apache+ssl, appends internal SSL port number with no trailing slash - broken link

Hello all. Thanks in advance for your expertise.

Details:

Centos 4.4
httpd-2.0.52-28.ent.centos4
openssl-0.9.7a-43.16
mod_ssl-2.0.52-28.ent.centos4


Problem:

Apache listens for SSL traffic internally on port 55106.
The gateway(keepalived/IPtables) forwards all external SSL requests
from externalIP:443 to internalIP:55106.

This works fine, except when a directory is called WITHOUT a trailing
slash.

IE:

secure/ is a directory that contains only a one line index.html file.

https://www.example.com:443/secure/ - works fine and reads index.html.
https://www.example.com:443/secure - doesnt work, and the URL gets
redirected to https:/www.example.com:55106/secure!!

Port 55106 is not accessible externally. Is apache assuming more than
it should about network configuration? And most importantly, how can
I stop this from happening?

I've disabled all SSL related rewrites. I have also changed the
internal SSL port number in the virtualhost config and sure enough, I
am redirected to the new port number mysteriously by apache when the
URL has no trailing slash...so it is definitely something that
happens dynamically based on the internal SSL port number that is
defined within the virtual host.

I realize I could just rewrite a trailing slash, but this problem is
much more far reaching that the simplified example I provided.
Ideally I would like a solution that would apply to all instances of
this problem across multiple directories and multiple sites.

Thanks,
James

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