Irritating error message in Apache log

AH00127: Cannot map HEAD ... HTTP/1.1 to file

[graphicequaliser]

Here is a snippet from my SSL error log.

[Wed Mar 02 13:26:12.081422 2016] [core:error] [pid 14880:tid 42456] (20024)The given path is misformatted or contained invalid characters: [client 94.4.225.131:61620] AH00127: Cannot map HEAD /https://example.com/ HTTP/1.1 to file
[Wed Mar 02 13:29:36.379381 2016] [core:error] [pid 14880:tid 42376] (20024)The given path is misformatted or contained invalid characters: [client 79.67.117.120:56132] AH00127: Cannot map HEAD /https://example.com/ HTTP/1.1 to file
[Wed Mar 02 14:58:05.552306 2016] [core:error] [pid 14880:tid 42356] (20024)The given path is misformatted or contained invalid characters: [client 2.121.62.121:49486] AH00127: Cannot map HEAD /https://www.example.com/ HTTP/1.1 to file
[Wed Mar 02 14:59:04.177209 2016] [core:error] [pid 14880:tid 42500] (20024)The given path is misformatted or contained invalid characters: [client 2.121.62.121:49597] AH00127: Cannot map HEAD /https://example.com/ HTTP/1.1 to file

I am running Apache/2.4.18 (Win64) OpenSSL/1.0.2e on a Windows 2008 server box. I use a conf with the following :-

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName Example.com
ServerAlias www.Example.com
Redirect permanent / https://example.com/
</VirtualHost>

There are no rewrite rules and the rewrite module is disabled. There is no PHP or MYSQL - just a plain HTTPS web server. The certificate is an EV purchase from Thawte and checks out. I have

LoadModule http2_module modules/mod_http2.so
ProtocolsHonorOrder On
Protocols h2 h2c http/1.1

in my conf file. Why am I getting the errors? Is it because http/1.0 is not listed in my Protocols line? Could it be that IE6 is not supported by any of my allowed ciphers?

[edited by: Ocean10000 at 4:58 pm (utc) on Mar 2, 2016]
[edit reason] Examplified. [/edit]

[lucy24]

Cannot map HEAD /https://example.com/

What's that leading / doing there? Is it a universal error, or only on requests from malign robots? (Or infected browsers, based on the IPs quoted.) If it's the latter, they're shooting themselves in the foot and I wouldn't give it another second's thought. Well, maybe two or three seconds of quiet snickering at their stupidity, but that's just me.

Do you really have human visitors using MSIE 6 with HTTP/1.0?

[graphicequaliser]

Thanks, you have put my mind at rest - I suspect some kind of robot that doesn't follow the redirection properly. I redirect all http traffic to https using the following in the conf script :-

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName Example.com
ServerAlias www.Example.com
Redirect permanent / https://example.com/
</VirtualHost>

Yes, we do still get the occasional IE6 visitor. But I suspect that generates this message :-

[Thu Mar 03 11:02:02.025182 2016] [ssl:error] [pid 14880:tid 42356] [client 64.41.200.105:58911] AH02042: rejecting client initiated renegotiation

We get about two a day. We have online surveys for clients all around the world, including China, where some of them still use IE6 under XP. Let's hope they don't do their internet banking with the same apparatus!