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sudo(8)                MAINTENANCE COMMANDS               sudo(8)


NNAAMMEE
       sudo - execute a command as another user

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       ssuuddoo --VV | --hh | --ll | --LL | --vv | --kk | --KK | --ss | [ --HH ] [--SS ]
       [ --bb ] | [ --pp prompt ] [ --uu username/#uid ] command

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       ssuuddoo allows a permitted user to execute a command as the
       superuser or another user, as specified in the sudoers
       file.  The real and effective uid and gid are set to match
       those of the target user as specified in the passwd file
       (the group vector is also initialized when the target user
       is not root).  By default, ssuuddoo requires that users
       authenticate themselves with a password (NOTE: this is the
       user's password, not the root password).  Once a user has
       been authenticated, a timestamp is updated and the user
       may then use sudo without a password for a short period of
       time (five minutes by default).

       ssuuddoo determines who is an authorized user by consulting
       the file /etc/sudoers.  By giving ssuuddoo the -v flag a user
       can update the time stamp without running a command.  The
       password prompt itself will also time out if the user's
       password is not entered with N minutes (again, this is
       defined at configure time and defaults to 5 minutes).

       If a user that is not listed in the sudoers file tries to
       run a command via ssuuddoo, mail is sent to the proper
       authorities, as defined at configure time (defaults to
       root).  Note that the mail will not be sent if an
       unauthorized user tries to run sudo with the -l or -v
       flags.  This allows users to determine for themselves
       whether or not they are allowed to use ssuuddoo.

       ssuuddoo can log both successful an unsuccessful attempts (as
       well as errors) to syslog(3), a log file, or both.  By
       default ssuuddoo will log via syslog(3) but this is changeable
       at configure time.

OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       ssuuddoo accepts the following command line options:

       -V  The -V (version) option causes ssuuddoo to print the
           version number and exit.

       -l  The -l (list) option will list out the allowed (and
           forbidden) commands for the user on the current host.

       -L  The -L (list defaults) option will list out the
           parameters that may be set in a Defaults line along
           with a short description for each.  This option is
           useful in conjunction with grep(1).




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sudo(8)                MAINTENANCE COMMANDS               sudo(8)


       -h  The -h (help) option causes ssuuddoo to print a usage
           message and exit.

       -v  If given the -v (validate) option, ssuuddoo will update
           the user's timestamp, prompting for the user's
           password if necessary.  This extends the ssuuddoo timeout
           to for another N minutes (where N is defined at
           installation time and defaults to 5 minutes) but does
           not run a command.

       -k  The -k (kill) option to ssuuddoo invalidates the user's
           timestamp by setting the time on it to the epoch.  The
           next time ssuuddoo is run a password will be required.
           This option does not require a password and was added
           to allow a user to revoke ssuuddoo permissions from a
           .logout file.

       -K  The -K (sure kill) option to ssuuddoo removes the user's
           timestamp entirely.  This option does not require a
           password.

       -b  The -b (background) option tells ssuuddoo to run the given
           command in the background.  Note that if you use the
           -b option you cannot use shell job control to
           manipulate the command.

       -p  The -p (prompt) option allows you to override the
           default password prompt and use a custom one.  If the
           password prompt contains the %u escape, %u will be
           replaced with the user's login name.  Similarly, %h
           will be replaced with the local hostname.

       -u  The -u (user) option causes ssuuddoo to run the specified
           command as a user other than root.  To specify a uid
           instead of a username, use "#uid".

       -s  The -s (shell) option runs the shell specified by the
           SHELL environment variable if it is set or the shell
           as specified in passwd(5).

       -H  The -H (HOME) option sets the HOME environment
           variable to the homedir of the target user (root by
           default) as specified in passwd(5).  By default, ssuuddoo
           does not modify HOME.

       -S  The -S (stdin) option causes ssuuddoo to read the password
           from standard input instead of the terminal device.

       --  The -- flag indicates that ssuuddoo should stop processing
           command line arguments.  It is most useful in
           conjunction with the -s flag.

RREETTUURRNN VVAALLUUEESS
       ssuuddoo quits with an exit value of 1 if there is a



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sudo(8)                MAINTENANCE COMMANDS               sudo(8)


       configuration/permission problem or if ssuuddoo cannot execute
       the given command.  In the latter case the error string is
       printed to stderr.  If ssuuddoo cannot stat(2) one or more
       entries in the user's PATH an error is printed on stderr.
       (If the directory does not exist or if it is not really a
       directory, the entry is ignored and no error is printed.)
       This should not happen under normal circumstances.  The
       most common reason for stat(2) to return "permission
       denied" is if you are running an automounter and one of
       the directories in your PATH is on a machine that is
       currently unreachable.

