Unable to edit files on Filezilla: Response: filename.txt: Permission denied

Symptoms

• It is not possible to edit files using Filezilla with an additional FTP user, the following error is shown:

Response: filename.txt: Permission denied

• The following Error message can be seen on /var/log/secure logfile:

proftpd: pam_systemd(proftpd:session): Failed to connect to system bus: No such file or directory
proftpd: pam_unix(proftpd:session): session closed for user username
proftpd: pam_unix(proftpd:session): session opened for user ordini by (uid=0)
proftpd: pam_env(proftpd:setcred): Unable to open config file: /etc/security/pam_env.conf: No such file or directory

• The path of the file that user tries to edit contains the "sensitive" directories (etc, lib), for example:

/var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/modules/lib/

Cause

The ProFTPD directive RLimitChroot prevents user from editing files containing "sensitive" directories names

Resolution

Disable this directive following the official proftpd documentation:

1. Connect to the server via SSH

2. Open the /etc/proftpd.conf file with a text editor.

3. Paste the following line between the tags <Global> ... </Global>​ of the /etc/proftpd.conf file:

RLimitChroot off

4. Restart the service:

# systemctl restart xinetd