SUDO.CONF(5) File Formats Manual SUDO.CONF(5)
NAME
sudo.conf — configuration for sudo front-end
DESCRIPTION
The sudo.conf file is used to configure the sudo front-end. It is used
to configure sudo plugins, plugin-agnostic path names, debug flags, and
other settings.
The sudo.conf file supports the following directives, described in de-
tail below.
Plugin an approval, audit, I/O logging, or security policy plugin
Path a plugin-agnostic path
Set a front-end setting, such as disable_coredump or group_source
Debug debug flags to aid in debugging sudo, sudoreplay, visudo, and
the sudoers plugin.
The pound sign (‘#’) is used to indicate a comment. Both the comment
character and any text after it, up to the end of the line, are ignored.
Long lines can be continued with a backslash (‘\’) as the last character
on the line. Leading white space is removed from the beginning of lines
even when a continuation character is used.
Non-comment lines that don't begin with Plugin, Path, Debug, or Set are
silently ignored.
The sudo.conf file is always parsed in the ‘C’ locale.
Plugin configuration
sudo supports a plugin architecture for security policies and input/out-
put logging. Third parties can develop and distribute their own policy
and I/O logging plugins to work seamlessly with the sudo front-end.
Plugins are dynamically loaded based on the contents of sudo.conf.
A Plugin line consists of the Plugin keyword, followed by the
symbol_name and the path to the dynamic shared object that contains the
plugin. The symbol_name is the name of the struct approval_plugin,
struct audit_plugin, struct io_plugin, or struct policy_plugin defined
by the plugin. If a plugin implements multiple plugin types, there must
be a Plugin line for each unique symbol name. The path may be fully
qualified or relative. If not fully qualified, it is relative to the
directory specified by the plugin_dir Path setting, which defaults to
/usr/libexec/sudo. In other words:
Plugin sudoers_policy sudoers.so
is equivalent to:
Plugin sudoers_policy /usr/libexec/sudo/sudoers.so
If the plugin was compiled statically into the sudo binary instead of
being installed as a dynamic shared object, the path should be specified
without a leading directory, as it does not actually exist in the file
system. For example:
Plugin sudoers_policy sudoers.so
On AIX systems, the plugin may be either a shared object ending in ‘.so’
or an archive file containing a shared object ending in ‘.a’ with the
name of the shared object in parentheses at the end.
Starting with sudo 1.8.5, any additional parameters after the path are
passed as arguments to the plugin's open function. For example, to
override the compile-time default sudoers file mode:
Plugin sudoers_policy sudoers.so sudoers_mode=0440
See the sudoers(5) manual for a list of supported arguments.
The same dynamic shared object may contain multiple plugins, each with a
different symbol name. The file must be owned by user-ID 0 and only
writable by its owner. Because of ambiguities that arise from composite
policies, only a single policy plugin may be specified. This limitation
does not apply to I/O plugins.
If no sudo.conf file is present, or if it contains no Plugin lines, the
sudoers plugin will be used as the default security policy, for I/O log-
ging (if enabled by the policy), and for auditing. This is equivalent
to the following:
Plugin sudoers_policy sudoers.so
Plugin sudoers_io sudoers.so
Plugin sudoers_audit sudoers.so
Starting with sudo version 1.9.1, some of the logging functionality of
the sudoers plugin has been moved from the policy plugin to an audit
plugin. To maintain compatibility with sudo.conf files from older sudo
versions, if sudoers is configured as the security policy, it will be
used as an audit plugin as well. This guarantees that the logging be-
havior will be consistent with that of sudo versions 1.9.0 and below.
For more information on the sudo plugin architecture, see the
sudo_plugin(5) manual.
Path settings
A Path line consists of the Path keyword, followed by the name of the
path to set and its value. For example:
Path intercept /usr/libexec/sudo/sudo_intercept.so
Path noexec /usr/libexec/sudo/sudo_noexec.so
Path askpass /usr/bin/ssh-askpass
If no path name is specified, features relying on the specified setting
will be disabled. Disabling Path settings is only supported in sudo
version 1.8.16 and higher.
