bash 'net connection via wvdial through non-root user

Dralnu · 12-17-2005, 03:36 PM

When I try to run wvdial to get online through the shell, I get a message saying device is busy. I know it works in root (I connected then disconnected to see if it was a problem with the shell and card not working well together), so what could I do to work with this to allow net connection through shell?

SuSe 9.3 pro w/ updates
Win XP, updated
80 gb hdd
P4 2.53 GHz
US Robotics hardware dialup card

acid_kewpie · 12-17-2005, 05:24 PM

i'm not sure where the device busy message would fit into things, but you may need to set the wvdial bianry suid root (chmod u+s `which wvdial`) this way if someone runs wvdial, the system will think root is running it, and act accordingly. suid is not somethign that should be used too often or without good reason, but is very sueful for situations like this. You might also want to run it via sudo.

Dralnu · 12-17-2005, 05:31 PM

I'll look into that, only question is: Would that leave a security gap in the system? If something is being run as root, wouldn't that give someone a chance to slip into my system, or would it end the wvdial and leave my net running?