Problem configuring vsftpd on ubuntu

Question

I've installed vsftpd following this tutorial: https://help.ubuntu.com/6.06/ubuntu/serverguide/C/ftp-server.html

The setup went well and I'm able to connect using my local users credentials as expected. However I have a problem with directory listing and permissions ..

If I do not restrict local users to their home directory with chroot_local_user, they are able to browse the whole file system down to the deepest /dev folder.

On the other hand when I try to enable the chroot_local_user directive, the users are indeed restricted to their home directory, but the initial remote directory is the root partition. Listing any directory raise an authorization error except for the user's home directory.

I've checked vsftpd's configs and nothing seems to do what I want ..

Another thing I don't understand is why on earth the package installation is creating a /home/ftp directory if it doesn't use it.

Edit: I've noticed vsftpd is running as root.. is that the expected behavior ??

Answer 1

Make sure that local_root isn't set:

local_root
    This option represents a directory which vsftpd will try to change into after
    a local (i.e. non-anonymous) login. Failure is silently ignored.

    Default: (none)

Also, this option may be of service:

passwd_chroot_enable
    If enabled, along with chroot_local_user , then a chroot() jail location may 
    be specified on a per-user basis. Each user's jail is derived from their home
    directory string in /etc/passwd. The occurrence of /./ in the home directory
    string denotes that the jail is at that particular location in the path.

    Default: NO

Then you can add /home/user/./ to the /etc/passwd file.

Lastly, the ftp user is created for anonymous logins:

ftp_username
    This is the name of the user we use for handling anonymous FTP. The home
    directory of this user is the root of the anonymous FTP area.

    Default: ftp

All from http://vsftpd.beasts.org/vsftpd_conf.html