1

One of the study questions I'm doing is suggesting that I apply ACL's for the /root directory recursively for a regular user on the system. Obviously, this is bad security practice but it's just for practice inside a VM and I will remove the ACL once I'm done.

I've tried like this:

setfacl -R -m u:username:rwx /root

But when I log in as username I just get every file as rwx permissions, including text files and other non executables.

Is there a neater way that copies permissions into the ACL from regular ugo permissions, or would that involve a bit of bash scripting?

|improve this question
  • 1
    you want to add the permission just to folders not files ? Is that the case? – vfbsilva May 4 '17 at 20:45
  • I think for the purposes of learning I just want to mirror the privileges that the root user would have on the /root directory but using ACL to make it available to the average user. Would that be accomplished just by adding directories and not files? I will try... – bitofagoob May 4 '17 at 20:58
  • Oh. Whaddya know! I tried just this: setfacl -m u:username:rwx /root and it seems to have worked. It was simpler than I imagined! – bitofagoob May 4 '17 at 21:03
2

I found that it wasn't necessary to use the recursive (-R) switch in this case.

Just doing this:

setfacl -m u:username:rwx /root

Was enough to give me execute access to /root as normal user and also tried copying some executables into the directory and subdirectories. They ran just as if I were accessing my home directory.

Thanks to vfbsilva for the reply, which made me try the simpler approach. I have upvoted their comment.

|improve this answer
  • please add here theexplanation of the -m trigger so we can actualy undestand why it did not work on first place – vfbsilva May 4 '17 at 21:13
  • 1
    The -m switch just tells it to modify an ACL. If only the default ACL template exists for a file the -m switch just modifies the default ACL. – bitofagoob May 4 '17 at 22:40

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.