Fix ‘Cannot Write to Queue Directory’ Error in Sendmail After Debian Upgrade

debiansendmailupgrade

I followed this tutorial to upgrade my linode instance from Debian 8 to Stable. In the wake of that upgrade, I've had several errors/issues with sendmail.

$ which sendmail doesn't return anything. I do have sendmail installed. It's at /usr/sbin/sendmail.
Sendmail's permissions are as follows:

$ ls -la /usr/sbin/sendmail lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 26 Jul 17 12:41 /usr/sbin/sendmail -> /etc/alternatives/sendmail

The link (/etc/alternatives/sendmail) is highlighted in red.
When I try to send a test email with sudo echo "Subject: sendmail test" | /usr/sbin/sendmail -v me@address.com I get the following error:

can not write to queue directory /var/spool/mqueue-client/ (RunAsGid=115, required=0): Permission denied

That directory's permissions are:

$ ls -la /var/spool/mqueue-client drwxrwxr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 15 2018 mqueue-client

So, I obviously have some sort of permission/ownership issue, but I also think there's something else going on given items 1 and 2. I need to be able to receive emails from the system's OSSEC and Fail2ban, so I can't really go without a working email client/server. I'm just not sure how to fix these issues.

My sendmail was simply installed with $ sudo apt-get install sendmail sendmail-bin, so it came direct from Debian's repos, which is why I'm a bit baffled by these issues… I assumed that whatever configuration was needed would be handled by the installation process.

EDIT: the output of ls -l /etc/alternatives/sendmail*

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 24 Jul 17 12:41 /etc/alternatives/sendmail -> /usr/lib/sm.bin/sendmail
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 Jul 17 12:41 /etc/alternatives/sendmail.8.gz -> /usr/share/man/man8/sendmail.sendmail.8.gz

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 24 Jul 17 12:41 /etc/alternatives/sendmail-msp -> /usr/lib/sm.bin/sendmail
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 Jul 17 12:41 /etc/alternatives/sendmail-msp.8.gz -> /usr/share/man/man8/sendmail.sendmail.8.gz

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 24 Jul 17 12:41 /etc/alternatives/sendmail-mta -> /usr/lib/sm.bin/sendmail
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 Jul 17 12:41 /etc/alternatives/sendmail-mta.8.gz -> /usr/share/man/man8/sendmail.sendmail.8.gz

Each pair ends in a different color, e.g. /usr/lib/sm.bin/sendmail is highlighted in amber, while /usr/share/man/man8/sendmail.sendmail.8.gz is highlighted in red. It's the same colors – amber and red – for each pair.

EDIT2: The output of (echo subject: test; echo ; echo test) | /usr/sbin/sendmail -d44.4 -i -v username (I used my real username, but have adjusted the resulting output for security):

$ (echo subject: test; echo ; echo test) | /usr/sbin/sendmail -d44.4 -i -v username
safefile(/etc/mail/submit.cf, uid=1000, gid=0, flags=6000, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=1000, gid=0, flags=6000, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    [uid 0, nlink 1, stat 100644, mode 4]   OK
safefile(/etc/mail/relay-domains, uid=1000, gid=0, flags=6580, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=1000, gid=0, flags=6580, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    No such file or directory
safefile(/etc/mail/service.switch, uid=1000, gid=115, flags=6480, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=1000, gid=115, flags=6580, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    [uid 0, nlink 1, stat 100644, mode 4]   OK
safefile(/etc/mail/service.switch, uid=1000, gid=115, flags=6480, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=1000, gid=115, flags=6580, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    [uid 0, nlink 1, stat 100644, mode 4]   OK
safefile( , uid=1000, gid=115, flags=40, mode=660):
safedirpath(., uid=1000, gid=115, flags=40, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir .] OK
    No such file or directory
    [final dir . uid 111 mode 42770] Success
safedirpath(/var/spool/mqueue-client, uid=1000, gid=115, flags=0, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /var/spool/mqueue-client] OK
safefile(./dfx6MIGnM5005502, uid=1000, gid=115, flags=2040, mode=600):
safedirpath(., uid=1000, gid=115, flags=2040, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir .] OK
    No such file or directory
    [final dir . uid 111 mode 42770] Success
username... Connecting to [127.0.0.1] via relay...
220 major-productions.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.15.2/8.15.2/Debian-12; Mon, 22 Jul 2019 14:16:49 -0400; (No UCE/UBE) logging access from: localhost(OK)-localhost [127.0.0.1]
>>> EHLO major-productions.com
250-major-productions.com Hello localhost [127.0.0.1], pleased to meet you
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-PIPELINING
250-EXPN
250-VERB
250-8BITMIME
250-SIZE
250-DSN
250-ETRN
250-AUTH DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5
250-DELIVERBY
250 HELP
>>> VERB
250 2.0.0 Verbose mode
>>> MAIL From:<username@major-productions.com> SIZE=20 AUTH=username@major-productions.com
250 2.1.0 <username@major-productions.com>... Sender ok
>>> RCPT To:<username@major-productions.com>
>>> DATA
250 2.1.5 <username@major-productions.com>... Recipient ok
354 Enter mail, end with "." on a line by itself
>>> .
421 4.3.0 collect: Cannot write ./dfx6MIGnHm005503 (bfcommit, uid=0, gid=115): No such file or directory
>>> QUIT
username... Deferred: 421 4.3.0 collect: Cannot write ./dfx6MIGnHm005503 (bfcommit, uid=0, gid=115): No such file or directory
safefile(/var/lib/sendmail/sm-client.st, uid=1000, gid=115, flags=2282, mode=600):
safedirpath(/var/lib/sendmail, uid=1000, gid=115, flags=2282, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /var/lib/sendmail] OK
    No such file or directory
safefile(/var/lib/sendmail/sm-client.st, uid=1000, gid=115, flags=2282, mode=600):
safedirpath(/var/lib/sendmail, uid=1000, gid=115, flags=2282, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /var/lib/sendmail] OK
    No such file or directory
Closing connection to [127.0.0.1]

