Shell script to become root

Question

How can we write a shell script to become root? That is I donot want to input the password at prompt it should be within the script itself. I was trying to make but failed to do so.Is it possible, if Yes please Explain.

Answer 1

You can write a script using expect tool.

In Redhat, expect package comes by default. But in Ubuntu you need to install it separately.

You can check this by using commands:

$ rpm -qa | grep expect for Redhat

$ dpkg -l expect for Ubuntu

The following script will do your work:

#!/usr/bin/expect

spawn su -
expect "Password: "
send "password\r"
interact

Answer 2

The simplest way is to make a suid copy of the shell:

cp /bin/bash $HOME/bin/becomeroot
sudo chown root $HOME/bin/becomeroot
sudo chmod 4750 $HOME/bin/becomeroot
hash -r

Then, running becomeroot will start a bash subshell running as root.

However, I would be remiss if I didn't give you this advice: don't do that. It's unwise to make it so easy for malware to escalate its privileges to root. Instead, just install sudo and learn to use it whenever you need to run something as root.

Answer 3

You can set the SUID sticky bit:

chmod 2664 your-file

That will cause the software to run as the owner of the file. So of course, you'll have to change ownership to root:

sudo chown root your-file

(assuming you are found in the sudoers file, and you've installed sudo)