For VSFTPD 3,

1. Go to: /etc/vsftpd.conf

2. and add this:

   allow_writeable_chroot=YES
   

   Just add it if it does not exist yet.

3. Restart the vsftpd service:

   service vsftpd restart
   

And it should work.

The real solution of this problem: the home folder of the user should not be writable only readable.

So, if user site is in the folder is cat/example.com/http/, folder cat must have chmod 555 and all will be OK.

According to the previous answer "The REAL solution of this problem: the home folder of the user should not be writable only read.". The general thinking is right, but with a wrong realization.

Below I'll try to give a simple example:

For a start, we need to build a topology of the user directory:

 /home (ro)
   |-someuser (rw,700)
         |-ftp_upload (ro,555)  - ch_rooting here, required read-only by vsftpd :(
           |-temp (rw,755)
           |-in_box (rw,755)
           |-out_box (rw,755)

vsftpd.conf cut:

# Enable chrooting
chroot_local_user=YES

# chroot all users except listened inside chroot_list
chroot_list_enable=YES

# Exception list. Ideally, it should be blank ;)
chroot_list_file=/etc/vsftpd/chroot_list

# Map ftp root directory to specific directory
local_root=/home/someuser/ftp

This configuration works great with a single-user configuration. For multi-user, the "user_config_dir" directive should be used additionally.

**UPDATE 20/09

------**

Here is tricky workaround, not best idea to use, but.... If u need writable ftp root folder, just insert permission change commands in pre-start and post-start commands.

1. Pre-start - change permissions to read-only, which the server requires (:

2. Start server

3. Post-start - change permission to read-write, or which you need.

I needed to add the following to the /etc/vsftpd.conf file as well:

seccomp_sandbox=NO

AND no need for the custom repo!!

And uncomment the line:

write_enable=YES

It's pretty much what toastboy70 mentioned. Make ftp-root dir chown'd to ftp.ftp and non-writable (/etc/vsftpd.conf): anon_root=/srv/ftp

Then make a writable child dir: /srv/ftp/upload

The simple fix is to do as the error message suggests: make the root non-writable and then if you need to enable uploads, make a subdirectory which does have write permission. No config changes necessary.

After 3 hours of googling I got on Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS VSFTPd 3 working. The home folder will be visible /home/vimal once accessed with a client. I have logged in with vimal with root privilege. I have ftpShare folder created, but has not much meaning.

sudo chown vimal:vimal /home/vimal/ftpShare/

some useful commands:

sudo nano /etc/vsftpd.conf
sudo service vsftpd restart
sudo apt-get purge vsftpd
netstat -a | grep ftp
tcp        0        0        *:ftp         *:*        LISTEN
ftp://12.345.23.xxx/  for browser login

Above means ftp daemon is working

I have following configuration:

seccomp_sandbox=no
listen=YES
anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
write_enable=YES
local_umask=022
dirmessage_enable=YES
use_localtime=YES
xferlog_enable=YES
connect_from_port_20=YES
chroot_local_user=YES
chroot_list_enable=NO
secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd/empty
rsa_private_key_file=/etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key
allow_writeable_chroot=YES

Once FTP working you may further tune it to specific needs, some of above have default values, but i don't remember exactly.

Errors seen in FTP Client:

1. 500 OOPS: prctl PR_SET_SECCOMP failed

Solution.

seccomp_sandbox=no    

[add it on the very first line vsftpd.conf, after initial commented section ends]

2. 500 OOPS: vsftpd: refusing to run with writable root inside chroot()

allow_writeable_chroot=YES

I added it at the last line.

I solved the problem of vsFTPd refusing to run with a writable root inside chroot() on my Ubuntu server as follows:

I just added the below line in the vsftpd.conf file:

allow_writeable_chroot=YES