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Bug 1439724

Summary: Add to vsftpd.conf manpage that text_userdb_names=YES is not guaranteed to work when chroot_local_user=YES is used
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Reporter: Renaud Métrich <rmetrich>
Component: man-pages-overridesAssignee: Nikola Forró <nforro>
Status: CLOSED ERRATA QA Contact: David Jež <djez>
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 7.5-AltCC: cwarfiel, djez, nforro, olysonek, ovasik
Target Milestone: rcKeywords: ManPageChange, Patch
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: Unspecified   
OS: Unspecified   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: man-pages-overrides-7.5.0-1.el7 Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Cause: Textual names of user and group can not be reliably resolved inside a chroot, so when chroot_local_user configuration option is set, text_userdb_names configration option is not guaranteed to work. But that wasn't mentioned in the vsftpd.conf.5 man page. Consequence: Users could be expecting both chroot_local_user and text_userdb_names options to be set together without issues. Fix: Note about textual names not being guaranteed was added to the description of text_userdb_names option in the vsftpd.conf.5 man page. Result: Users are now aware that text_userdb_names option can be ineffective when chroot_local_user option is set.
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2018-04-10 18:11:59 UTC Type: Bug
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
Bug Depends On:    
Bug Blocks: 1473733, 1508021    
Attachments:
Description Flags
Patch for vsftpd.conf.5 man page none

Description Renaud Métrich 2017-04-06 12:28:30 UTC
Description of problem:

When using chroot_local_user=YES and text_userdb_names=YES, name resolution is not guaranteed. The manpage should be updated accordingly.

Indeed, because the user session is chrooted, the calls to getpwuid()/getgrgid() fail to open /etc/passwd, /etc/groups or call NSCD socket when applicable.
When no nscd is running, then textual names are never displayed.
When nscd is running, then it depends on the following scenarios:

1. cache updated before ftp session is opened
-> name resolution in ftp session with current cache content

2. cache invalidated before ftp session is opened
-> no name resolution in ftp session

3. cache invalidated after ftp session is opened
-> name resolution in ftp session with old cache content

4. cache updated after ftp session is opened
-> name resolution in ftp session with old cache content


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

7.3

How reproducible:

Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. configure vsftpd with text_userdb_names=YES and chroot_local_user=YES
2. open ftp session
3. perform "ls -l" from ftp session

Actual results:

uid/gid are printed

Expected results:

user/group (names) should be printed

Additional info:

Proposal for new vsftpd.conf:

       text_userdb_names
              By  default,  numeric  IDs  are shown in the user and group fields of directory listings. You can get
              textual names by enabling this parameter. It is off by default for performance reasons.
              Note that textual names are not guaranteed when chroot_local_user is set to YES.

              Default: NO

Comment 3 Nikola Forró 2017-10-24 14:30:15 UTC
Created attachment 1342786 [details]
Patch for vsftpd.conf.5 man page

Comment 13 errata-xmlrpc 2018-04-10 18:11:59 UTC
Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2018:0965

Comment 16 Red Hat Bugzilla 2023-09-15 00:01:45 UTC
The needinfo request[s] on this closed bug have been removed as they have been unresolved for 500 days