zftpd - Zero-copy FTP Daemon compatible with all POSIX systems

Multi-platform FTP server designed to run both as a POSIX binary (Linux/macOS) and as a console payload (PS3/PS4/PS5).

Key Features

• Robust TCP I/O (handling partial sends, EINTR, backpressure)
• Control/data channel timeouts + session idle timeout
• Path hardening (no traversal + best-effort canonicalization)
• Structured logging per session/command
• Transfer rate limiting (optional, compile-time)
• On-screen notifications on PS4/PS5 (IP/port and status)

Build

Artifacts are placed in build/<target>/<build_type>/.

Requirements

• C11 Toolchain (gcc/clang) + make
• To generate .bin: objcopy (binutils or llvm-objcopy). Alternatively, use SDK wrappers:
  • PS4: OBJCOPY=orbis-objcopy
  • PS5: OBJCOPY=prospero-objcopy
• PS4: PS4_PAYLOAD_SDK set
• PS5: PS5_PAYLOAD_SDK set

Commands

# Linux
make TARGET=linux

# macOS
make TARGET=macos

# PS4 (produces ftpd.bin by default)
make TARGET=ps4

# PS5 (produces ftpd.bin by default)
make TARGET=ps5

# Debug build
make TARGET=linux BUILD_TYPE=debug

Output (what to use)

• Linux: build/linux/release/ftpd.elf
• macOS: build/macos/release/ftpd
• PS4: build/ps4/release/ftpd.bin (main) + ftpd.elf
• PS5: build/ps5/release/ftpd.bin (main) + ftpd.elf

Running (Daemon) by Platform

Linux

./build/linux/release/ftpd.elf

Useful options (POSIX only): -p <port> and -d <root>.

macOS

./build/macos/release/ftpd

PS4

• Requires a payload loader (e.g. WebKit/PPPwn/Netcat/GoldHEN). zftpd does not require a resident "HEN", but must be launched by a loader/exploit.
• If the loader expects a .bin payload: send build/ps4/release/ftpd.bin.
• If the loader accepts ELF: you can choose between build/ps4/release/ftpd.bin and build/ps4/release/ftpd.elf.

On startup, it shows a notification with IP and port.

PS5

• Requires a payload loader (etaHEN/Netcat/equivalent loader).
• If the loader expects a .bin payload: send build/ps5/release/ftpd.bin.
• If the loader accepts ELF: you can choose between build/ps5/release/ftpd.bin and build/ps5/release/ftpd.elf.

On startup, it shows "started" notifications + FTP: <ip>:<port>.

Configuration

Compile-time configuration is in ftp_config.h. Useful macros:

• FTP_DEFAULT_PORT (PS4/PS5 default 2122, POSIX default 2121)
• FTP_MAX_SESSIONS
• FTP_SESSION_TIMEOUT
• FTP_TRANSFER_RATE_LIMIT_BPS / FTP_TRANSFER_RATE_BURST_BYTES
• FTP_LOG_COMMANDS

Notes

• If you see "payload already loaded" on PS4/PS5, it means an instance is already active (dedup). The new daemon will try to terminate the old instance and start a new one on port FTP_DEFAULT_PORT:2122. If that fails, it will try the next port FTP_DEFAULT_PORT+1:2123 up to a maximum of 9 subsequent ports.
• For host testing: make TARGET=linux test or make TARGET=macos test.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.