Re: getuid() vs. geteuid() in auditctl

[Steve Grubb <sgrubb@redhat.com>]

On Friday, March 16, 2012 05:50:56 PM Peter Moody wrote:
> line 1162 in auditctl.c has this:
> 
> #ifndef DEBUG
>   /* Make sure we are root */
>   if (getuid() != 0) {
>     fprintf(stderr, "You must be root to run this program.\n");
>     return 4;
>   }
> #endif
> 
> Is there any particular reason to use getuid() there as opposed to
> geteuid()? 

I suppose it doesn't matter. I never envisioned having a helper application, so 
that why its the way it is. Since we are optionally linking in libcap-ng, I 
suppose we could even check the capability rather than the euid. Also note that 
for certification purposes the file permissions are restricted.

-Steve

> In my particular case, we have a setuid helper that allows
> a normal user to run 'auditctl -l' (with a clean environment), and
> this prevents the setuid helper from working.