Password protected folder not working

I have a password protected folder on my site, set up using the standard password protected folder feature of CPanel. It worked fine before Christmas. Today, when I try to access it, instead of the browser dialog to type in the name and password, my custom 404 error page comes up. When I look at the error log, I see that this is because the server cannot find a page 401.shtml.

I have never had a 401.shtml custom error page on my site.

I have not changed anything since it worked. An identically set up protected folder on another site on my shared hosting still works as always, so I don't think it can be some global setting that has changed on the server.

I looked at the .htaccess file in my root folder, and it contained some lines I don't remember putting there:

LayoutFooter /cgi-sys/cpanel_auth.pl

<Files 403.shtml>
order allow,deny
allow from all
</Files>

There is no file 403.shtml, either. What's this all about? Has this anything to do with my folder access problem?

 

 

 

 

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