Ftp – How to restrict anonymous FTP access to downloads only

I'd recommend against options IPFIREWALL_DEFAULT_TO_ACCEPT. The default is to Default to Deny. The firewall comes up with just one rule deny ip from any to any and stays that way until a script configures exactly what traffic should get through.

Follow-Up Note: RSA (one of the world's leading security technology companies) was hacked recently when part of their firewall was disabled during a maintenance window. This really underscores how quickly a system can be compromised given the right conditions.

If you insist on disabling the firewall until you explicitly block unwanted traffic, please consider using the sysctl available by adding net.inet.ip.fw.default_to_accept=1 to loader.conf. This has the added benefit of being easily modified (no recompiling the kernel) if you change your mind at some point in the future.

I had a similar issue on Windows 7, but I solved it by allowing the "Users" group write and modify permissions on the file system folder which was the FTP root.

1. Find the ftp root in your file system
2. Right-click > Properties > Security
3. Edit the settings for the "Users" group to include write and modify permissions

I think this is required because the anonymous FTP user will assume the privileges of the IUSR_... Windows account - which isn't necessarily the same user as the one running the FTP service?

Hope this helps.