EDIT 3: the output of (echo subject: test; echo ; echo test) | /usr/sbin/sendmail -Am -d44.4 -i -v username while logged in as root (with the username obfuscated as before):

# (echo subject: test; echo ; echo test) | /usr/sbin/sendmail -Am -d44.4 -i -v username
safefile(/etc/mail/sendmail.cf, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6000, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6000, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    [uid 0, nlink 1, stat 100644, mode 400]     OK
safefile(/etc/mail/local-host-names, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6580, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6580, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    [uid 0, nlink 1, stat 100644, mode 400]     OK
safefile(/etc/mail/relay-domains, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6580, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6580, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    No such file or directory
safefile(/etc/mail/service.switch, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6480, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6580, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    [uid 0, nlink 1, stat 100644, mode 400]     OK
safefile(/etc/mail/service.switch, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6480, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6580, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    [uid 0, nlink 1, stat 100644, mode 400]     OK
safedirpath(/var/spool/mqueue, uid=0, gid=0, flags=4, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /var/spool/mqueue] OK
safefile(/etc/mail/service.switch, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6480, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=0, gid=0, flags=6580, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    [uid 0, nlink 1, stat 100644, mode 400]     OK
safefile(/etc/mail/aliases.db, uid=0, gid=0, flags=584, mode=400):
safedirpath(/etc/mail, uid=0, gid=0, flags=584, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /etc/mail] OK
    [uid 110, nlink 1, stat 100640, mode 400]   OK
safedirpath(/home/username, uid=1000, gid=1000, flags=1985, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /home/username] OK
safefile(/home/username/.forward.major-productions, uid=1000, gid=1000, flags=1895, mode=400):
    No such file or directory
safedirpath(/home/username, uid=1000, gid=1000, flags=1985, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /home/username] OK
safefile(/home/username/.forward, uid=1000, gid=1000, flags=1895, mode=400):
    No such file or directory
safefile(./dfx6MKLN6r006080, uid=0, gid=0, flags=2040, mode=600):
safedirpath(., uid=0, gid=0, flags=2040, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir .] OK
    No such file or directory
    [final dir . uid 0 mode 40700] Success
username... Connecting to local...
safefile(/usr/sbin/sensible-mda, uid=0, gid=0, flags=41904, mode=0):
safedirpath(/usr/sbin, uid=0, gid=0, flags=41904, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /usr/sbin] OK
    [uid 0, nlink 1, stat 104755, mode 0]   OK
username... Sent
safefile(/var/lib/sendmail/sendmail.st, uid=0, gid=0, flags=2282, mode=600):
safedirpath(/var/lib/sendmail, uid=0, gid=0, flags=2282, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /var/lib/sendmail] OK
    No such file or directory
safefile(/var/lib/sendmail/sendmail.st, uid=0, gid=0, flags=2282, mode=600):
safedirpath(/var/lib/sendmail, uid=0, gid=0, flags=2282, level=0, offset=0):
    [dir /var/lib/sendmail] OK
    No such file or directory

