I might agree with that, except that the file I am trying to upload is using permissions of 755, and the script will work from the command line as the apache user, or really any of the users on that box. Does apache under mod perl have a different user other than the other perl interpretor? On our server we call it 'apache'. And the mod perl and cgi perl interpretors both use the same httpd.conf file. This really is a configuration of mod perl type question, so maybe this isn't the best form here.

I do thank you for the suggestion, and maybe there is something that I am missing in the httpd.conf. What information might I provide to track this down?

The user depends on how you configure it, but usually CGI programs don't run as the same user that apache runs as. Another potential difference is environment variables.

$Net::SFTP::Foreign::debug = -1;
[download]

Tracing the process at the OS level (with truss, strace, ktrace or similar), would also help.

OpenSSH_4.3p2, OpenSSL 0.9.8b 04 May 2006
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to ftp.****.com [***.***.***.***] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /home/apache/.ssh/identity type -1
debug1: identity file /home/apache/.ssh/id_rsa type 1
debug1: identity file /home/apache/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version VShell_2_
+5_1_219 VShell
debug1: no match: VShell_2_5_1_219 VShell
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_4.3
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: server->client aes128-cbc hmac-md5 none
debug1: kex: client->server aes128-cbc hmac-md5 none
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST(1024<1024<8192) sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY
debug1: Host 'ftp.*****.com' is known and matches the DSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /home/apache/.ssh/known_hosts2:1
DSA host key for IP address '***.***.***.***' not in list of known hos
+ts.
debug1: ssh_dss_verify: signature correct
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: password,publickey,gssapi-w
+ith-mic
debug1: Next authentication method: gssapi-with-mic
debug1: An invalid name was supplied
Unknown code krb5 243

debug1: An invalid name was supplied
Unknown code krb5 243

debug1: An invalid name was supplied
Unknown code krb5 243

debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Trying private key: /home/apache/.ssh/identity
debug1: Offering public key: /home/apache/.ssh/id_rsa
debug1: Authentications that can continue: password,publickey,gssapi-w
+ith-mic
debug1: Trying private key: /home/apache/.ssh/id_dsa
debug1: Next authentication method: password
#13647 queueing msg len: 5, code:1, id:3 ... [1]
00 00 00 05 01 00 00 00 03                                            
+                          | .........
#13647 waiting for message... [1]
#13647 _do_io connected: 1
#13647 _do_io select(-,-,-, undef)
#13647 _do_io write queue: 9, syswrite: undef, max: 20480
#13647 _conn_lost
#13647 _set_status code: 7, str: Connection lost
#13647 _set_err code: 37, str: Connection to remote server is broken
#13647 _conn_lost
#######################  Connected  #######################
#13647 queueing msg len: 10, code:11, id:0 ... [2]
00 00 00 0a 0b 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 2e                             
+                          | ..............
#13647 waiting for message... [2]
#13647 _do_io connected: 0
#13647 _conn_lost
#13647 new remote dir '.' open, rid:
#13647 queueing msg len: 29, code:3, id:1 ... [3]
00 00 00 1d 03 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 08 66 69 6c 65 2e 74 78 74 00 00 0
+0 1a 00 00 00 04 00 00 01 | .............file.txt...........
a4                                                                    
+                          | .
#13647 waiting for message... [3]
#13647 _do_io connected: 0
#13647 _conn_lost
#13647 _set_status code: 7, str: Connection lost
#13647 _set_err code: 37, str: Connection to remote server stalled
#13647 new remote file 'file.txt' open, rid:
#######################  Successful  #######################
#13647 Net::SFTP::Foreign=HASH(0x55557f9b8e30)->DESTROY called (curren
+t pid: 13647, disconnect_by_pid: )
#13647 Net::SFTP::Foreign=HASH(0x55557f9b8e30)->disconnect called (ssh
+ pid: 13655)
#13647 _conn_lost
debug1: Authentication succeeded (password).
debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
debug1: Entering interactive session.
debug1: Sending environment.
debug1: Sending env LANG = C
debug1: Sending subsystem: sftp
debug1: channel 0: free: client-session, nchannels 1
debug1: fd 0 clearing O_NONBLOCK
debug1: fd 1 clearing O_NONBLOCK
debug1: fd 2 clearing O_NONBLOCK
debug1: Transferred: stdin 0, stdout 0, stderr 0 bytes in 0.1 seconds
debug1: Bytes per second: stdin 0.0, stdout 0.0, stderr 0.0
debug1: Exit status -1
[download]

Thank you!

Something is going wrong on the password authentication process... it looks like ssh does not see the password until its /dev/tty stream is closed.

Can you trace the script at the OS level with strace (or similar) to see the data being exchanged between the module and the ssh process? Ensure that the full data is dumped (i.e. strace -s 100000 ...).

You may need to remove sensible information as passwords from the dump.

Which module version, perl version and OS are you using?