Proftpd - (Login failed): Invalid shell: '/dev/null'

I'm using proftpd. When I try to log into the the FTP server it gives me the below message in the log:

USER Err (Login failed): Invalid shell: '/dev/null'

Many searches reveal that I should set RequireValidShell to off which I did, then I got this error in the log:

Err chdir("/dev/null"): Not a directory

I also tried to set my shell access to '/dev/false' and that didn't change anything. Client side, it says the login failed. I'm not sure what to do anymore, I spent about 4 hours trying to figure it out. Could really use some help.

Here is my proftpd.conf:

Include /etc/proftpd/modules.conf
UseIPv6 on
IdentLookups off
ServerName "192.168.0.100"
ServerType standalone
RequireValidShell off
DeferWelcome off
MultilineRFC2228 on
DefaultServer on
ShowSymlinks on
TimeoutNoTransfer 600
TimeoutStalled 600
TimeoutIdle 600
DisplayLogin welcome.msg
DisplayChdir .message true
ListOptions "-l"
DenyFilter \*.*/
Port 21
<IfModule mod_dynmasq.c>
</IfModule>
MaxInstances 3
User proftpd
Group nogroup
Umask 022 022
AllowOverwrite on
TransferLog /var/log/proftpd/xferlog
SystemLog /var/log/proftpd/proftpd.log
<IfModule mod_quotatab.c>
QuotaEngine off
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_ratio.c>
Ratios off
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_delay.c>
DelayEngine on
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_ctrls.c>
ControlsEngine off
ControlsMaxClients 2
ControlsLog /var/log/proftpd/controls.log
ControlsInterval 5
ControlsSocket /var/run/proftpd/proftpd.sock
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_ctrls_admin.c>
AdminControlsEngine off
</IfModule>
Include /etc/proftpd/conf.d/

• PRoFTPD-1.3.4a

• Xubuntu 12.10

1 Answer

Maybe the person who configured the account was just as misguided when assigning a home directory as they were when they assigned the shell.

That could explain why it's failing to chdir when they successfully log in to the FTP service.

grep [username] /etc/passwd will show if the user's home directory was set as inappropriately as the shell. sudo usermod -d /home/[username] -s /usr/sbin/nologin [username] could set a sane shell and home for the account. You might also need to sudo mkdir -p /home/[username] and sudo chown [username] /home/[username].