SFTP error connection (econnreset)

[michael78fr]

Hi,

I’m building an automated test for my application but I have a problem with the SFTP Node, I have a Econnereset error on each of my test.

Error: end: read ECONNRESET at Client.fn (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/ssh2-sftp-client/src/utils.js:69:22) at Client.emit (node:events:531:35) at Socket.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/ssh2/lib/client.js:805:12) at Socket.emit (node:events:519:28) at emitErrorNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:170:8) at emitErrorCloseNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:129:3) at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:90:21)

An other problem, when I set up my SFTP credentials, the button test spins indefinitely.

I tested to connect with the sftp client in CLI it works.

Thank you for your help.

[jabbson]

Hey @michael78fr hope all is good. Welcome to the community.

If you are using Windows SSH Server to connect over SFTP, see if this topic answers your question:

Issues connecting to FTP

Describe the problem/error/question Connecting to the ftp server used to work on a previous version of n8n (can´t recall which one). I tried connecting yesterday and the node returned “end: read ECONNRESET“. I also tried testing the credentials to the ftp server and it stayed on a permanent testing loop. The flow is just a test flow: [image] Information on your n8n setup n8n version: 1.109.2 Running n8n via n8n cloud

[michael78fr]

Hi @jabbson,

Thank you, It’s the same problem, my SFTP server runs on Windows.

It’s a n8n self hosted, how can I change the sftp client package ?

Or maybe, do you know what is the last version of the docker version that it works ?

[jabbson]

Hey @michael78fr, good question!

If you run self-hosted n8n, you could try to downgrade the version by replacing the package, it would look something like:

docker exec -it --user root n8n /bin/sh

mkdir -p /tmp/pin && cd /tmp/pin
npm init -y >/dev/null 2>&1
npm i [email protected] [email protected] --no-audit --no-fund

N8N_DIR=/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n

rm -rf "$N8N_DIR/node_modules/ssh2-sftp-client" \
       "$N8N_DIR/node_modules/ssh2"

cp -r node_modules/ssh2-sftp-client "$N8N_DIR/node_modules/"
cp -r node_modules/ssh2 "$N8N_DIR/node_modules/"

chown -R node:node "$N8N_DIR/node_modules/ssh2-sftp-client" \
                    "$N8N_DIR/node_modules/ssh2"

node -p "require('$N8N_DIR/node_modules/ssh2-sftp-client/package.json').version"
node -p "require('$N8N_DIR/node_modules/ssh2/package.json').version"

rm -rf /tmp/pin
exit

but this will be changing things in the ephemeral container.

If above works, you will need to re-build the docker image with new package.

[michael78fr]

thank you, I try this.

I tried to mount older image, but it failed because the db schema change in 1.109

[michael78fr]

It’s done but the SFTP node is always running the 12.0.1 version.

How to restart n8n without restart the docker ?

[jabbson]

docker restart n8n is how you would restart a container without re-creating it.

[michael78fr]

I restarted the docker, but I don’t understand why my ftp client is always the same.

I checked the ssh2-sftp-client (10.0.3) and ssh (1.15.0)

@jabbson

Error: end: read ECONNRESET at Client.fn (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/ssh2-sftp-client/src/utils.js:69:22) at Client.emit (node:events:531:35) at Socket.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/ssh2/lib/client.js:805:12) at Socket.emit (node:events:519:28) at emitErrorNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:170:8) at emitErrorCloseNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:129:3) at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:90:21)

[jabbson]

If you can create and share (through DM) credentials for this server, I could test, otherwise, I unfortunately have no windows machines to test this.

[jabbson]

Thank you for providing the credentials to your sftp server for tests. You are right, the previous approach wasn’t a success, because of some module locations. Here is what worked for me:

Shell into n8n container:

# Root shell
docker exec -u root -it n8n bash

Do some magic:

# 1) Build the pinned packages in isolation
rm -rf /tmp/pin && mkdir -p /tmp/pin && cd /tmp/pin
npm init -y >/dev/null 2>&1
npm i [email protected] [email protected] --no-audit --no-fund

# 2) Find the active pnpm node_modules directories used by n8n
PNPM_DIR=/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm
SFTP_NODEMODS="$(ls -d $PNPM_DIR/ssh2-sftp-client@*/node_modules | head -n1)"
SSH2_NODEMODS="$(ls -d $PNPM_DIR/ssh2@*/node_modules | head -n1)"

# Safety check
test -d "$SFTP_NODEMODS" && test -d "$SSH2_NODEMODS" || { echo "pnpm paths not found"; exit 1; }

# 3) Replace the package folders
rm -rf "$SFTP_NODEMODS/ssh2-sftp-client" "$SSH2_NODEMODS/ssh2"
cp -r node_modules/ssh2-sftp-client "$SFTP_NODEMODS/"
cp -r node_modules/ssh2 "$SSH2_NODEMODS/"

# 4) Copy direct deps of ssh2-sftp-client AND of promise-retry (the one complaining about err-code)
copy_dep () {
  local dep="$1"
  if [ -d "node_modules/$dep" ]; then
    rm -rf "$SFTP_NODEMODS/$dep"
    cp -r "node_modules/$dep" "$SFTP_NODEMODS/"
  fi
}

# Direct deps of [email protected]
for d in $(node -p "Object.keys(require('./node_modules/ssh2-sftp-client/package.json').dependencies||{}).join(' ')"); do
  copy_dep "$d"
done

# Direct deps of promise-retry (pulls in err-code, retry, etc.)
for d in $(node -p "Object.keys(require('./node_modules/promise-retry/package.json').dependencies||{}).join(' ')"); do
  copy_dep "$d"
done

# 5) Fix ownership
chown -R node:node "$SFTP_NODEMODS/ssh2-sftp-client" "$SSH2_NODEMODS/ssh2" "$SFTP_NODEMODS"/*

# 6) Verify (should print 10.0.3 and 1.15.0)
node -p "require('$SFTP_NODEMODS/ssh2-sftp-client/package.json').version"
node -p "require('$SSH2_NODEMODS/ssh2/package.json').version"

exit

then restart the container:

docker restart n8n

Opened a bug for this:

SFTP to Windows servers doesn't work with ECONNRESET error

[Ricky]

This Dockerfile is worked for me

FROM n8nio/n8n:1.114.0
USER root
RUN cd /usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n && \
    rm -rf /tmp/pin && mkdir -p /tmp/pin && cd /tmp/pin && npm init -y >/dev/null 2>&1 && npm i [email protected] [email protected] --no-audit --no-fund && \
    PNPM_DIR=/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm && \
    SFTP_NODEMODS="$(ls -d $PNPM_DIR/ssh2-sftp-client@*/node_modules | head -n1)" && \
    SSH2_NODEMODS="$(ls -d $PNPM_DIR/ssh2@*/node_modules | head -n1)" && \
    (test -d "$SFTP_NODEMODS" && test -d "$SSH2_NODEMODS") || { echo "pnpm paths not found, skipping SFTP fix"; exit 0; } && \
    rm -rf "$SFTP_NODEMODS/ssh2-sftp-client" "$SSH2_NODEMODS/ssh2" && \
    cp -r node_modules/ssh2-sftp-client "$SFTP_NODEMODS/" && \
    cp -r node_modules/ssh2 "$SSH2_NODEMODS/" && \
    copy_dep () { \
        local dep="$1"; \
        if [ -d "node_modules/$dep" ]; then \
            rm -rf "$SFTP_NODEMODS/$dep" && \
            cp -r "node_modules/$dep" "$SFTP_NODEMODS/"; \
        fi; \
    } && \
    for d in $(node -p "Object.keys(require('./node_modules/ssh2-sftp-client/package.json').dependencies||{}).join(' ')"); do \
        copy_dep "$d"; \
    done && \
    if [ -d "node_modules/promise-retry" ]; then \
        for d in $(node -p "Object.keys(require('./node_modules/promise-retry/package.json').dependencies||{}).join(' ')"); do \
            copy_dep "$d"; \
        done; \
    fi && \
    chown -R node:node "$SFTP_NODEMODS/ssh2-sftp-client" "$SSH2_NODEMODS/ssh2" "$SFTP_NODEMODS"/* && \
    node -p "require('$SFTP_NODEMODS/ssh2-sftp-client/package.json').version" && \
    node -p "require('$SSH2_NODEMODS/ssh2/package.json').version" && \
    rm -rf /tmp/pin
USER node