# Traefik as a Systemd service does not start with a dedicated unprivileged user

**URL:** <https://community.traefik.io/t/traefik-as-a-systemd-service-does-not-start-with-a-dedicated-unprivileged-user/28749>\
**Category:** Traefik v3 (latest)\
**Tags:** cli\
**Created:** [September 24, 2025, 1:47pm UTC](https://community.traefik.io/t/traefik-as-a-systemd-service-does-not-start-with-a-dedicated-unprivileged-user/28749 "2025-09-24T13:47:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Phoenyx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Phoenyx](https://community.traefik.io/u/Phoenyx)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 1:47pm UTC](https://community.traefik.io/t/traefik-as-a-systemd-service-does-not-start-with-a-dedicated-unprivileged-user/28749/1 "2025-09-24T13:47:56Z")

</div>

Hi, I have a question and hope one of you can give me the decisive tip.

I have a freshly installed Debian 12 server here.

Now I want to install BareMetal Traefik 3.5.2 on it.

So far, so good.

The problem starts as soon as I try to run the Systemd service for the Traefik proxy with the dedicated unprivileged user traefik.

It always fails with the same error message:

```auto
“command traefik error: stat /etc/traefik/traefik.yml: permission denied”,‘time’:“2025-09-24T15:23:24+02:00”

```

I believe I have checked all permissions.

1. File permissions

```auto
ls -ld /etc -> drwxr-xr-x ... root root (correct)ls -ld /etc/traefik -> drwxr-x--- ... traefik traefik (correct after chmod g+x)ls -l /etc/traefik/traefik.yml -> -rw-r----- ... traefik traefik (correct)

```

2. Searched for appamor=DENIED in the journal, no messages

3. ACL package is not installed, so no ACLs are active

To rule out systemd as the cause, I tried direct access:

`sudo -u traefik head -n 1 /etc/traefik/traefik.yml`

Result: permission denied.

I even went so far as to open it for everyone with chmod 644. Result: Permission Denied.

Even with hardening removed, no change.

User recreated, rights redistributed.

Finally, a strace result: `[pid 7555] openat(..., “/etc/traefik/traefik.yml”, O_RDONLY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)`

So the kernel itself is denying access.

And now I'm at my wit's end. I don't understand why.

I hope one of you can help me.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bluepuma77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9adbd/32.png) [@bluepuma77](https://community.traefik.io/u/bluepuma77)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://community.traefik.io/t/traefik-as-a-systemd-service-does-not-start-with-a-dedicated-unprivileged-user/28749/2 "2025-09-24T19:02:58Z")

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> [@Phoenyx](#):
>
> `sudo -u traefik head -n 1 /etc/traefik/traefik.yml`
> 
> Result: permission denied.

Sounds like an OS issue, I recommend to try something like [linuxquestions Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/).