[syslinux] wierd problem concerning directory, symlinks, chroot

H. Peter Anvin
Tue, 29 Oct 2002 19:51:10 -0000

Aamer Akhter wrote:
> hello,
>
> i'm having a wierd problem with 0.31 tftpd-hpa.
>
> i'm using xinetd, with this config:
>
> service tftp
> {
>         disable = no
>         socket_type             = dgram
>         wait                    = yes
>         user                    = root
>         log_on_failure          += USERID
>         bind                    = 10.13.0.254
>         server                  = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
>         nice                    = 5
>         instances               = UNLIMITED
>         per_source              = UNLIMITED
>         cps                     = 200 20
>         server_args             = -p -v -v -u nobody -c
> }
>
> with this config, nothing appears to work:
> Oct 29 13:53:37 nsite-mpls-1 in.tftpd[4698]: RRQ from 10.13.0.60 filename
> aaa-config
> Oct 29 13:53:37 nsite-mpls-1 in.tftpd[4698]: sending NAK (2, Access
violation)
> to 10.13.0.60
>
> mind you that aaa-config shouldn't have any permissions problems:
> [13:54:20] nsite-mpls-1:/tftpboot> ls -l aaa-config
> -rwxrwxrwx    1 mbrown   named        1072 Mar  5  2002 aaa-config
>
> with these server args:
>  -p -v -v -u nobody -c /tftpboot
>
> Oct 29 13:56:54 nsite-mpls-1 in.tftpd[5202]: RRQ from 10.13.0.60 filename
> aaa-config
> Oct 29 13:56:54 nsite-mpls-1 in.tftpd[5202]: sending NAK (2, Access
violation)
> to 10.13.0.60
>
> the only server args that appear to work are:
>  -p -v -v -u nobody -c -s /tftpboot
>
> but this does a chroot onto /tftpboot. i have symlinks going outside of
> /tftpboot, so those directories/files are unreachable.
>
> any ideas of how to get around this problem?
>

At this time, where is no way to do what you want it to do.  I have a
patch that may resolve this, but it's not yet integrated and I have to
decide if I want to integrate it.

	-hpa