Bug#911396: vsftpd: init.d script always fails (vsftpd failed - probably invalid config)

[Ryan Chu]

This appears to be a timing issue of vsftpd's initial script 
(/etc/init.d/vsftpd). When starting the vsftpd service, the script uses a while 
loop to make sure that the vsftpd process has been created with the expected 
PID. The problem is that it should go sleep if it can't grep the same PID via 
ps command.

Ryan

Bug#911396: vsftpd: init.d script always fails (vsftpd failed - probably invalid config)

[Artem Sheremet]

Package: vsftpd
Version: 3.0.3-8+b1
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

When running /etc/init.d/vsftpd start (on a system without systemd),
the initscript always complains with the following exact message:

  vsftpd failed - probably invalid config

exiting with non-zero code. The vsftpd itself is actually still started
and running normally.

While debugging this issue, I found it non-trivial to understand the
'start' case logic in the initscript. Looks like it should be waiting
until the process with a specific PID is running, but instead it breaks
immediately if the process is not found.


-- Package-specific info:

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.5
  APT prefers stable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-7-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968), LANGUAGE=C 
(charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: unable to detect

Versions of packages vsftpd depends on:
ii  adduser3.115
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]  1.5.61
ii  init-system-helpers1.48
ii  libc6  2.24-11+deb9u3
ii  libcap21:2.25-1
ii  libpam-modules 1.1.8-3.6
ii  libpam0g   1.1.8-3.6
ii  libssl1.1  1.1.0f-3+deb9u2
ii  libwrap0   7.6.q-26
ii  netbase5.4

Versions of packages vsftpd recommends:
ii  logrotate  3.11.0-0.1
pn  ssl-cert   

vsftpd suggests no packages.

-- Configuration Files:
/etc/ftpusers changed [not included]
/etc/vsftpd.conf changed [not included]

-- debconf information excluded
listen=NO
listen_ipv6=YES
anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
write_enable=YES
local_umask=022
use_localtime=YES
xferlog_enable=YES
connect_from_port_20=YES
force_dot_files=YES

rsa_cert_file=/etc/letsencrypt/live/comicslate.org/fullchain.pem
rsa_private_key_file=/etc/letsencrypt/live/comicslate.org/privkey.pem
ssl_enable=YES
force_local_data_ssl=YES
force_local_logins_ssl=YES
ssl_tlsv1=YES
ssl_sslv2=NO
ssl_sslv3=NO
ssl_ciphers=DEFAULT,DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA

# Debugging.
log_ftp_protocol=YES
debug_ssl=YES

# Passive mode ports will be added below this line.
pasv_min_port=10100
pasv_max_port=10200