General :: Security - Let Any User Perform Administrative Tasks On A System Irrespective Of His / Her Privileges On That Particular System?
Sep 26, 2010
I often get responses from people who first say: "Are you sure? You want your network to be exposed to the outside world?" I am not experimenting on a Production Server of NASA or any Security Concern Department. Friends, there is no harm in experimenting on your personal computer or on a test computer which is isolated from the production environment. Look at hackers! What do they do? If they don't know how security is breached then how would they come up with security measures?
If my question reads... "How to let any user perform Administrative Tasks on a Linux System irrespective of his/her privileges on that particular system?" then I would not get the right answers in the first place. They will say... "You are letting everyone destroy your system... are you sure you want to do that?" My question is: Why should we restrict ourselves from experimenting even if it sounds weird to other people?
I give you an example where it is desirable to let an unprivileged user perform certain tasks. You want to know if there are any employees in your office who are storing videos in their home directory and filling up the disk space to a great amount. You have a department called "Command Center or Data Center Operations or Help Desk" call it whatever you would, whose work is to monitor such activities, and you create an account "monitor" for them to monitor such activities but they are not able to do them:
The title says it all. Is there a way to just click ok to administrative tasks instead of having to enter my password every time? Sort of like Windows 7's UAC.I'm using ubuntu 10.04 LTS. I don't want to log in as root
I'm trying to write a bash script with a for loop that will perform two tasks a number of times depending on the number the user enters at the start. Here is what I got so far. It works fine the first time but then it just exits with no error msgs. The problem is in the way I have written the loop command. I have searched the web for examples to find out what I'm doing wrong with no luck.
I am a student at DeVry University, newly introduced to Fedora and Linux in general, and have a project whereby, we have been asked to consider some administrative tasks that we could automate via a script.I was wondering if there were any thoughts or directives from the community on what admin tasks you guys find to be of inestimable use in automating via a Linux script.
I am new to the Linux commands but have done a wee bit of programming before in C++ and others.I have also done basic DOS batch files before.
while using my pen-drive in fedora 14, a small dialog box appeared and before I could read it,it disappeared. It worked normally till I turned the computer down. Next time I used Windows XP. There were no files in the pen-drive but it still showed 5 GB used ( the same amount of data was there previously ). I restarted and switched to Linux. All my data was in a single folder named 'Found.000' . It showed nearly 400 objects , renamed as 'file0001.CHK'. They were all mine, merged in a single folder. I am helpless because I can not delete them (as I need them). I can get administrative privileges.
I have a folder named "logs" which contains log files. I would like to have a bash script or a cron job or something like this which will check the folder continuousy and perform some tasks (for example echo "New file is created") every time a new file with pattern like "Screen.log.***" is created in the folder "logs" Is it possible in Linux?
I am a new Linux user and have a question about the administrative authentication. When I am logged in as a user and I need to do something that requires root privileges the little password window comes up and I enter the root password. My question is how long are the root privileges granted for?I noticed that a few minutes after finishing checking out the firewall configuration tool and closing the window that I was still able to re-enter the fire wall tool and other administrative tools. How do I log out of the root privileges without logging out and then back into my account?
Over the past few days, I've noticed that administrative tasks sometimes fail to start. I'm asked to enter the administrative password, "Granting rights" appears in the bottom panel for a few seconds, but then disappears. I'm using Debian Lenny. This is only an intermittent problem, and if a task does fail to start, it will start on the next attempt. Tasks which have failed to start are:
*Launching Synaptic form the System menu. *Launching a root terminal from the Applications menu. *Launching Nautilus with root privileges from a terminal using gksu.
After coming across the following post, I thought maybe it was an issue with kernel 2.6.32-bpo.5-686, because I'd recently upgraded to that kernel too, but I'm advised that that isn't so.It was suggested that something else from backports might be causing the problem.
