open of auto-whitelist file failed

[lisatutt]

I am getting about 200 error messages a day that read like this:

Received From: server->/var/log/maillog
Rule: 1002 fired (level 7) -> "Unknown problem somewhere in the system."
Portion of the log(s):

spamd[25887]: auto-whitelist: open of auto-whitelist file failed: locker: safe_lock: cannot create lockfile /var/spool/spamassassin/auto_whitelist.mutex: Permission denied

I've tried everything I know to do and the tech support that monitors my VPS couldn't figure it out either. Anyone know how to make this error message go away?