[PLUG] Documentation for vsftpd (RH 8.0)?

[Derek Loree]

On Tue, 2004-06-15 at 10:46, B. Thoen wrote:
[snip]
> 2. How do I set up guest FTP users (private accounts with only FTP upload 
> and download privs)?

All you need to do is set the shell for those users to /dev/null.  This
is done in the /etc/passwd file, the last entry for each user is the
login shell and ftp access doesn't need a real shell.  The false shell
(/bin/false) is supposed to work, but I've had better luck just setting
it to /dev/null.  Also check the privileges on all of your system
directories, to make sure that the ftp users can't write and/or browse
anywhere they are not wanted.

BTW, the ftp protocol sends passwords over the network in the clear,
which means that anyone that can sniff packets coming to your ftp server
can get the usernames and passwords for your ftp accounts.  I consider
this to be a major security problem.  Teach your users about WinSCP
instead.

Good Luck,

Derek Loree