cPanel and main ftp account losing sync?

[mvandemar]

I have run into this twice now on the same account. I go to ftp in using the main cpanel credentials and I get a "530 Login authentication failed". I go to cpanel and log in using the same credentials and it works fine, which verifies that the password is correct. I try ftp again using those credentials and it still won't authenticate.

I then go to whm, go to the account in question, and change the password to itself (ie. I hit change but I am using the same password that works in cpanel but not ftp) and now I can both ftp in fine and log in to cpanel with the same login.

Any idea what would cause the two systems to lose sync like that?

-Michael

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello Michael,

Do you notice any specific output to /var/log/messages at the time FTP authentication fails?

Thank you.

 

[mvandemar]

I am not sure how to line up the log messages with the exact time the event happened, so my guess is I need to wait for it to happen again?

-Michael

 

[cPanelMichael]

I am not sure how to line up the log messages with the exact time the event happened, so my guess is I need to wait for it to happen again?

Hello Michael,

That's correct. If you are unsure when the issue last occurred, then you'd want to monitor /var/log/messages upon testing the FTP login (before updating the cPanel account's password) the next time this happens. Another option is to search /usr/local/cpanel/logs/access_log to see the date and time when you changed the account password, and then search for that date/time in /var/log/messages to see the FTP login activity that was logged before you changed the password to solve the issue. EX:

grep "json-api/passwd" /usr/local/cpanel/logs/access_log

Thank you.