Contents
Installed Program: vsftpd
Installed Libraries: None
Installed Directories: /usr/share/vsftpd, /home/ftp
Introduction to vsftpd
The vsftpd package contains a very secure and very small FTP daemon. This is useful for serving files over a network.
![[Note]](../images/note.png)
Note
Development versions of BLFS may not build or run some packages properly if LFS or dependencies have been updated since the most recent stable versions of the books.
Package Information
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Download (HTTP): https://security.appspot.com/downloads/vsftpd-3.0.5.tar.gz
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Download MD5 sum: efbf362a65bec771bc15ad311f5a982e
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Download size: 210 KB
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Estimated disk space required: 1.9 MB
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Estimated build time: less than 0.1 SBU
vsftpd Dependencies
Required
Recommended
Optional
Installation of vsftpd
For security reasons, running vsftpd as an unprivileged user and group is encouraged. Also, a user should be created to map anonymous users. As the root user, create the needed directories, users, and groups with the following commands:
install -v -d -m 0755 /usr/share/vsftpd/empty && install -v -d -m 0755 /home/ftp && groupadd -g 47 vsftpd && groupadd -g 45 ftp && useradd -c "vsftpd User" -d /dev/null -g vsftpd -s /bin/false -u 47 vsftpd && useradd -c anonymous_user -d /home/ftp -g ftp -s /bin/false -u 45 ftp
Gcc-10 and later flags an error for an implicit type cast. Make it explicit:
sed -e "s/kVSFSysStrOpenUnknown;/(enum EVSFSysUtilOpenMode)&/" -i sysstr.c
Build vsftpd as an unprivileged user using the following command:
make
This package does not come with a test suite.
Once again, become the root user and install vsftpd with the following commands:
install -v -m 755 vsftpd /usr/sbin/vsftpd && install -v -m 644 vsftpd.8 /usr/share/man/man8 && install -v -m 644 vsftpd.conf.5 /usr/share/man/man5 && install -v -m 644 vsftpd.conf /etc
Command Explanations
install -v -d ...: This creates the directory that anonymous users will use (/home/ftp) and the directory the daemon will chroot into (/usr/share/vsftpd/empty).
Note
/home/ftp should not be owned by the user vsftpd, or the user ftp.
echo "#define VSF_BUILD_TCPWRAPPERS" >>builddefs.h: Use this prior to make to add support for tcpwrappers.
echo "#define VSF_BUILD_SSL" >>builddefs.h: Use this prior to make to add support for SSL.
install -v -m ...: The Makefile uses non-standard installation paths. These commands install the files in /usr and /etc.
Configuring vsftpd
Configuration Information
vsftpd comes with a basic anonymous-only configuration file that was copied to /etc above. While still as root, this file should be modified because it is now recommended to run vsftpd in standalone mode. Also, you should specify the privilege separation user created above. Finally, you should specify the chroot directory. man vsftpd.conf will give you all the details.
cat >> /etc/vsftpd.conf << "EOF"
background=YES
nopriv_user=vsftpd
secure_chroot_dir=/usr/share/vsftpd/empty
EOF
To enable local logins, append the following to the /etc/vsftpd.conf file (as the root user):
cat >> /etc/vsftpd.conf << "EOF"
local_enable=YES
EOF
In addition, if using Linux-PAM and vsftpd with local user logins, you will need a Linux-PAM configuration file. As the root user, create the /etc/pam.d/vsftpd file, and add the needed configuration changes for Linux-PAM session support using the following commands:
cat > /etc/pam.d/vsftpd << "EOF" &&# Begin /etc/pam.d/vsftpd auth required /lib/security/pam_listfile.so item=user sense=deny \ file=/etc/ftpusers \ onerr=succeed auth required pam_shells.so auth include system-auth account include system-account session include system-sessionEOF cat >> /etc/vsftpd.conf << "EOF"session_support=YES pam_service_name=vsftpdEOF
Boot Script
Install the /etc/rc.d/init.d/vsftpd init script included in the blfs-bootscripts-20231119 package:
make install-vsftpd