Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: Is my ROOT jacked?

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Posts
    3

    Is my ROOT jacked?

    Hello all,

    I have a strange situation I would like to recount and get some input on.

    The short version is that when I run the TAR command with -xvf as root
    the extracted files show up in a directory owned by a different user and a
    numerical group (500 to be exact). When I attempt to CD into the directory
    the system tells me that the directory does not exist. After I chown the dir back to root and chgrp it out of 500 land, I can access the directory just fine.

    I have checked the .bash_profile and disconnected the server from ldap using authconfig (this is CENTOS 4 btw) and the problem still persists... This is making me think that something is subverting commands created by root and executing them as another user... how can this be done? I was always under the impression that root is root and no one else.

    If I need to post any config files or logs let me know.

  2. #2
    Banned
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Posts
    35
    Quote Originally Posted by insuredjester View Post
    The short version is that when I run the TAR command with -xvf as root the extracted files show up in a directory owned by a different user and a numerical group
    Root should not be jacked. You are running "tar" as root instead of a regular user. You activated the safety mechanism which prevents possible damage to the root account.

    use tar -oxvf instead of -xvf. This will always make your files belong to user root and group root.

  3. #3
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Posts
    3

    Fixed

    Works perfectly.

    I was building source from a trusted source and figured it was safe to do the deed as root from start to finish... Thanks for the help.

Similar Threads

  1. Many connections from 127.0.0.1
    By nancy in forum Newbie Security Questions
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: December 11th, 2008, 08:39 AM
  2. Additional Security Measures for *nix
    By thehorse13 in forum *nix Security Discussions
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: May 15th, 2003, 12:14 PM
  3. Installation of a secure webserver.
    By instronics in forum The Security Tutorials Forum
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: January 19th, 2003, 01:53 PM
  4. Solaris Hardening
    By R0n1n in forum *nix Security Discussions
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: November 20th, 2002, 02:20 PM
  5. Linux Security Measures [part 1]
    By Nitro in forum The Security Tutorials Forum
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: July 3rd, 2002, 06:37 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •