On this page

OSSEC / HIDS Rule 11257

OSSEC / HIDS rule catalog

  • Rule family: OSSEC / HIDS
  • Rule ID: 11257
  • Definition status: Present in current source
  • Alert message / subject: proftpd: cannot connect to the clamd daemon. (Daemon not running?)
  • Rule level: 7
  • Definition checked: 2026-10-21

Interpretation and response

This event is recorded as “proftpd: cannot connect to the clamd daemon. (Daemon not running?)”. Review the originating log and the affected host or service to determine whether the activity was expected.

An OSSEC/HIDS event records or correlates activity. Blocking depends on the originating application and any separately configured Active Response policy; an alert alone does not prove that an attack was blocked.

The current rule explicitly disables Active Response for this event.

Documentation

The following guidance was migrated from the historical wiki and reviewed against the rule definition. Legacy ASL product names and interface instructions refer to the versions documented then. Use the current metadata above and your installed configuration when interpreting thresholds, notification settings and response behavior.

Rule ID

11257

Status

The wiki marked this rule Active at the source revision. Current definition status is shown above.

Description

This rule detects when proftp tries to connect to the antimalware daemon, clamd, and can not do this. These means the antimalware daemon is not running, or something is preventing the FTP daemon from talking to it.

Check to make sure clamd is running. Log into the ASL GUI and check that CLAMAV_ENABLED is set to yes.

False Positives

A legitimate event may still trigger this rule. Review the surrounding activity before deciding whether it is malicious.

If you believe that this is a false positive, please report this to our security team can determine if this is a legitimate case, or if its clever attack on your system. Instructions to report false positives are detailed on the Reporting False Positives documentation page.

Tuning Recommendations

None.

Source and revision

Migrated from HIDS_11257, wiki page 242, revision 2024 (20111221). Documentation review: 2026-10-21. An archived wiki status of Active is not a current deployment status.

For assistance, provide the rule ID, installed product and rule version, and a sanitized event to Atomicorp support .