Support

It looks like you have made a mistake which impacts your site's security: you've set the Joomla temp-directory to be the same as the system's temporary directory.

The system temporary directory (usually /tmp on Linux) is a shared location that every user and every web‑application on the server can read from and write to. It is intended for short‑lived files that are automatically cleaned up by the operating system. Because it is globally accessible, any script or site that gains access to the server could also read from or write to this folder.

If Joomla’s own temp‑directory points to the system's temporary directory, then:

• All users on the server can read/write the same files. A compromised site on the same host could potentially modify or retrieve files that belong to your Joomla installation.
• Joomla cannot differentiate its own temporary files from those placed there by other applications. This makes automatic clean‑up unreliable and may leave stray files that could be exploited later.

In short, sharing the system temporary directory reduces isolation between sites, and between your site and other processes on your server, which weakens overall security as a direct result.

How to change Joomla’s temporary directory

You can safely point Joomla to a private folder that only your site can access. Here’s a step‑by‑step guide:

1. Using your hosting control panel, SSH client, or FTP, create a directory named tmp inside your Joomla installation, for example /home/yourusername/public_html/tmp.
2. Make sure the new tmp folder permissions are set to 0755 (read/write for the owner, read‑only for others).
3. Go into your site's administrator backend, then click on System, Global Configuration.
4. You’ll find a text box labelled Path to Temp Folder. Replace the existing value (e.g., /tmp) with the full path to the new folder you created, such as /home/yourusername/public_html/tmp.
5. Click the Save & Close button at the top‑left of the page.
6. Go to Components, Admin Tools, and click on Check Temp and Log Directories.

If anything feels unclear or you run into trouble while following these steps, please don’t hesitate to reply back to this ticket. I am here to help.