The following plugin-agnostic paths may be set in the /etc/sudo.conf
file:
askpass
The fully qualified path to a helper program used to read the
user's password when no terminal is available. This may be the
case when sudo is executed from a graphical (as opposed to text-
based) application. The program specified by askpass should dis-
play the argument passed to it as the prompt and write the user's
password to the standard output. The value of askpass may be
overridden by the SUDO_ASKPASS environment variable.
devsearch
An ordered, colon-separated search path of directories to look in
for device nodes. This is used when mapping the process's tty de-
vice number to a device name on systems that do not provide such a
mechanism. Sudo will not recurse into sub-directories. If termi-
nal devices may be located in a sub-directory of /dev, that path
must be explicitly listed in devsearch. The default value is
/dev/pts:/dev/vt:/dev/term:/dev/zcons:/dev/pty:/dev
This option is ignored on systems that support either the
devname() or _ttyname_dev() functions, for example BSD, macOS and
Solaris.
intercept
The path to a shared library containing a wrappers for the
execve(2), execl(3), execle(3), execlp(3), execv(3), execvp(3),
execvpe(3), and system(3) library functions that intercepts at-
tempts to run further commands and performs a policy check before
allowing them to be executed. This is used to implement the
intercept and log_subcmds functionality on systems that support
LD_PRELOAD or the equivalent.
The intercept path may be set to either a single fully-qualified
path, or, for systems that support separate LD_PRELOAD environment
variables for 32-bit and 64-bit executables, it may optionally be
set to two fully-qualified paths separated by a colon (‘:’). The
first path should be the 32-bit version and the second the 64-bit
version. This two-path form is currently only supported on AIX
and Solaris systems. The default value is
/usr/libexec/sudo/sudo_intercept.so.
noexec
The path to a shared library containing wrappers for the
execve(2), execl(3), execle(3), execlp(3), exect(3), execv(3),
execveat(3), execvP(3), execvp(3), execvpe(3), fexecve(3),
popen(3), posix_spawn(3), posix_spawnp(3), system(3), and
wordexp(3) library functions that prevent the execution of further
commands. This is used to implement the noexec functionality on
systems that support LD_PRELOAD or the equivalent.
The noexec path may be set to either a single fully-qualified
path, or, for systems that support separate LD_PRELOAD environment
variables for 32-bit and 64-bit executables, it may optionally be
set to two fully-qualified paths separated by a colon (‘:’). The
first path should be the 32-bit version and the second the 64-bit
version. This two-path form is currently only supported on AIX
and Solaris systems. The default value is
/usr/libexec/sudo/sudo_noexec.so.
plugin_dir
The default directory to use when searching for plugins that are
specified without a fully qualified path name. The default value
is /usr/libexec/sudo.
sesh The fully-qualified path to the sesh binary. This setting is only
used when sudo is built with SELinux support. The default value
is /usr/libexec/sudo/sesh.
Other settings
The sudo.conf file also supports the following front-end settings:
disable_coredump
Core dumps of sudo itself are disabled by default to prevent the
disclosure of potentially sensitive information. To aid in debug-
ging sudo crashes, you may wish to re-enable core dumps by setting
“disable_coredump” to false in sudo.conf as follows:
Set disable_coredump false
All modern operating systems place restrictions on core dumps from
set-user-ID processes like sudo so this option can be enabled
without compromising security. To actually get a sudo core file
you will likely need to enable core dumps for set-user-ID
processes. On BSD and Linux systems this is accomplished in the
sysctl(8) command. On Solaris, the coreadm(1m) command is used to
configure core dump behavior.
This setting is only available in sudo version 1.8.4 and higher.
group_source
sudo passes the invoking user's group list to the policy and I/O
plugins. On most systems, there is an upper limit to the number
of groups that a user may belong to simultaneously (typically 16
for compatibility with NFS). On systems with the getconf(1) util-
ity, running:
getconf NGROUPS_MAX
will return the maximum number of groups.
However, it is still possible to be a member of a larger number of
groups--they simply won't be included in the group list returned
by the kernel for the user. Starting with sudo version 1.8.7, if
the user's kernel group list has the maximum number of entries,
sudo will consult the group database directly to determine the
group list. This makes it possible for the security policy to
perform matching by group name even when the user is a member of
more than the maximum number of groups.
