Secure FTP with TLS

 

Secure FTP with TLS 

It’s important to keep a few things in mind when using FTP – it is not encrypted by default meaning your credentials and files that you send are vulnerable to interception. To address this you should connect to vsftpd using FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS).

Let’s begin by creating a new certificate with the openssl tool.

sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/private/vsftpd.pem -out /etc/ssl/private/vsftpd.pem

You will be asked to enter some details like country, etc. You don’t have to fill these in. You can just press ENTER for defaults.

Now that your private key has been created, there are a few changes we have to make to the vsftpd configuration file.

Open the config file in nano editor.

sudo nano /etc/vsftpd.conf

Find the following line: (Note: you can search in nano using CTRL + W)

etc/vsftpd.conf

ssl_enable=NO

Change it to:

etc/vsftpd.conf

ssl_enable=YES

Paste in the following beneath it.

etc/vsftpd.conf

rsa_cert_file=/etc/ssl/private/vsftpd.pem
rsa_private_key_file=/etc/ssl/private/vsftpd.pem
allow_anon_ssl=NO
force_local_data_ssl=YES
force_local_logins_ssl=YES
ssl_tlsv1=YES
ssl_sslv2=NO
ssl_sslv3=NO
require_ssl_reuse=NO
ssl_ciphers=HIGH
pasv_min_port=40000
pasv_max_port=50000

Save file and exit (press CTRL + X, press Y and then press ENTER).

Restart vsftpd.

sudo systemctl restart vsftpd

Testing TLS with FileZilla

We can now test TLS. We recommend FileZilla, which works on Windows, Mac and Linux.

Enter your server’s IP, your FTP username and password you created earlier, and click Quickconnect.

You may be presented with an Unknown Certificate warning. Click Always trust this certificate in future sessions and click OK.

If you are connected over TLS, it will tell you in the connection log. You will also see a padlock in the bottom right corner.

You’re all done!