I also saw the crash on a new install of transmission on a new install of Debian unstable x64. The crash doesn't happen when running as root, only as the user debian-transmission.
[New Thread 0x7ffff3d6e700 (LWP 12280)] Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault. [Switching to Thread 0x7ffff3d6e700 (LWP 12280)] 0x00007ffff67ff4c9 in __readdir (dirp=dirp@entry=0x0) at ../sysdeps/posix/readdir.c:44 44 ../sysdeps/posix/readdir.c: Permission denied. (gdb) bt #0 0x00007ffff67ff4c9 in __readdir (dirp=dirp@entry=0x0) at ../sysdeps/posix/readdir.c:44 #1 0x0000555555560318 in loadBlocklists (session=session@entry=0x5555557ce3d0) at session.c:2226 #2 0x000055555556214d in tr_sessionInitImpl (vdata=0x7fffffffe360) at session.c:726 #3 0x000055555556f0db in readFromPipe (fd=7, eventType=<optimized out>, veh=0x5555557ce960) at trevent.c:193 #4 0x00007ffff7592184 in event_base_loop () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libevent-2.0.so.5 #5 0x000055555556f1a8 in libeventThreadFunc (veh=0x5555557ce960) at trevent.c:249 #6 0x000055555555f5ba in ThreadFunc (_t=0x5555557ce9e0) at platform.c:108 #7 0x00007ffff6afde0e in start_thread (arg=0x7ffff3d6e700) at pthread_create.c:311 #8 0x00007ffff68329ed in clone () at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/x86_64/clone.S:113 (gdb) bt full #0 0x00007ffff67ff4c9 in __readdir (dirp=dirp@entry=0x0) at ../sysdeps/posix/readdir.c:44 dp = <optimized out> saved_errno = 2 #1 0x0000555555560318 in loadBlocklists (session=session@entry=0x5555557ce3d0) at session.c:2226 odir = 0x0 dirname = 0x7fffec001810 "/home/debian-transmission/.config/transmission-daemon/blocklists" d = <optimized out> blocklists = 0x0 loadme = {items = 0x0, n_items = 0, n_alloc = 0} isEnabled = false #2 0x000055555556214d in tr_sessionInitImpl (vdata=0x7fffffffe360) at session.c:726 filename = 0x7fffec001810 "/home/debian-transmission/.config/transmission-daemon/blocklists" settings = {type = 8 '\b', key = 140737328459958, val = {b = false, d = 1.2648080533535912e-321, i = 256, s = { type = (unknown: 256), quark = 63, len = 140737152820176, str = {buf = '\000' <repeats 15 times>, str = 0x0}}, l = { alloc = 256, count = 63, vals = 0x7fffec0023d0}}} data = 0x7fffffffe360 clientSettings = <optimized out> session = 0x5555557ce3d0 #3 0x000055555556f0db in readFromPipe (fd=7, eventType=<optimized out>, veh=0x5555557ce960) at trevent.c:193 data = {func = 0x555555562050 <tr_sessionInitImpl>, user_data = 0x7fffffffe360} nwant = 16 ch = 114 'r' ret = 1 eh = 0x5555557ce960 #4 0x00007ffff7592184 in event_base_loop () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libevent-2.0.so.5 No symbol table info available. #5 0x000055555556f1a8 in libeventThreadFunc (veh=0x5555557ce960) at trevent.c:249 base = 0x7fffec0008f0 eh = 0x5555557ce960 #6 0x000055555555f5ba in ThreadFunc (_t=0x5555557ce9e0) at platform.c:108 t = 0x5555557ce9e0 #7 0x00007ffff6afde0e in start_thread (arg=0x7ffff3d6e700) at pthread_create.c:311 __res = <optimized out> pd = 0x7ffff3d6e700 now = <optimized out> unwind_buf = {cancel_jmp_buf = {{jmp_buf = {140737284335360, 7434306307216419016, 1, 140737332145376, 4096, 140737284335360, -7434297709806966584, -7434286929468020536}, mask_was_saved = 0}}, priv = {pad = {0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0}, data = {prev = 0x0, cleanup = 0x0, canceltype = 0}}} not_first_call = 0 pagesize_m1 = <optimized out> sp = <optimized out> freesize = <optimized out> __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ = "start_thread" #8 0x00007ffff68329ed in clone () at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/x86_64/clone.S:113 No locals.