[SOLVED] VSFTPD Login Issue

[sbenard]

Hi, I'm new here as you can see.

I've encountered a Linux configuration brick wall.

How can I log into VSFTPD using a local account? Every time I attempt logging in using an existing Linux user account, I get this message:

Status:	Connecting to 192.168.100.102:21...
Status:	Connection established, waiting for welcome message...
Response:	220 Welcome to FTP service.
Command:	USER serge
Response:	331 Please specify the password.
Command:	PASS **********
Response:	530 Login incorrect.

I have been searching online and trying things for 2 straight days. During this time I missed meals, my kids fell down the well twice, and my wife is starting to think I'm having an affair because this issue is consuming every minute of my nerdalicious life. Today I buckled and decided to ask people who actually know what's up with Linux.

Pertinent info:

• I am using Ubuntu 10.4, Gnome 2.28.1, Kernel 2.6.31-20-generic
• I am using Webmin to manage VSFTPD and my LAMP services
• I am using VSFTPD Version 2.2.0-1ubuntu1
• The VSFTPD PAM file exists, in the /etc/pam.d/ folder
• I did not create a userlist_enable file.

Here is my VSFTPD config file:

# Example config file /etc/vsftpd.conf
#
# The default compiled in settings are fairly paranoid. This sample file
# loosens things up a bit, to make the ftp daemon more usable.
# Please see vsftpd.conf.5 for all compiled in defaults.
#
# READ THIS: This example file is NOT an exhaustive list of vsftpd options.
# Please read the vsftpd.conf.5 manual page to get a full idea of vsftpd's
# capabilities.
#
#
# Run standalone?  vsftpd can run either from an inetd or as a standalone
# daemon started from an initscript.
listen=YES
#
# Run standalone with IPv6?
# Like the listen parameter, except vsftpd will listen on an IPv6 socket
# instead of an IPv4 one. This parameter and the listen parameter are mutually
# exclusive.
#listen_ipv6=YES
#
# Allow anonymous FTP? (Beware - allowed by default if you comment this out).
anonymous_enable=NO
#
# Uncomment this to allow local users to log in.
#
# Uncomment this to enable any form of FTP write command.
write_enable=YES
#
# Default umask for local users is 077. You may wish to change this to 022,
# if your users expect that (022 is used by most other ftpd's)
#local_umask=022
#
# Uncomment this to allow the anonymous FTP user to upload files. This only
# has an effect if the above global write enable is activated. Also, you will
# obviously need to create a directory writable by the FTP user.
#anon_upload_enable=YES
#
# Uncomment this if you want the anonymous FTP user to be able to create
# new directories.
#anon_mkdir_write_enable=YES
#
# Activate directory messages - messages given to remote users when they
# go into a certain directory.
dirmessage_enable=YES
#
# If enabled, vsftpd will display directory listings with the time
# in  your  local  time  zone.  The default is to display GMT. The
# times returned by the MDTM FTP command are also affected by this
# option.
use_localtime=YES
#
# Activate logging of uploads/downloads.
xferlog_enable=YES
#
# Make sure PORT transfer connections originate from port 20 (ftp-data).
connect_from_port_20=YES
#
# If you want, you can arrange for uploaded anonymous files to be owned by
# a different user. Note! Using "root" for uploaded files is not
# recommended!
#chown_uploads=YES
#chown_username=whoever
#
# You may override where the log file goes if you like. The default is shown
# below.
#xferlog_file=/var/log/vsftpd.log
#
# If you want, you can have your log file in standard ftpd xferlog format.
# Note that the default log file location is /var/log/xferlog in this case.
#xferlog_std_format=YES
#
# You may change the default value for timing out an idle session.
idle_session_timeout=600
#
# You may change the default value for timing out a data connection.
data_connection_timeout=120
#
# It is recommended that you define on your system a unique user which the
# ftp server can use as a totally isolated and unprivileged user.
#nopriv_user=ftpsecure
#
# Enable this and the server will recognise asynchronous ABOR requests. Not
# recommended for security (the code is non-trivial). Not enabling it,
# however, may confuse older FTP clients.
#async_abor_enable=YES
#
# By default the server will pretend to allow ASCII mode but in fact ignore
# the request. Turn on the below options to have the server actually do ASCII
# mangling on files when in ASCII mode.
# Beware that on some FTP servers, ASCII support allows a denial of service
# attack (DoS) via the command "SIZE /big/file" in ASCII mode. vsftpd
# predicted this attack and has always been safe, reporting the size of the
# raw file.
# ASCII mangling is a horrible feature of the protocol.
#ascii_upload_enable=YES
#ascii_download_enable=YES
#
# You may fully customise the login banner string:
ftpd_banner=Welcome to FTP service.
#
# You may specify a file of disallowed anonymous e-mail addresses. Apparently
# useful for combatting certain DoS attacks.
#deny_email_enable=YES
# (default follows)
#banned_email_file=/etc/vsftpd.banned_emails
#
# You may restrict local users to their home directories.  See the FAQ for
# the possible risks in this before using chroot_local_user or
# chroot_list_enable below.
# chroot_local_user=YES
#
# You may specify an explicit list of local users to chroot() to their home
# directory. If chroot_local_user is YES, then this list becomes a list of
# users to NOT chroot().
#chroot_local_user=YES
#chroot_list_enable=YES
# (default follows)
#chroot_list_file=/etc/vsftpd.chroot_list
#
# You may activate the "-R" option to the builtin ls. This is disabled by
# default to avoid remote users being able to cause excessive I/O on large
# sites. However, some broken FTP clients such as "ncftp" and "mirror" assume
# the presence of the "-R" option, so there is a strong case for enabling it.
#ls_recurse_enable=YES
#
#
# Debian customization
#
# Some of vsftpd's settings don't fit the Debian filesystem layout by
# default.  These settings are more Debian-friendly.
#
# This option should be the name of a directory which is empty.  Also, the
# directory should not be writable by the ftp user. This directory is used
# as a secure chroot() jail at times vsftpd does not require filesystem
# access.
secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd/empty
#
# This string is the name of the PAM service vsftpd will use.
pam_service_name=vsftpd
#
# This option specifies the location of the RSA certificate to use for SSL
# encrypted connections.

