run bash script as root from php page

Question

I have a php page.

It calls a validation bash script that checks variables passed from the php page.

I then call another bash script that I need to execute under root user. I have followed the guide here How to run from PHP a bash script under root user and still can not get script to execute as root.

I have the following:

php page

$bashFile = shell_exec('./Validation.sh "'.$coinName.'" "'.$coinNameAbreviation.'" "'.$blockReward.'" "'.$blockSpacing.'" "'.$targetTimespan.'" "'.$totalCoins.'" "'.$firstBitAddy.'" "'.$seedNode.'" "'.$seedName.'" "'.$headline.'" ');
echo "<pre>$bashFile</pre>";

the validation file:

sudo nohup /bin/bash /usr/sbin/CoinCreationBashFile "$coinName" "$coinNameAbreviation" "$blockReward" "$blockSpacing" "$targetTimespan" "$totalCoins" "$firstAddyBit" "$seedNode" "$nameSeedNode" "$headline" "$blocksPerDay" "$startingDifficulty" >> /tmp/BASH2log.txt 2>&1 &

I have added

www-data ALL=NOPASSWD /usr/sbin/CoinCreationBashFile

to the end of the sudo visudo

and did:

chown root:root /usr/sbin/CoinCreationBashFile
chmod 755 /usr/sbin/CoinCreationBashFile

was running it from usr/sbin from suggestion here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1848069 Can anyone see what I am doing wrong?? Many thanks edit: I can run the CoinCreationBashFile script without the sudo command and it runs ok up to one point where it needs root priv... so i know the script working, and executing from the terminal the script runs perfectly as desired. output in tmp/BASH2log.txt

sudo: no tty present and noaskpass program specified

maybe your www server uses different user account (not www-data)? — gawi
– gawi, Commented Aug 8, 2013 at 22:04
when i run top in the terminal on the server that is the user that is executing all the processes — Fuzzybear
– Fuzzybear, Commented Aug 8, 2013 at 22:07
can you clarify if you succesfully ran the script as www-data user without password? — gawi
– gawi, Commented Aug 8, 2013 at 22:34
yes script can be run when i typed sudo -u www-data /usr/sbin/CoinCreationBashFile var1 var2 var3 — Fuzzybear
– Fuzzybear, Commented Aug 8, 2013 at 22:44
This is not an answer to my question. Did you try to su to www-data (sudo -u www-data bash) and then run a script (sudo /usr/sbin/CoinCreationBashFile var1 var2 var3) — gawi
– gawi, Commented Aug 8, 2013 at 22:49

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:47:35Z

2

This question is similar to sudo in php exec() and they did not arrive at a conclusion.

~~In your case, since only one bash script needs to be executed in this fashion, considering using setuid instead:~~

~~$ su [enter password] chown root:root something.sh chmod 4755 something.sh exit~~

Note: Some Linux distributions disable setuid for shell scripts by default for security reasons.

Update: Apparently no commonly used Linux distribution today allows setuid on shell scripts. Perl used to be the exception, but suid-perl is now deprecated.

The only way to execute your bash script using this method is to invoke it from a compiled binary. See the example with the C code on how to do this.

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:47

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answered Aug 8, 2013 at 22:17

Niklas Lindblad

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3 Comments

Fuzzybear Over a year ago

I was wondering if the linux disabled setuid... am on ubuntu 12.04 for the OS. Have run chown root:root /usr/sbin/CoinCreationBashFile and chmod 4755 /usr/sbin/CoinCreationBashFile from the terminal.. was wondering if the link guide was saying to make seperate bash file to change the user.. but would have thought that done now I have run it as root from terminal

Niklas Lindblad Over a year ago

@Peter Updated my answer after some research.

Fuzzybear Over a year ago

solution i used was to get php page to write out variables to a txt file in empty directory. At the start of my bash script that php page was calling it now searches for a .txt file in the empty directory, if no txt file then exit, if there is then extract variables and run cron job. Many thanks for your help Niklas

MerlinTheMagic · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-20 09:34:43Z

2

I recently published a project that allows PHP to obtain and interact with a real Bash shell, you can easily get a shell with root. Get it here: https://github.com/merlinthemagic/MTS

After downloading you would simply use the following code:

$shell    = \MTS\Factories::getDevices()->getLocalHost()->getShell('bash', true);

$strCmd = "/usr/sbin/CoinCreationBashFile ".$coinName." ".$coinNameAbreviation." ".$blockReward." ".$blockSpacing." ".$targetTimespan." ".$totalCoins." ".$firstAddyBit." ".$seedNode." ".$nameSeedNode." ".$headline." ".$blocksPerDay." ".$startingDifficulty." >> /tmp/BASH2log.txt 2>&1 &";
$return1  = $shell->exeCmd($strCmd);

//if there is any return from the script you can wait for the return
//or you can trigger like you have it now and get no return.

edited May 20, 2016 at 9:34

answered May 20, 2016 at 9:29

MerlinTheMagic

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2 Comments

Fuzzybear Over a year ago

What are the security risks associated with this?

MerlinTheMagic Over a year ago

Since you require root permissions the project i built achieves that in one of 2 ways: You allow apache the right to sudo python OR you pass root credentials to the object every time you need a shell with root setup. Allowing sudo to python is a real concern, but so is passing root credentials in the script. Letting PHP anywhere near root is always tricky. Pick your poison. :)

gawi · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-08 22:11:59Z

1

You have a typo in visudo entry. There is no R in the NOPASSWD. It should be:

www-data ALL=NOPASSWD /usr/sbin/CoinCreationBashFile

answered Aug 8, 2013 at 22:11

gawi

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1 Comment

Fuzzybear Over a year ago

good spot but unfortunately only a typo in the question on here.. in code it was PASSWD and still does not work :(

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