Best Answer

$ which sendmail doesn't return anything.

sendmail IS NOT installed in non privileged users' PATH => you observe expected/normal result. sendmail is expected to be executed by other programs like mail which use full/absolute path.

can not write to queue directory /var/spool/mqueue-client/ (RunAsGid=115, required=0): Permission denied

fix /var/spool/mqueue-client permissions and ownership

chown smmsp:smmsp /var/spool/mqueue-client`   
chmod 02770 /var/spool/mqueue-client`

MODERN SENDMAIL DOES NOT REQUIRE TO BE SET INSTALLED AS SET ROOT ID

see results of ls -l --dereference /usr/sbin/sendmail in the question's comments:
-r-sr-sr-t 1 root smmsp 860672 Sep 15 2018 /usr/sbin/sendmail

Change permission of the final target of /usr/sbin/sendmail and /etc/alternatives links in Debian:

chmod u-s /usr/lib/sm.bin/sendmail

Related Solutions

Debian – Running Stable and Installing Packages from Testing

Many people seem to be afraid of mixing stable with testing, but frankly, testing is fairly stable in its own right, and with proper preferences and solution checking, you can avoid the "stability drift" that puts your core packages on the unstable path.

"Testing is fairly stable??", you ask. Yes. In order for a package to migrate from unstable to testing, it has to have zero open bugs for 10 consecutive days. Chances are that, especially for the more popular packages, somebody is going to submit a bug report for an unstable version if something is wrong.

Even if you don't want to mix the environments, it's still nice to have the option there in case you run into something that requires a newer version than what is in stable.

Here's what I recommend for setting this up:

First, create the following files in /etc/apt/preferences.d:

stable.pref:

# 500 <= P < 990: causes a version to be installed unless there is a
# version available belonging to the target release or the installed
# version is more recent

Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 900

testing.pref:

# 100 <= P < 500: causes a version to be installed unless there is a
# version available belonging to some other distribution or the installed
# version is more recent

Package: *
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 400

unstable.pref:

# 0 < P < 100: causes a version to be installed only if there is no
# installed version of the package

Package: *
Pin: release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 50

experimental.pref:

# 0 < P < 100: causes a version to be installed only if there is no
# installed version of the package

Package: *
Pin: release a=experimental
Pin-Priority: 1

(Don't be afraid of the unstable/experimental stuff here. The priorities are low enough that it's never going to automatically install any of that stuff. Even the testing branch will behave, as it's only going to install the packages you want to be in testing.)

Now, creating a matching set for /etc/apt/sources.list.d:

stable.list: Copy from your original /etc/apt/sources.list. Rename the old file to something like sources.list.orig.

testing.list: Same as stable.list, except with testing.

unstable.list: Same as stable.list, except with unstable, and remove the security lists.

experimental.list: Same as unstable.list, except with experimental.

You can also add a oldstable in sources.lists.d and preferences.d (use a priority of 1), though this moniker will tend to expire and disappear before the next stable cycle. In cases like that, you can use http://archive.debian.org/debian/ and "hardcode" the Debian version (etch, lenny, etc.).

To install the testing version of a package, simply use aptitude install lib-foobar-package/testing, or just jump into aptitude's GUI and select the version inside of the package details (hit enter on the package you're looking at).

If you get complaints of package conflicts, look at the solutions first. In most cases, the first one is going to be "don't install this version". Learn to use the per-package accept/reject resolver choices. For example, if you're installing foobar-package/testing, and the first solution is "don't install foobar-package/testing", then mark that choice as rejected, and the other solutions will never veer to that path again. In cases like these, you'll probably have to install a few other testing packages.

If it's getting too hairy (like it's trying to upgrade libc or the kernel or some other huge core system), then you can either reject those upgrade paths or just back out of the initial upgrade altogether. Remember that it's only going to upgrade stuff to testing/unstable if you allow it to.

EDIT: Fixed some priority pins, and updated the list.

Centos – sendmail can not relay from itself

I am not positive without more details, but I would be checking for permission problems on the volume sendmail is using for its mail queue. Sendmail acts like it can't write anything, either incoming mails or bounces...
Also, here is a link on savemail panic that discusses that your aliases file might need to be rebuilt.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Debian – Running Stable and Installing Packages from Testing

Centos – sendmail can not relay from itself

Related Topic