apache2 & PHP: execute a command from shell_exec

Question

I am trying to execute a command from a Javascript file through XMLHttpRequest.

Once I created the button (something I can do without problems), the function from the Javascript code is:

function RestartService(service)
{
    var target = document.getElementById('page');
    var spinner = new Spinner(opts).spin(target);

    var data = new FormData();
    data.append('service', service);

    var xhReq = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xhReq.open("POST", "/rservice.php", false);
    xhReq.send(data);
    var serverResponse = xhReq.responseText;

    timeout = setTimeout(
        function ()
        {
            spinner.stop();
        }, 1500);

    return serverResponse;
}

while the php file I am testing is just:

<?php
//error_reporting(E_ALL);
$fname = "/usr/local/bin/AD33x-"
if(isset($_POST))
{
    $service = $_POST["service"];
    $daemon = "$fname"."$service".".sh";

    //if(file_exists($daemon))
    {
        shell_exec("$daemon restart > /dev/null 2> /dev/null &");
    }
}

return "ok"
?>

The function RestartService is executed because I can see the spin for 1.5 s. The problems is executing the command from the PHP file. I think this is a matter of apache2 configuration, or file permissions, because if I execute, from Linux shell, the command:

php -r "echo exec('/usr/local/bin/AD33x-file.sh restart');"

The file is executed correctly..

The file permissions in /usr/local/bin path are set to 755. I also checked for 'disable_functions' tag in php.ini files from /etc/php

apache2/php.ini:315:disable_functions = pcntl_alarm,pcntl_fork,pcntl_waitpid,pcntl_wait,pcntl_wifexited,pcntl_wifstopped,pcntl_wifsignaled,pcntl_wexitstatus,pcntl_wtermsig,pcntl_wstopsig,pcntl_signal,pcntl_signal_dispatch,pcntl_get_last_error,pcntl_strerror,pcntl_sigprocmask,pcntl_sigwaitinfo,pcntl_sigtimedwait,pcntl_exec,pcntl_getpriority,pcntl_setpriority,
cli/php.ini:315:disable_functions =

but I don't see any 'shell_exec' there...

Actually, this is my /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file (with comments and white lines removed):

Mutex file:${APACHE_LOCK_DIR} default
PidFile ${APACHE_PID_FILE}
Timeout 300
KeepAlive On
MaxKeepAliveRequests 100
KeepAliveTimeout 5
User ${APACHE_RUN_USER}
Group ${APACHE_RUN_GROUP}
HostnameLookups Off
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
LogLevel warn
IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.load
IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.conf
Include ports.conf
<Directory />
    Options FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Require all denied
</Directory>
<Directory /usr/share>
    AllowOverride None
    Require all granted
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/html>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AuthType Basic
        AuthUserFile "/var/www/html/current/.htpasswd"
        AuthName "Authorization Required"
        Require valid-user
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
</Directory>

AccessFileName "/var/www/html/current/.htaccess"

<FilesMatch "^\.ht">
    Require all denied
</FilesMatch>

LogFormat "%v:%p %h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" vhost_combined
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O" common
LogFormat "%{Referer}i -> %U" referer
LogFormat "%{User-agent}i" agent

IncludeOptional conf-enabled/*.conf
IncludeOptional sites-enabled/*.conf

Perhaps there is some detail I am missing ? What is the right way to execute command from PHP and apache2 ?

I don't think you have permissions to enable/disable a service using the running apache user. — Pedro Lobito
– Pedro Lobito, Commented Apr 27, 2016 at 12:58
If you change the Apache user you may run into security problems. Check my answer, it may help you. — Pedro Lobito
– Pedro Lobito, Commented Apr 27, 2016 at 13:04

Pedro Lobito · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-27 13:01:45Z

0

I don't think you have permissions to enable/disable a service using the running apache user.

You may want to use ssh2_exec to do this, i.e.:

$connection = ssh2_connect('your.server.com', 22);
ssh2_auth_password($connection, 'root', 'password');
$stream = ssh2_exec($connection, 'command here');

answered Apr 27, 2016 at 13:01

Pedro Lobito

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