[bug #16579] select_shell() uses incorrect syntax for su

[Andreas Metzler]

URL:
  <http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?func=detailitem&item_id=16579>

                 Summary: select_shell() uses incorrect syntax for su
                 Project: findutils
            Submitted by: ametzler
            Submitted on: Samstag 13.05.2006 um 14:24
                Category: updatedb
                Severity: 3 - Normal
              Item Group: None
                  Status: None
                 Privacy: Public
             Assigned to: None
         Originator Name: Chronos Tachyon
        Originator Email: 
             Open/Closed: Open
                 Release: 4.2.27
           Fixed Release: None

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Details:

Chronos Tachyon writes in http://bugs.debian.org/366269

The select_shell() function in /usr/bin/updatedb has a bug in the way it
calls /bin/su; specifically, it attempts 'su "$LOCALUSER" -s $SHELL false',
which runs '/bin/bash false', thus attempting to execute /bin/false as a
shellscript.  (The exit code 126 and error message 'cannot execute binary
file' are ignored entirely by updatedb.)

The correct usage of su would be to add "-c" after "-s $SHELL" on lines 87
and 91.  This is important if, for instance, the administrator has set
$LOCALUSER's shell to /bin/false (which is how I discovered this bug).

----------------------------

Older versions of su as found on Debian (e.g. in sarge) accepted this syntax,
but this is consideerd a bug.
cu andreas






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