SSEECCUURRIITTYY NNOOTTEESS
       ssuuddoo tries to be safe when executing external commands.
       Variables that control how dynamic loading and binding is
       done can be used to subvert the program that ssuuddoo runs.
       To combat this the LD_*, _RLD_*, SHLIB_PATH (HP-UX only),
       and LIBPATH (AIX only) environment variables are removed
       from the environment passed on to all commands executed.
       ssuuddoo will also remove the IFS, ENV, BASH_ENV, KRB_CONF,
       KRB5_CONFIG, LOCALDOMAIN, RES_OPTIONS and HOSTALIASES
       variables as they too can pose a threat.

       To prevent command spoofing, ssuuddoo checks "." and "" (both
       denoting current directory) last when searching for a
       command in the user's PATH (if one or both are in the
       PATH).  Note, however, that the actual PATH environment
       variable is not modified and is passed unchanged to the
       program that ssuuddoo executes.

       For security reasons, if your OS supports shared libraries
       and does not disable user-defined library search paths for
       setuid programs (most do), you should either use a linker
       option that disables this behavior or link ssuuddoo
       statically.

       ssuuddoo will check the ownership of its timestamp directory
       (/var/run/sudo by default) and ignore the directory's
       contents if it is not owned by root and only writable by
       root.  On systems that allow non-root users to give away
       files via chown(2), if the timestamp directory is located
       in a directory writable by anyone (eg: /tmp), it is
       possible for a user to create the timestamp directory
       before ssuuddoo is run.  However, because ssuuddoo checks the
       ownership and mode of the directory and its contents, the
       only damage that can be done is to "hide" files by putting
       them in the timestamp dir.  This is unlikely to happen
       since once the timestamp dir is owned by root and
       inaccessible by any other user the user placing files
       there would be unable to get them back out.  To get around
       this issue you can use a directory that is not world-
       writable for the timestamps (/var/adm/sudo for instance)
       or create /var/run/sudo with the appropriate owner (root)
       and permissions (0700) in the system startup files.



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sudo(8)                MAINTENANCE COMMANDS               sudo(8)


       ssuuddoo will not honor timestamps set far in the future.
       Timestamps with a date greater than current_time + 2 *
       TIMEOUT will be ignored and sudo will log and complain.
       This is done to keep a user from creating his/her own
       timestamp with a bogus date on system that allow users to
       give away files.

EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS
       Note: the following examples assume suitable sudoers(5)
       entries.

       To get a file listing of an unreadable directory:

        % sudo ls /usr/local/protected

       To list the home directory of user yazza on a machine
       where the filesystem holding ~yazza is not exported as
       root:

        % sudo -u yazza ls ~yazza

       To edit the index.html file as user www:

        % sudo -u www vi ~www/htdocs/index.html

       To shutdown a machine:

        % sudo shutdown -r +15 "quick reboot"

       To make a usage listing of the directories in the /home
       partition.  Note that this runs the commands in a sub-
       shell to make the cd and file redirection work.

        % sudo sh -c "cd /home ; du -s * | sort -rn > USAGE"


EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT
       ssuuddoo utilizes the following environment variables:

        PATH                   Set to a sane value if SECURE_PATH is set
        SHELL                  Used to determine shell to run with -s option
        USER                   Set to the target user (root unless the -u option
                               is specified)
        HOME                   In -s or -H mode (or if sudo was configured with
                               the --enable-shell-sets-home option), set to
                               homedir of the target user.
        SUDO_PROMPT            Used as the default password prompt
        SUDO_COMMAND           Set to the command run by sudo
        SUDO_USER              Set to the login of the user who invoked sudo
        SUDO_UID               Set to the uid of the user who invoked sudo
        SUDO_GID               Set to the gid of the user who invoked sudo
        SUDO_PS1               If set, PS1 will be set to its value





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sudo(8)                MAINTENANCE COMMANDS               sudo(8)


FFIILLEESS
        /etc/sudoers           List of who can run what
        /var/run/sudo              Directory containing timestamps


AAUUTTHHOORRSS
       Many people have worked on ssuuddoo over the years, this
       version consists of code written primarily by:

               Todd Miller
               Chris Jepeway

       See the HISTORY file in the ssuuddoo distribution for a short
       history of ssuuddoo.

BBUUGGSS
       If you feel you have found a bug in sudo, please submit a
       bug report at http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/bugs/

DDIISSCCLLAAIIMMEERR
       SSuuddoo is provided ``AS IS'' and any express or implied
       warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied
       warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular
       purpose are disclaimed.  See the LICENSE file distributed
       with ssuuddoo for complete details.

CCAAVVEEAATTSS
       There is no easy way to prevent a user from gaining a root
       shell if that user has access to commands allowing shell
       escapes.

       If users have sudo ALL there is nothing to prevent them
       from creating their own program that gives them a root
       shell regardless of any '!'  elements in the user
       specification.

       Running shell scripts via ssuuddoo can expose the same kernel
       bugs that make setuid shell scripts unsafe on some
       operating systems (if your OS supports the /dev/fd/
       directory, setuid shell scripts are generally safe).

SSEEEE AALLSSOO
       sudoers(5), visudo(8), su(1).














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sudo(8)                MAINTENANCE COMMANDS               sudo(8)



























































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