syslog_enable=YES

rsa_cert_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
anon_upload_enable=NO
anon_mkdir_write_enable=NO
anon_other_write_enable=NO
chroot_local_user=YES
local_enable=YES
local_umask=022
#max_per_ip=
ftp_username=ftp
force_dot_files=YES
tcp_wrappers=NO
#listen_address=
#hide_file=
#anon_max_rate=
#local_max_rate=
anon_root=/home/serge/websites/
check_shell=NO

Please let me know what is going on here.

[scathefire]

perhaps
passwd_chroot_enable=YES

and comment out ftp_username=ftp and set nopriv_user=nobody.

if that doesn't work, try turning off selinux (setenforce permissive)

[sbenard]

perhaps
passwd_chroot_enable=YES

and comment out ftp_username=ftp and set nopriv_user=nobody.

if that doesn't work, try turning off selinux (setenforce permissive)

I'm afraid the above didn't work. It seems I do not have selinux installed at all.

setenforce 0
The program 'setenforce' is currently not installed.  You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install selinux-utils
setenforce: command not found

After the modifications mentioned above, here is my VSFTPD config file:

# Example config file /etc/vsftpd.conf
#
# The default compiled in settings are fairly paranoid. This sample file
# loosens things up a bit, to make the ftp daemon more usable.
# Please see vsftpd.conf.5 for all compiled in defaults.
#
# READ THIS: This example file is NOT an exhaustive list of vsftpd options.
# Please read the vsftpd.conf.5 manual page to get a full idea of vsftpd's
# capabilities.
#
#
# Run standalone?  vsftpd can run either from an inetd or as a standalone
# daemon started from an initscript.
listen=YES
#
# Run standalone with IPv6?
# Like the listen parameter, except vsftpd will listen on an IPv6 socket
# instead of an IPv4 one. This parameter and the listen parameter are mutually
# exclusive.
#listen_ipv6=YES
#
# Allow anonymous FTP? (Beware - allowed by default if you comment this out).
anonymous_enable=NO
#
# Uncomment this to allow local users to log in.
#
# Uncomment this to enable any form of FTP write command.
write_enable=YES
#
# Default umask for local users is 077. You may wish to change this to 022,
# if your users expect that (022 is used by most other ftpd's)
#local_umask=022
#
# Uncomment this to allow the anonymous FTP user to upload files. This only
# has an effect if the above global write enable is activated. Also, you will
# obviously need to create a directory writable by the FTP user.
#anon_upload_enable=YES
#
# Uncomment this if you want the anonymous FTP user to be able to create
# new directories.
#anon_mkdir_write_enable=YES
#
# Activate directory messages - messages given to remote users when they
# go into a certain directory.
dirmessage_enable=YES
#
# If enabled, vsftpd will display directory listings with the time
# in  your  local  time  zone.  The default is to display GMT. The
# times returned by the MDTM FTP command are also affected by this
# option.
use_localtime=YES
#
# Activate logging of uploads/downloads.
xferlog_enable=YES
#
# Make sure PORT transfer connections originate from port 20 (ftp-data).
connect_from_port_20=YES
#
# If you want, you can arrange for uploaded anonymous files to be owned by
# a different user. Note! Using "root" for uploaded files is not
# recommended!
#chown_uploads=YES
#chown_username=whoever
#
# You may override where the log file goes if you like. The default is shown
# below.
#xferlog_file=/var/log/vsftpd.log
#
# If you want, you can have your log file in standard ftpd xferlog format.
# Note that the default log file location is /var/log/xferlog in this case.
#xferlog_std_format=YES
#
# You may change the default value for timing out an idle session.
idle_session_timeout=600
#
# You may change the default value for timing out a data connection.
data_connection_timeout=120
