Bug#1119295: erases all (user) data from /srv/ftp when purged

[Hilmar Preuße]

Hello,

I guess it was never understood, how to remove that directory correctly (w/o destroying data). Your suggestion sounds reasonable, I've implemented it an will upload soon.

Hilmar

28.10.2025 20:35:06 Evgeni Golov <evgeni at debian.org>:

> Package: proftpd-core
> Version: 1.3.9~dfsg-3
> Severity: grave
> X-Debbugs-Cc: evgeni at debian.org
> Control: found -1 1.3.8.c+dfsg-4
> 
> Ohai,
> 
> proftpd-core.postrm contains (since [1]) the following snippet:
> 
> if [ "$1" = "purge" ]
> then
>     …
>     rm -rf /etc/proftpd
>     rm -rf /var/log/proftpd
>     rm -rf /srv/ftp
>     rm -f /etc/logrotate.d/proftpd-core
>     userdel --remove --force proftpd || true
>     userdel ftp || true
> fi
> 
> The `rm -rf /srv/ftp` part results in *all* data from /srv/ftp being
> purged, not only the one related to the package itself. This can lead to
> serious data loss if people decide to use /srv/ftp as the root of their
> FTP server (e.g. as suggested by the Anonymous example in proftpd.conf).
> 
> I think purging proftpd-core should only remove files that were placed
> in /srv/ftp by proftpd-core (welcome.msg) and remove the directory only
> if it is empty afterwards (rm -f /srv/ftp/welcome.msg; rmdir
> --ignore-fail-on-non-empty /srv/ftp).
> 
> For historical reference: this was reported once in the past already as
> [2], got fixed [3], but now regressed again.
> 
> Thanks for maintaining ProFTPD!
> 
> Evgeni
> 
> 
> [1] https://salsa.debian.org/debian-proftpd-team/proftpd/-/commit/9dbf3b40750465e3680601ee55df9e49624de072
> [2] https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=655514
> [3] https://salsa.debian.org/debian-proftpd-team/proftpd/-/commit/99fbc334eace80d1e99302b8b9ecc987d45d73a5
> 
> 
> -- System Information:
> Debian Release: forky/sid
>   APT prefers unstable-debug
>   APT policy: (500, 'unstable-debug'), (500, 'unstable')
> Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
> Foreign Architectures: i386
> 
> Kernel: Linux 6.12.38+deb13-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
> Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
> Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
> Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
> LSM: SELinux: enabled - Mode: Permissive - Policy name: default
> 
> Versions of packages proftpd-core depends on:
> ii  adduser               3.152
> ii  init-system-helpers   1.68
> ii  libacl1               2.3.2-2+b1
> ii  libc6                 2.41-12
> ii  libcap2               1:2.75-10+b1
> ii  libcrypt1             1:4.4.38-1
> ii  libhiredis1.1.0       1.2.0-6+b3
> ii  libidn2-0             2.3.8-2
> ii  libmemcached11t64     1.1.4-1.1+b2
> ii  libmemcachedutil2t64  1.1.4-1.1+b2
> ii  libncursesw6          6.5+20250216-2
> ii  libpam-runtime        1.7.0-5
> ii  libpam0g              1.7.0-5
> ii  libpcre2-8-0          10.45-1
> ii  libpcre2-posix3       10.45-1
> ii  libssl3t64            3.5.2-1
> ii  libtinfo6             6.5+20250216-2
> ii  netbase               6.5
> ii  ucf                   3.0052
> ii  zlib1g                1:1.3.dfsg+really1.3.1-1+b1
> 
> Versions of packages proftpd-core recommends:
> pn  proftpd-doc  <none>
> 
> Versions of packages proftpd-core suggests:
> pn  openbsd-inetd | inet-superserver  <none>
> ii  openssl                           3.5.2-1
> pn  proftpd-mod-crypto                <none>
> pn  proftpd-mod-geoip                 <none>
> pn  proftpd-mod-ldap                  <none>
> pn  proftpd-mod-mysql                 <none>
> pn  proftpd-mod-odbc                  <none>
> pn  proftpd-mod-pgsql                 <none>
> pn  proftpd-mod-snmp                  <none>
> pn  proftpd-mod-sqlite                <none>
> pn  proftpd-mod-wrap                  <none>
> 
> -- no debconf information
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