sqlmapproject/sqlmap · error · SqlmapSystemException

there has been a problem while setting temporary directory…

Error message

there has been a problem while setting temporary directory location ('%s')

What it means

Thrown by _createTemporaryDirectory when tempfile.mkdtemp() fails to create sqlmap's private temporary directory, forcing a fallback under SQLMAP_HOME_PATH/tmp, and that fallback path also is not a usable directory. It fires when TEMP/TMP point to unwritable or missing locations or the filesystem is full.

Solutions

  1. Set the TEMP (or TMP) environment variable to a directory writable by the current user before running sqlmap
  2. Verify disk space and permissions on the target temp location
  3. Run sqlmap with --tmp-dir pointing to a writable directory if supported
Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/core/option.py:1810 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of sqlmapproject/sqlmap@0a35b20e39 (2026-08-26). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ee1efbb836b80242. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at lib/core/option.py:1810

            warnMsg += "try to set environment variable 'TEMP' to a location "
            warnMsg += "writable by the current user"
            logger.warning(warnMsg)

    if "sqlmap" not in (tempfile.tempdir or "") or conf.tmpDir and tempfile.tempdir == conf.tmpDir:
        try:
            tempfile.tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="sqlmap", suffix=str(os.getpid()))
        except:
            tempfile.tempdir = os.path.join(paths.SQLMAP_HOME_PATH, "tmp", "sqlmap%s%d" % (randomStr(6), os.getpid()))

    kb.tempDir = tempfile.tempdir

    if not os.path.isdir(tempfile.tempdir):
        try:
            os.makedirs(tempfile.tempdir)
        except Exception as ex:
            errMsg = "there has been a problem while setting "
            errMsg += "temporary directory location ('%s')" % getSafeExString(ex)
            raise SqlmapSystemException(errMsg)

    conf.tempDirs.append(tempfile.tempdir)

    if six.PY3:
        _pympTempLeakPatch(kb.tempDir)

def _cleanupOptions():
    """
    Cleanup configuration attributes.
    """

    if conf.encoding:
        try:
            codecs.lookup(conf.encoding)
        except LookupError:
            errMsg = "unknown encoding '%s'" % conf.encoding
            raise SqlmapValueException(errMsg)

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