

AI Assessment [Experimental]: Not a Bug

Component: Prowler UI
Severity: informational

Summary

This is a duplicate of #9947, which was recently closed on 2026-02-24. The issue occurs because the default .env file sets `NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=(prowlerapi/redacted) which is a Docker internal hostname that browsers cannot resolve. The reporter is using version 5.16.0, which predates the fix.

Evidence

• Current configuration (.env lines 7-9):

  AUTH_URL=(localhost/redacted)
  API_BASE_URL=(prowlerapi/redacted)
  NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=${API_BASE_URL}

• Root cause: NEXT_PUBLIC_* environment variables in Next.js are exposed to the browser client-side. The browser cannot resolve the Docker internal hostname prowler-api, causing all API requests (including user registration) to fail with "Network error or server is unreachable".
• Code location: ui/actions/auth/auth.ts (line 50-94) - the createNewUser function catches network errors and returns the exact error message reported by the user.
• Duplicate issue: Can't Sign-Up: Network error or server is unreachable #9947 (closed 2026-02-24) describes the identical problem with the same error message, affecting docker-compose installations.

Sub-Classification

Duplicate of #9947

Recommendation

Close as duplicate of #9947. Direct the user to:

1. Verify they're using the latest docker-compose configuration from master branch
2. Check the resolution in Can't Sign-Up: Network error or server is unreachable #9947 for the proper configuration fix
3. Ensure NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL is set to a hostname accessible from the browser (e.g., `(localhost/redacted) when accessing the UI via localhost)

The fix for this issue should already be available in releases after 5.16.0. If the problem persists on the latest version, it may require documenting the correct .env configuration more clearly or providing separate environment variables for server-side and client-side API URLs.

AI generated by Issue Triage

[jfagoagas]

Hi @frankvoelker thanks for raising this again. I'm going to take a look at this and will get back to you.

I apologise for closing the previous issues. During that time we couldn't reproduce it but maybe we did something wrong. I hope this time the issue gets solved.

Thanks for your support!

[frankvoelker]

Hi @frankvoelker thanks for raising this again. I'm going to take a look at this and will get back to you.

I apologise for closing the previous issues. During that time we couldn't reproduce it but maybe we did something wrong. I hope this time the issue gets solved.

Thanks for your support!

I solved this for now using .env and docker-compose.yaml from 5.18.0 tag. Then I had to insert the DJANGO_TOKEN_SIGNING_KEY and DJANGO_TOKEN_VERIFY_KEY from the .env file of 5.12.3 branch .....

in other branches / master there were multiple docker compose errors while starting, registering, logging in cause of DJANGO keys missing or NEO4J_HOST not set and so on.....

[jfagoagas]

Just to clarify, is this issue solved both in 5.18.0 tag?

Regarding DJANGO_TOKEN_SIGNING_KEY and DJANGO_TOKEN_VERIFY_KEY that's correct. Several version ago we removed the default values for security reasons. Therefore, if you had some values configured you need to put them there.

What's the issue with Django keys or NEO4J_HOST?

[frankvoelker]

Just to clarify, is this issue solved both in 5.18.0 tag?

Regarding DJANGO_TOKEN_SIGNING_KEY and DJANGO_TOKEN_VERIFY_KEY that's correct. Several version ago we removed the default values for security reasons. Therefore, if you had some values configured you need to put them there.

What's the issue with Django keys or NEO4J_HOST?

Sorry cant remember exactly on which tags/branch I had these problems. at some point it wanted NEO4J_HOST env variable and it wasn't there. I think I was able to register when setting DJANGO keys manually in .env but then I was not able to login. Everything seems to work on 5.18.0 now. Maybe Readme should be updated to generate these keys as readme currently only shows

curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/prowler-cloud/prowler/refs/heads/master/docker-compose.yml
curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/prowler-cloud/prowler/refs/heads/master/.env
docker compose up -d

which is not working for me.

[jfagoagas]

Hi @frankvoelker we've just updated the documentation. Please review either the README.md or https://docs.prowler.com/getting-started/installation/prowler-app#docker-compose and let us know if this solves your issue. Thanks!