The group_source setting allows the administrator to change this
default behavior. Supported values for group_source are:
static
Use the static group list that the kernel returns. Retriev-
ing the group list this way is very fast but it is subject
to an upper limit as described above. It is “static” in
that it does not reflect changes to the group database made
after the user logs in. This was the default behavior prior
to sudo 1.8.7.
dynamic
Always query the group database directly. It is “dynamic”
in that changes made to the group database after the user
logs in will be reflected in the group list. On some sys-
tems, querying the group database for all of a user's groups
can be time consuming when querying a network-based group
database. Most operating systems provide an efficient
method of performing such queries. Currently, sudo supports
efficient group queries on AIX, BSD, Linux, macOS, and So-
laris. This is the default behavior on macOS in sudo 1.9.6
and higher.
adaptive
Only query the group database if the static group list re-
turned by the kernel has the maximum number of entries.
This is the default behavior on systems other than macOS in
sudo 1.8.7 and higher.
For example, to cause sudo to only use the kernel's static list of
groups for the user:
Set group_source static
This setting is only available in sudo version 1.8.7 and higher.
max_groups
The maximum number of user groups to retrieve from the group data-
base. Values less than one or larger than 1024 will be ignored.
This setting is only used when querying the group database di-
rectly. It is intended to be used on systems where it is not pos-
sible to detect when the array to be populated with group entries
is not sufficiently large. By default, sudo will allocate four
times the system's maximum number of groups (see above) and retry
with double that number if the group database query fails.
This setting is only available in sudo version 1.8.7 and higher.
It should not be required in sudo versions 1.8.24 and higher and
may be removed in a later release.
probe_interfaces
By default, sudo will probe the system's network interfaces and
pass the IP address of each enabled interface to the policy plu-
gin. This makes it possible for the plugin to match rules based
on the IP address without having to query DNS. On Linux systems
with a large number of virtual interfaces, this may take a non-
negligible amount of time. If IP-based matching is not required,
network interface probing can be disabled as follows:
Set probe_interfaces false
This setting is only available in sudo version 1.8.10 and higher.
Debug settings
sudo versions 1.8.4 and higher support a flexible debugging framework
that can log what sudo is doing internally if there is a problem.
A Debug line consists of the Debug keyword, followed by the name of the
program, plugin, or shared object to debug, the debug file name, and a
comma-separated list of debug flags. The debug flag syntax used by
sudo, the sudoers plugin along with its associated programs and shared
objects is subsystem@priority but a third-party plugin is free to use a
different format so long as it does not include a comma (‘,’).
On AIX systems, a Debug line will match a plugin specified as either the
name of an SVR4-style shared object file ending in ‘.so’, an archive
file ending in ‘.a’, or an archive file ending in ‘.a’ with the name of
the shared object in parentheses.
Examples:
Debug sudo /var/log/sudo_debug all@warn,plugin@info
would log all debugging statements at the warn level and higher in addi-
tion to those at the info level for the plugin subsystem.
Debug sudo_intercept.so /var/log/intercept_debug all@debug
would log all debugging statements, regardless of level, for the
sudo_intercept.so shared library that implements sudo's intercept func-
tionality on some systems.
Debug sudoers.so /var/log/sudoers_debug all@debug
would log all debugging statements, regardless of level, for the sudoers
plugin. See sudoers(5) for the full list of subsystems supported by the
sudoers plugin.
As of sudo 1.8.12, multiple Debug entries may be specified per program.
Older versions of sudo only support a single Debug entry per program.
Plugin-specific Debug entries are also supported starting with sudo
1.8.12 and are matched by either the base name of the plugin that was
loaded (for example sudoers.so) or by the plugin's fully-qualified path
name. Previously, the sudoers plugin shared the same Debug entry as the
sudo front-end and could not be configured separately.
The following priorities are supported, in order of decreasing severity:
crit, err, warn, notice, diag, info, trace, and debug. Each priority,
when specified, also includes all priorities higher than it. For exam-
ple, a priority of notice would include debug messages logged at notice
and higher.
The priorities trace and debug also include function call tracing which
logs when a function is entered and when it returns. For example, the
following trace is for the get_user_groups() function located in
src/sudo.c:
sudo[123] -> get_user_groups @ src/sudo.c:385
sudo[123] <- get_user_groups @ src/sudo.c:429 := groups=10,0,5
When the function is entered, indicated by a right arrow ‘->’, the pro-
gram, process ID, function, source file, and line number are logged.
When the function returns, indicated by a left arrow ‘<-’, the same in-
formation is logged along with the return value. In this case, the re-
turn value is a string.
