Apple CDN Returning HTML Instead of JSON for AASA File – Invalid Character '<' Error (Universal Links)

We are experiencing an issue where Apple’s CDN is not fetching the updated apple-app-site-association (AASA) file correctly for our domain.

• Domain - app.myloft-stage.com

• AASA File Locations (Both Return Correct JSON):

  1. https://app.myloft-stage.com/.well-known/apple-app-site-association
  2. https://app.myloft-stage.com/apple-app-site-association

• Both endpoints:

  1. Return HTTP 200
  2. Return valid JSON
  3. Content-Type: application/json
  4. No redirects
  5. Valid SSL certificate
  6. JSON validated and correctly formatted

• Apple CDN URL - https://app-site-association.cdn-apple.com/a/v1/app.myloft-stage.com

• Error Returned by Apple CDN - {"cause":"invalid character '\u003c' looking for beginning of value"}

This error indicates that Apple CDN is receiving HTML content (starting with <) instead of JSON, even though the origin server returns proper JSON.

Observations :

• Direct access to AASA file returns correct JSON.
• Apple CDN appears to be caching an older or incorrect response.
• The CDN response does not match the current server response.
• Universal Links fail due to this incorrect AASA retrieval.