Being Su or sudo is there a time out ?

ronlau9 · 10-26-2009, 04:59 AM

Just wondering if a user become su or sudu how long does it last.
Until he gives the exit command ?
Or can you give it a time out ?
What I mean is giving the command sudo in OS X you become root for 5 minutes and than it is over.
I know you can avoid by using sudo su
Can the same think be done in linux ?
And if so how ?

neonsignal · 10-26-2009, 06:03 AM

Yes, sudo has a authentication timeout (typically 5 minutes). This can be changed by editing the sudo file (using visudo) and setting a value for the timestamp_timeout parameters in the Defaults line, eg

Code:

Defaults env_reset,timestamp_timeout=5

You can also reset the timeout by using the '-v' flag.

On the other hand su will always require authentication.

If you want a shell to timeout, you will need to set TMOUT (this is based on inactivity).