The process I have used for installing vsftpd since 12.04 no longer works. I get the error stop: Unknown instance when restarting the service. I believe this means the configuration is wrong, but I cannot track down the issue. I'm having this problem on a virtual server.

Additionally, running sudo vsftpd results in 500 OOPS: munmap as noted by @Beltran.

1. Acquire root privileges

   
   
   

   sudo -s
   
   




2. Install vsftpd and libpam-pwdfile

   
   
   

   apt-get install vsftpd libpam-pwdfile
   
   




3. Edit vsftpd.conf

   
   
   

   mv /etc/vsftpd.conf /etc/vsftpd.conf.bak
   
   vim /etc/vsftpd.conf
   
   

   
   
   

   Copy and paste the following lines.

   
   
   

   allow_writeable_chroot=YES
   
   anonymous_enable=NO
   
   chroot_list_enable=YES
   
   chroot_local_user=YES
   
   guest_enable=YES
   
   guest_username=vsftpd
   
   hide_ids=YES
   
   listen=YES
   
   local_enable=YES
   
   local_umask=022
   
   local_root=/var/clients/$USER
   
   nopriv_user=vsftpd
   
   pasv_address=127.0.0.1
   
   pasv_enable=YES
   
   pasv_min_port=65000
   
   pasv_max_port=65100
   
   port_enable=YES
   
   user_sub_token=$USER
   
   seccomp_sandbox=NO
   
   virtual_use_local_privs=YES
   
   write_enable=YES
   
   




4. Register virtual admin

   
   
   

   apt-get install apache2-utils
   
   mkdir /etc/vsftpd
   
   htpasswd -cd /etc/vsftpd/ftpd.passwd admin
   
   vim /etc/vsftpd.chroot_list
   
   

   
   
   

   Add 1 line for the admin user

   
   
   

   admin
   
   




5. Configure PAM

   
   
   

   mv /etc/pam.d/vsftpd /etc/pam.d/vsftpd.bak
   
   vim /etc/pam.d/vsftpd
   
   

   
   
   

   Copy and paste these 2 lines.

   
   
   

   auth required pam_pwdfile.so pwdfile /etc/vsftpd/ftpd.passwd
   
   account required pam_permit.so
   
   




6. Create a local user without shell access

   
   
   

   useradd --home /home/vsftpd --gid nogroup -m --shell /bin/false vsftpd
   
   




7. Create root directory and give local user proper access.

   
   
   

   mkdir /var/clients
   
   chmod -R 755 /var/clients
   
   chown -R vsftpd:nogroup /var/clients
   
   




8. Register jailed virtual users (initially, I skip this step)

   
   
   

   htpasswd -d /etc/vsftpd/ftpd.passwd {user_name}
   
   mkdir /var/clients/{user_name}
   
   




9. Restart service

   
   
   

   service vsftpd restart