#
# It is recommended that you define on your system a unique user which the
# ftp server can use as a totally isolated and unprivileged user.
nopriv_user=nobody
#
# Enable this and the server will recognise asynchronous ABOR requests. Not
# recommended for security (the code is non-trivial). Not enabling it,
# however, may confuse older FTP clients.
#async_abor_enable=YES
#
# By default the server will pretend to allow ASCII mode but in fact ignore
# the request. Turn on the below options to have the server actually do ASCII
# mangling on files when in ASCII mode.
# Beware that on some FTP servers, ASCII support allows a denial of service
# attack (DoS) via the command "SIZE /big/file" in ASCII mode. vsftpd
# predicted this attack and has always been safe, reporting the size of the
# raw file.
# ASCII mangling is a horrible feature of the protocol.
#ascii_upload_enable=YES
#ascii_download_enable=YES
#
# You may fully customise the login banner string:
ftpd_banner=Welcome to FTP service.
#
# You may specify a file of disallowed anonymous e-mail addresses. Apparently
# useful for combatting certain DoS attacks.
#deny_email_enable=YES
# (default follows)
#banned_email_file=/etc/vsftpd.banned_emails
#
# You may restrict local users to their home directories.  See the FAQ for
# the possible risks in this before using chroot_local_user or
# chroot_list_enable below.
# chroot_local_user=YES
#
# You may specify an explicit list of local users to chroot() to their home
# directory. If chroot_local_user is YES, then this list becomes a list of
# users to NOT chroot().
#chroot_local_user=YES
#chroot_list_enable=YES
# (default follows)
#chroot_list_file=/etc/vsftpd.chroot_list
#
# You may activate the "-R" option to the builtin ls. This is disabled by
# default to avoid remote users being able to cause excessive I/O on large
# sites. However, some broken FTP clients such as "ncftp" and "mirror" assume
# the presence of the "-R" option, so there is a strong case for enabling it.
#ls_recurse_enable=YES
#
#
# Debian customization
#
# Some of vsftpd's settings don't fit the Debian filesystem layout by
# default.  These settings are more Debian-friendly.
#
# This option should be the name of a directory which is empty.  Also, the
# directory should not be writable by the ftp user. This directory is used
# as a secure chroot() jail at times vsftpd does not require filesystem
# access.
secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd/empty
#
# This string is the name of the PAM service vsftpd will use.
pam_service_name=vsftpd
#
# This option specifies the location of the RSA certificate to use for SSL
# encrypted connections.

syslog_enable=YES

rsa_cert_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
anon_upload_enable=NO
anon_mkdir_write_enable=NO
anon_other_write_enable=NO
chroot_local_user=YES
passwd_chroot_enable=YES

local_enable=YES
local_umask=022
#max_per_ip=
#ftp_username=ftp
force_dot_files=YES
tcp_wrappers=NO
#listen_address=
#hide_file=
#anon_max_rate=
#local_max_rate=
anon_root=/home/serge/websites/
check_shell=NO

Any other options?

[sbenard]

perhaps
passwd_chroot_enable=YES

and comment out ftp_username=ftp and set nopriv_user=nobody.

if that doesn't work, try turning off selinux (setenforce permissive)

BTW, thanks for your help! I have tunnel vision on this problem, I'm just trying to get this thing working!

[scathefire]

you're welcome sbenard. I hate it when things just mysteriously don't work.

are there any other files inside of your vsftpd directory? like a ftpusers file? maybe a user_list file? ftpusers is used by PAM, this i know. Perhaps if your user_list file is not present it is freaking the server out. What if you add userlist_enable=NO to your config then restart the server, does that change anything?