I find myself using SSH from my mobile phone to manage administrative tasks when I'm away--completing updates and the like, things that can be done during normal usage but sap my RAM and CPU to the point of frustration, given the hardware I've got to work with. It's convenient, I can do what I wish (without the benefit of an X session) while I'm at work. The issue I run into is the fact that my auth.log is littered with items like this:
Code: May 16 12:53:17 BETA sshd[18941]: pam_unix(sshd:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=200.111.184.180 May 16 12:53:19 BETA sshd[18941]: Failed password for invalid user lala from 200.111.184.180 port 41787 ssh2 May 16 12:53:25 BETA sshd[18943]: Invalid user master from 200.111.184.180
Which tells me that some inconspicuous person and/or botnet keeps trying to get into my system. This is generally annoying; at this point, my system isn't used for anything particularly critical; however, the fact that only failures or questionable successes--such as those from my mobile, the IP and Host of which can vary a fair bit (and the host resolution almost always fails, based on the way the IP/Host advertisement is presented to an external host is established--it's essentially manufactured)--doesn't tell me who/what has figured it out. I've done what I can to tamp down SSH access to the system, root is blocked via SSH (a moot item, since root isn't allowed locally), I've limited only my own username as allowed to connect via SSH...all it would take, though, is an alphanumeric dictionary that hits the right combination to get a password prompt, and to be able to brute-force it from there.
Overall, I know there's few, if any ways, to prevent someone attempting to get into my system via SSH; what additional steps can I take to minimize the possibility that I might end up compromised?
In System/Administration/Users and Groups, my user account properties-user privilegies, the Administer the system is checked (only Send and receive fax and Use tape drives are unchecked).But when I try to run the KDE partition manager, it warns me that I don't have administrative privilegies, so I will not be able to apply changes.
I am new to this O/S. I have tried Mint and Ubuntu. There are some problems I would like to work out by myself before I take short-cuts, as if.I have tried to install codecs for my o/s media player and get a reply from computer "xxxx does not have sudoer rights, you will be reported."I tried to get sudoer rights and was told I had to have administrator rights first. To get administrator rights I needed sudoer rights. I decided to come to forums to ask and this is my first post.
Is there a danger in getting administrative rights? If so, I would still rather like to face the danger than not be able to play music. And how do I get real superuser rights? My root account is localhost.localdomain and my login account is XXXX. I would have access to everything rather than have a warning that the administration is receiving reports of my activity. Might anyone have help?
I know that some settings can only accessed by root (like the login manager). KDE 3 had a button where you could become root to access it.Where is this button in KDE 4? After googling I found year old articles mentioned that you should kdesu gksu systemstettings in CLI, which was ok when KDE 4 was new, buggy. But my hairs stand on end of having to use such a dirty workaround for a standard feature.Has KDE 4 taken a step back, lost an essetial and obviously necessary feature here compared to 3?
fscheck is quite annoying, since it usually occurs when I reboot my system performing administration tasks. do I actually need fscheck if Im using the ext3 file system? if not how would I extend the period between checks or just turn it off altogether?
I have searched somewhat this forum but haven't yet found a similar post using the keywords I entered but perhaps there is already a similar post then please refer me to it.I am trying to add a user account "Guest" to allow people on my laptop without giving them access to vital parts of the computer. Basically, I want them to only be able to view their own home directory and access internet. Nothing more.I have set the group to "guest" and changed the other home directories of other users to owner access only.
Guest still has access to root and is still allowed to perform actions in various critical areas (deleting files from for example my Windows 7 partition). This I also want to prevent. I was thinking to set each directory's permissions to Owner and Group only and remove Others access.My questions:
1. Will this have any undesirable impact (programs of main user accounts not able to access certain directories)? For guest user I don't care as long as internet works. 2. When I start User Manager and disable for Guest all options except "access internet" (so I also disable access to CDROM), the guest can still access the CDROM. Does this mean the User Settings menu has no effect or is overruled by something?
Is there any way to user can increase or lower his privileges? I tried by "semanage login" but it works only for admin i think. I would like for example change range form s0:c0 to s0:c0.c10 and vice versa.
I downloaded a driver for my printer today and I opened it in the terminal. Then a window popped up saying "This opporation requires root (administrative) privileges. Please enter the administrative password below:" I typed in the same password that I use when authorizing the installation of programs from the Ubuntu Software Center and I tried it multiple times. Each time, it rejects the password. I even tried downloading something else from the software center, just to make sure the password was correct, but the system had no problem with the password when downloading from the software center. So, is my software center password different from my administrator password?
