[Solved] Pure-ftpd stopped work

Hi,
Debian 12, ISPConfig Version: 3.2.12p1.
And suddenly Pure-ftpd doesn't work. Probably some autu upgrade broke it ? Because I haven't changed anything in it in conf.
Log during start is:

Feb 06 16:36:53 pure-ftpd-mysql[657826]: Starting ftp server:
Feb 06 16:36:53 pure-ftpd-mysql[657833]: Running: /usr/sbin/pure-ftpd-mysql -l mysql:/etc/pure-ftpd/db/mysql.conf -l pam -p 30000:31000 -Y 1 >
Feb 06 16:36:53 systemd[1]: Started pure-ftpd-mysql.service.
Feb 06 16:36:53 pure-ftpd[657834]: (?@?) [ERROR] Sorry, but that file doesn't exist: [/etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem]

I tried to disable chroot mode in /etc/default/pure-ftpd-common
I changed symlink /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem to static file
I changed permissions to dirs and file /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
ALL nothing and nothing. It doesn't want to start
My clients reports failure
How to fix it please ?

 

Symlink /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem to /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem and permissions 600 should work just fine.
It does at least on Ubuntu 24.04

 

Heh no,
in pure-ftpd.conf:
CertFile /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# ls -l /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 48 Jan 24 21:38 /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem -> /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd#

root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# ls -l /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2840 Feb 6 15:36 /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd#
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# systemctl restart pure-ftpd-mysql.service
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# systemctl status pure-ftpd-mysql.service
● pure-ftpd-mysql.service
Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/pure-ftpd-mysql; generated)
Drop-In: /run/systemd/system/service.d
└─zzz-lxc-service.conf
Active: active (exited) since Thu 2025-02-06 17:13:07 CET; 2s ago
Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
Process: 666194 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/pure-ftpd-mysql start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Feb 06 17:13:07 systemd[1]: Starting pure-ftpd-mysql.service...
Feb 06 17:13:07 pure-ftpd-mysql[666194]: Starting ftp server:
Feb 06 17:13:07 pure-ftpd-mysql[666201]: Running: /usr/sbin/pure-ftpd-mysql -l mysql:/etc/pure-ftpd/db/mysql.conf -l pam -p 30000:31000 -Y 1 >
Feb 06 17:13:07 systemd[1]: Started pure-ftpd-mysql.service.
Feb 06 17:13:07 pure-ftpd[666202]: (?@?) [ERROR] Sorry, but that file doesn't exist: [/etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem]
And it doesn't work:
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# netstat -tnpl|grep pure
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd#

 

And I changed permissions to 600:

root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# chmod 600 /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# ls -l /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
-rw------- 1 root root 2840 Feb 6 15:36 /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# systemctl restart pure-ftpd-mysql.service
And still same error:
(?@?) [ERROR] Sorry, but that file doesn't exist: [/etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem]

 

The error says file /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem doesn't exist.
Are you absolutely sure your simlink is correct? No typo somewhere?
Looks like the symlink points to an incorrect file or doesn't exist.

This is my server

Code:

ls -la /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 48 Oct  8 20:19 /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem -> /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
ls -la /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
-rw------- 1 root root 7171 Feb  6 04:45 /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem

 

And this is my server:

Code:

root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# ls -la /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 48 Jan 24 21:38 /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem -> /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# ls -la /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
-rw------- 1 root root 2839 Feb  6 17:29 /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ispserver.pem
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd#

 

And this is whole config of my Pure-ftpd:

Code:

root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# grep -v "^#" pure-ftpd.conf | grep -v "^$"
ChrootEveryone               yes
BrokenClientsCompatibility   no
MaxClientsNumber             50
Daemonize                    yes
MaxClientsPerIP              8
VerboseLog                   yes
DisplayDotFiles              yes
AnonymousOnly                no
NoAnonymous                  no
SyslogFacility               ftp
DontResolve                  yes
MaxIdleTime                  15
LimitRecursion               10000 8
AnonymousCanCreateDirs       no
MaxLoad                      4
PassivePortRange             30000 31000
AntiWarez                    yes
Umask                        133:022
MinUID                       100
AllowUserFXP                 no
AllowAnonymousFXP            no
ProhibitDotFilesWrite        no
ProhibitDotFilesRead         no
AutoRename                   no
AnonymousCantUpload          no
MaxDiskUsage                   99
CustomerProof                yes
TLS                          1
CertFile                     /etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem
root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd#

And version of it is:

root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# dpkg -l | grep pure
ii pure-ftpd-common 1.0.50-2.1 all Pure-FTPd FTP server (Common Files)
ii pure-ftpd-mysql 1.0.50-2.1+b2 amd64 Secure and efficient FTP server with MySQL user authentication

maybe it has some bug ?

 

Looks the same so you should think the error is incorrect.
But it doesn't just fall from the sky ...

 

Checking..

 

Generally that ISPConfig3 is installed inside LXD container. It doesn't have apparmor installed. So I don't know what is causing that problem.
Without TLS Pure-ftpd is starting, so there is only that problem with "Sorry, but that file doesn't exist: [/etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem]"
Probably I'll leave it without TLS support because I don't have any ideas yet.

 

Yes, cat is working, it shows 2 certs in it.

 

You know what is weird, I set line in config to other cert:
CertFile /etc/ssl/certs/dd8e9d41.0
but is still after restart shows:

Code:

root@h3-virt/etc/pure-ftpd# systemctl status pure-ftpd-mysql.service
● pure-ftpd-mysql.service
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/pure-ftpd-mysql; generated)
    Drop-In: /run/systemd/system/service.d
             └─zzz-lxc-service.conf
     Active: active (exited) since Thu 2025-02-06 19:27:18 CET; 2s ago
       Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
    Process: 19208 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/pure-ftpd-mysql start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Feb 06 19:27:18 h3.sdata.net.pl systemd[1]: Starting pure-ftpd-mysql.service...
Feb 06 19:27:18 h3.sdata.net.pl pure-ftpd-mysql[19208]: Starting ftp server:
Feb 06 19:27:18 h3.sdata.net.pl pure-ftpd-mysql[19215]: Running: /usr/sbin/pure-ftpd-mysql -l mysql:/etc/pure-ftpd/db/mysql.conf -l pam -E -O clf:/var/log/pu>
Feb 06 19:27:18 h3.sdata.net.pl systemd[1]: Started pure-ftpd-mysql.service.
Feb 06 19:27:18 h3.sdata.net.pl pure-ftpd[19216]: (?@?) [ERROR] Sorry, but that file doesn't exist: [/etc/ssl/private/pure-ftpd.pem]

 

Something is blocking access to that file, that's for sure.
No idea what.

 

I found workaround after many hours of struggling with it.
Starting this FTP from command line manually works! From systemctl start - not. Still returns this error.
This is probably related this is ISPConfing in LXD container and thats it.
Anyway I wanted write about solution here for others for the future
Cheers all!