[sbenard]

you're welcome sbenard. I hate it when things just mysteriously don't work.

are there any other files inside of your vsftpd directory? like a ftpusers file? maybe a user_list file? ftpusers is used by PAM, this i know. Perhaps if your user_list file is not present it is freaking the server out. What if you add userlist_enable=NO to your config then restart the server, does that change anything?

Thanks for your reply, Scathefire.

I opened up a terminal window, and listed the VSFTPD related files, and this is what happened:

ls /etc/vstpd.*
/etc/vsftpd.allowed_users   /etc/vsftpd.conf   /etc/vsftpd.conf.original
/etc/vsftpd.allowed_users~  /etc/vsftpd.conf~  /etc/vsftpd.conf.webmin.bak

The allowed_users file contains the username of the local account I am using to log into VSFTPD; from here on I'll be calling that user ftp-user. In the /etc/ftpusers file this is what I found:

# /etc/ftpusers: list of users disallowed FTP access. See ftpusers(5).

root
daemon
bin
sys
sync
games
man
lp
mail
news
uucp
nobody

Please note that the local username I attempt to login to VSFTPD, ftp-user, is not present in that file; I've read everywhere that when using the local user setting, VSFTPD considers users in the ftpusers as disallowed logins; if your VSFTPD settings are set up to use local users, are the names entered in the allowed_users file used as a 'disallow list' as well?

I've deleted the allowed_users file, restarted the VSFTPD server and still same 503 error, and created a blank allowed_users file and still no success.

FYI, I'm about to forget about the whole thing, because all settings seem to be what they should be - I am able to log in using an anonymous login when I modify the settings as such, but doesn't work when using the local credentials, so that tells me it's a credential problem.

Linux, why hast thou forsaken me?

EDIT
2 things: 1) what I am trying to do here is use a Ubuntu box as a development web server, and I am attempting to access the web root folder from the XP laptop I do my coding and design from. I am unable to work on files stored on the Ubuntu box, so I tried to use the FTP approach, working on my XP laptop, transferring my development files via FTP to the Ubuntu box. Do you think it would be easier to set up my web development folder to accept read/write access from my laptop? (I am posting this as a separate question on this forum)
and 2) Here are the contents of my current vsftpd.conf file:

