How to Install and Secure vsftpd with Anonymous and Virtual Users on Linux

Install vsftpd

Before starting, disable SELinux and stop the firewalld firewall. yum -y install vsftpd Start and enable the service:

systemctl restart vsftpd
systemctl enable vsftpd

Verify that the service is running and listening on port 21:

ps -ef | grep vsftp && netstat -tunlp | grep 21

Test with a Windows FTP client

Connect anonymously to ftp://192.168.118.172/. By default you can only download files.

Enable anonymous uploads

Edit /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf and set:

anon_upload_enable=YES
anon_mkdir_write_enable=YES

Restart the service and give the FTP directory proper ownership:

systemctl restart vsftpd
chown -R ftp /var/ftp/pub

Configure virtual users

Create a system account that will be used by all virtual users (no SSH login): useradd vsftpd -d /home/vsftpd -s /bin/false Create a home directory for a virtual user (example: ftp1): mkdir -p /home/vsftpd/ftp1 Add the virtual user and password to /etc/vsftpd/loginusers.conf:

ftp1
123456

Create a Berkeley DB file from the list and secure it:

db_load -T -t hash -f /etc/vsftpd/loginusers.conf /etc/vsftpd/loginusers.db
chmod 600 /etc/vsftpd/loginusers.db

Configure PAM to use the DB file (edit /etc/pam.d/vsftpd):

auth    sufficient   pam_userdb.so db=/etc/vsftpd/loginusers
account sufficient   pam_userdb.so db=/etc/vsftpd/loginusers

Create a per‑user configuration directory and a file for the virtual user:

mkdir -p /etc/vsftpd/userconf
vim /etc/vsftpd/userconf/ftp1
# inside the file:
local_root=/home/vsftpd/ftp1/
write_enable=YES

Update the main vsftpd configuration ( /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf) with the following relevant options:

anonymous_enable=NO
chroot_local_user=YES
ascii_upload_enable=YES
ascii_download_enable=YES
guest_enable=YES
guest_username=vsftpd
user_config_dir=/etc/vsftpd/userconf
allow_writeable_chroot=YES

Restart the service to apply all changes:

systemctl restart vsftpd

Verify virtual user access

Log in with the username ftp1 and password 123456; you should be able to upload and download files within the designated directory.

Common troubleshooting

Slow FTP transfers: comment out all lines in /etc/resolv.conf.

Windows cannot open the folder: ensure the path is correct and the user has proper permissions.

Reference for further debugging: https://jingyan.baidu.com/article/b7001fe1829deb0e7282ddb7.html

Completion

After completing the steps above, the vsftpd server is fully operational with both anonymous upload capability and secure virtual‑user authentication.