I'm running 10.04 running daily updates. A couple days back, I saw an update related to mounting volumes. Not sure if this is what broke my system, but might be. When attempting to mount a partition from nautilus, I get a message saying I do not have authorization. It does not even ask for my password, just fails. I tried running updates and this asks for my password and accepts it fine. I opened disk utility from the menus and tried to mount the volume from there but also got the same permission denied, not authorized without even being asked for my password.
I then ran gksu palimpsest. I was asked for my password and was able to mount and unmount partitions from there. However, when mounted, my applications and nautilus cannot access the data in the partitions mounted using gksu palimpsest. In nautilus, I can navigate to /media/Data (the partition in question) but I get "THE FOLDER CONTENTS CANNOT BE DISPLAYED You do not have the permissions necessary to view the contents of "Data"." When I open nautilus via gksu in the terminal, I do have full access to the partitions.
How do I get my privileges back for my user account. I am the only user on the computer, and I have never set up a root account since my upgrade to 10.04 months ago. I tried of course the Administration->Users and Groups menu, but I am not permitted to change the account type or open advanced settings. I click the button, but nothing happens, not even a password request. Running gksu admin-settings on the terminal allows me access. My current settings are attached.
Could not download all repository indexes.The repository may no longer be available or could not be contacted because of network problems. If available an older version of the failed index will be used. Otherwise the repository will be ignored. Check your network connection and ensure the repository address in the preferences is correct.and therefore i am unable to perform many tasks.this is a clean install of 9.10 on a brand new laptop
A few month ago one of my computers ( hp thin client ) was compromised. I reformatted the harddrives and reinstalled MANDRIVA 2010 .
After a few days I had been prompted at login with a username robert even if there was no more user robert ( I changed to use rob at new installation )
So I became nervous and formatted again 4x first ext3 than swap than ntfs than reiserfs. I kept this computer out of network ( used as standalone no LAN no WLAN ) I reformatted all my usb sticks and external hds. And now a few days ago the clou, robert was back again at login !
But there is no user robert in /etc/shadow how to stop him coming back ?
i am relatively new to ubuntu. Just recenty i have not been able to access certain files(for example the history and bookmarks in the firefox folder), download files individually from the internet(music,fonts,etc), recieving an error message
i have sudo priveleges and can install via update manager. i read somewhere that compizfusion might affect access permissions and i do use compiz and emerald at the same time.
In our group we use NIS and have a group set up called netadmin which is given root privileges on each machine. Each machine also has a localuser called localuser created and used during installation. When logged in as a member of netadmin, attempting any action that requires root privileges (e.g. installing software in Ubuntu Software Center) results in a prompt asking for localuser's password, not the current user's password.
Does anyone know the cause? Configuration issue or Ubuntu issue? We can get around it.
I added a code into terminal and restarted, then I tried to install Java and this came up.'There seems to be a programming error in aptdaemon. This is the software that allows you to install/remove software and to perform other package management related tasks.'
PHP Code: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/aptdaemon/worker.py", line 961, in simulate
I'm using Gnome and I'd like to still have the ability to reboot/shutdown from one particular account as well as root. How would I modify the chmod command to add this ability?Also, I have a few users who just will hold the power button in to shutdown the machine. How can I keep them from doing this?// Pruned from the vintage 2007 Prevent a non-root user from shutting down, rebooting or suspend the system thread. Please create new threads instead of resurrecting ancient ones.
I am currently running a VPS with Ubuntu Server 10.10. I have been trying for a few days now to get some programs to run when the system starts, but with no luck. I am trying to use rc.local to do this, there is an: /etc/init.d/rc.local - http://paste.monsterprojects.org/mpbjhwhbjzhbjrr (Was already on the system, I have not edited this) and: /etc/rc.local - http://paste.monsterprojects.org/mpbjhwhbkkkhwez
If i run the /etc/rc.local script manually all the programs start fine, and if i run /etc/init.d/rc.local start, all the programs start fine. But for some reason they just don't seem to be starting when the system boots.
This netbook only has a user with non-administrative privs on it and root user but I do not have root's password.Is there a way that I can create a new administrative user of change the current user's group so that it can do sudo commands or have more privs?
I'm niomi and I'm the first account with sudo. I add an account, bob. niomi can get in reliably on active mode. (maybe relevant?: passive doesn't work) bob is jailed to his home directory, niomi is in ftp-special which gives her access to /. bob can't log in and his shell is set to bin/false. What could have gone wrong?