# Example config file /etc/vsftpd.conf
#
# The default compiled in settings are fairly paranoid. This sample file
# loosens things up a bit, to make the ftp daemon more usable.
# Please see vsftpd.conf.5 for all compiled in defaults.
#
# READ THIS: This example file is NOT an exhaustive list of vsftpd options.
# Please read the vsftpd.conf.5 manual page to get a full idea of vsftpd's
# capabilities.
#
#
# Run standalone?  vsftpd can run either from an inetd or as a standalone
# daemon started from an initscript.
listen=YES
#
# Run standalone with IPv6?
# Like the listen parameter, except vsftpd will listen on an IPv6 socket
# instead of an IPv4 one. This parameter and the listen parameter are mutually
# exclusive.
#listen_ipv6=YES
#
# Allow anonymous FTP? (Beware - allowed by default if you comment this out).
anonymous_enable=NO
#
# Uncomment this to allow local users to log in.
#
# Uncomment this to enable any form of FTP write command.
write_enable=YES
#
# Default umask for local users is 077. You may wish to change this to 022,
# if your users expect that (022 is used by most other ftpd's)
#local_umask=022
#
# Uncomment this to allow the anonymous FTP user to upload files. This only
# has an effect if the above global write enable is activated. Also, you will
# obviously need to create a directory writable by the FTP user.
#anon_upload_enable=YES
#
# Uncomment this if you want the anonymous FTP user to be able to create
# new directories.
#anon_mkdir_write_enable=YES
#
# Activate directory messages - messages given to remote users when they
# go into a certain directory.
dirmessage_enable=YES
#
# If enabled, vsftpd will display directory listings with the time
# in  your  local  time  zone.  The default is to display GMT. The
# times returned by the MDTM FTP command are also affected by this
# option.
use_localtime=YES
#
# Activate logging of uploads/downloads.
xferlog_enable=YES
#
# Make sure PORT transfer connections originate from port 20 (ftp-data).
connect_from_port_20=YES
#
# If you want, you can arrange for uploaded anonymous files to be owned by
# a different user. Note! Using "root" for uploaded files is not
# recommended!
#chown_uploads=YES
#chown_username=whoever
#
# You may override where the log file goes if you like. The default is shown
# below.
#xferlog_file=/var/log/vsftpd.log
#
# If you want, you can have your log file in standard ftpd xferlog format.
# Note that the default log file location is /var/log/xferlog in this case.
#xferlog_std_format=YES
#
# You may change the default value for timing out an idle session.
idle_session_timeout=600
#
# You may change the default value for timing out a data connection.
data_connection_timeout=120
#
# It is recommended that you define on your system a unique user which the
# ftp server can use as a totally isolated and unprivileged user.
nopriv_user=nobody
#
# Enable this and the server will recognise asynchronous ABOR requests. Not
# recommended for security (the code is non-trivial). Not enabling it,
# however, may confuse older FTP clients.
#async_abor_enable=YES
#
# By default the server will pretend to allow ASCII mode but in fact ignore
# the request. Turn on the below options to have the server actually do ASCII
# mangling on files when in ASCII mode.
# Beware that on some FTP servers, ASCII support allows a denial of service
# attack (DoS) via the command "SIZE /big/file" in ASCII mode. vsftpd
# predicted this attack and has always been safe, reporting the size of the
# raw file.
# ASCII mangling is a horrible feature of the protocol.
#ascii_upload_enable=YES
#ascii_download_enable=YES
#
# You may fully customise the login banner string:
ftpd_banner=Welcome to FTP service.
#
# You may specify a file of disallowed anonymous e-mail addresses. Apparently
# useful for combatting certain DoS attacks.
#deny_email_enable=YES
# (default follows)
#banned_email_file=/etc/vsftpd.banned_emails
#
# You may restrict local users to their home directories.  See the FAQ for
# the possible risks in this before using chroot_local_user or
# chroot_list_enable below.
# chroot_local_user=YES
#
# You may specify an explicit list of local users to chroot() to their home
# directory. If chroot_local_user is YES, then this list becomes a list of
# users to NOT chroot().
#chroot_local_user=YES
#chroot_list_enable=YES
# (default follows)
#chroot_list_file=/etc/vsftpd.chroot_list
#
# You may activate the "-R" option to the builtin ls. This is disabled by
# default to avoid remote users being able to cause excessive I/O on large
# sites. However, some broken FTP clients such as "ncftp" and "mirror" assume
# the presence of the "-R" option, so there is a strong case for enabling it.
#ls_recurse_enable=YES
#
#
# Debian customization
#
# Some of vsftpd's settings don't fit the Debian filesystem layout by
# default.  These settings are more Debian-friendly.
#
# This option should be the name of a directory which is empty.  Also, the
# directory should not be writable by the ftp user. This directory is used
# as a secure chroot() jail at times vsftpd does not require filesystem
# access.
secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd/empty
#
# This string is the name of the PAM service vsftpd will use.
pam_service_name=vsftpd
#
# This option specifies the location of the RSA certificate to use for SSL
# encrypted connections.

syslog_enable=YES

rsa_cert_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
anon_upload_enable=NO
anon_mkdir_write_enable=NO
anon_other_write_enable=NO
chroot_local_user=YES
passwd_chroot_enable=YES

local_enable=YES
local_umask=022
#max_per_ip=
#ftp_username=ftp
force_dot_files=YES
tcp_wrappers=NO
#listen_address=
#hide_file=
#anon_max_rate=
#local_max_rate=
anon_root=/home/serge/websites/
check_shell=NO
userlist_enable=NO

[scathefire]

have you tried other versions of FTP? like pureftp? or proftp?

[sbenard]

have you tried other versions of FTP? like pureftp? or proftp?

No, I have not - I searched online for "linux ftp server" on Google and the most popular server is VSFTPD, so I thought I'd get good community support, but my issue isn't being addressed on the online community. Most resolved VSFTPD issues I've noticed are resolved by changing the PAM service name from the default "ftp" to "vsftpd", which is one of the first thing I've done.

In any case, I've decided to work with privileges on my Ubuntu account. I don't really need FTP access, it was a last ditch effort at having read/write access to my website development area on my Ubuntu box. I think I've resolved my issue by adding www-data user to the samba user group, and I changed the web dev folder privileges manually. So now I can open files from my PC using an IDE to create folders and files, modify files and save files just by connecting through the local network using SAMBA. For now, it seems to work.

I can't call my initial issue closed, but I can say that I've found a solution which is not related to VSFTPD, so I'll close this forum topic.

Thanks for your help, Scathefire.