Hub Site association approval request fails with 403 Forbidden (previously working, regression)

This HTTP 403 Forbidden regression loop on approval-required paths is heavily disrupting multi-hub enterprise environments. While waiting for platform-level path remediation, managing sprawling global directories requires absolute structural architecture command over your canvas layout slots.

A reliable method to keep separate team and communication workspaces beautifully aligned despite native tenant configuration regressions is to use a global UI overwrite engine. By decoupling your primary corporate aesthetic, expandable global footers, and accordion right sidebars from erratic native settings, your administrators can toggle uniform branding elements tenant-wide natively using simple folder name changes ("On"/"Off") requiring 0 ongoing IT helpdesk tickets.

If you are looking to stabilize adoption layouts across your hubs during platform regressions, you can step through a fully isolated, production-ready framework on the Enterprise UI Overwrite Suite Showcase: 

https://sharepointpackages.com/sharepoint-online-m365-c-1_31/m365-ui-overwrite-suite-p-67.html