The following subsystems are used by the sudo front-end:
all matches every subsystem
args command line argument processing
conv user conversation
edit sudoedit
event event subsystem
exec command execution
main sudo main function
netif network interface handling
pcomm communication with the plugin
plugin plugin configuration
pty pseudo-terminal related code
selinux SELinux-specific handling
util utility functions
utmp utmp handling
The sudoers(5) plugin includes support for additional subsystems.
FILES
/etc/sudo.conf sudo front-end configuration
EXAMPLES
#
# Default /etc/sudo.conf file
#
# Sudo plugins:
# Plugin plugin_name plugin_path plugin_options ...
#
# The plugin_path is relative to /usr/libexec/sudo unless
# fully qualified.
# The plugin_name corresponds to a global symbol in the plugin
# that contains the plugin interface structure.
# The plugin_options are optional.
#
# The sudoers plugin is used by default if no Plugin lines are present.
#Plugin sudoers_policy sudoers.so
#Plugin sudoers_io sudoers.so
#Plugin sudoers_audit sudoers.so
#
# Sudo askpass:
# Path askpass /path/to/askpass
#
# An askpass helper program may be specified to provide a graphical
# password prompt for "sudo -A" support. Sudo does not ship with its
# own askpass program but can use the OpenSSH askpass.
#
# Use the OpenSSH askpass
#Path askpass /usr/bin/ssh-askpass
#
# Use the Gnome OpenSSH askpass
#Path askpass /usr/libexec/openssh/gnome-ssh-askpass
#
# Sudo device search path:
# Path devsearch /dev/path1:/dev/path2:/dev
#
# A colon-separated list of paths to check when searching for a user's
# terminal device.
#
#Path devsearch /dev/pts:/dev/vt:/dev/term:/dev/zcons:/dev/pty:/dev
#
# Sudo command interception:
# Path intercept /path/to/sudo_intercept.so
#
# Path to a shared library containing replacements for the execv()
# and execve() library functions that perform a policy check to verify
# the command is allowed and simply return an error if not. This is
# used to implement the "intercept" functionality on systems that
# support LD_PRELOAD or its equivalent.
#
# The compiled-in value is usually sufficient and should only be changed
# if you rename or move the sudo_intercept.so file.
#
#Path intercept /usr/libexec/sudo/sudo_intercept.so
#
# Sudo noexec:
# Path noexec /path/to/sudo_noexec.so
#
# Path to a shared library containing replacements for the execv()
# family of library functions that just return an error. This is
# used to implement the "noexec" functionality on systems that support
# LD_PRELOAD or its equivalent.
#
# The compiled-in value is usually sufficient and should only be changed
# if you rename or move the sudo_noexec.so file.
#
#Path noexec /usr/libexec/sudo/sudo_noexec.so
#
# Sudo plugin directory:
# Path plugin_dir /path/to/plugins
#
# The default directory to use when searching for plugins that are
# specified without a fully qualified path name.
#
#Path plugin_dir /usr/libexec/sudo
#
# Core dumps:
# Set disable_coredump true|false
#
# By default, sudo disables core dumps while it is executing (they
# are re-enabled for the command that is run).
# To aid in debugging sudo problems, you may wish to enable core
# dumps by setting "disable_coredump" to false.
#
#Set disable_coredump false
#
# User groups:
# Set group_source static|dynamic|adaptive
#
# Sudo passes the user's group list to the policy plugin.
# If the user is a member of the maximum number of groups (usually 16),
# sudo will query the group database directly to be sure to include
# the full list of groups.
#
# On some systems, this can be expensive so the behavior is configurable.
# The "group_source" setting has three possible values:
# static - use the user's list of groups returned by the kernel.
# dynamic - query the group database to find the list of groups.
# adaptive - if user is in less than the maximum number of groups.
# use the kernel list, else query the group database.
#
#Set group_source static
#
# Sudo interface probing:
# Set probe_interfaces true|false
#
# By default, sudo will probe the system's network interfaces and
# pass the IP address of each enabled interface to the policy plugin.
# On systems with a large number of virtual interfaces this may take
# a noticeable amount of time.
#
#Set probe_interfaces false
#
# Sudo debug files:
# Debug program /path/to/debug_log subsystem@priority[,subsyste@priority]
#
# Sudo and related programs support logging debug information to a file.
# The program is typically sudo, sudoers.so, sudoreplay, or visudo.
#
# Subsystems vary based on the program; "all" matches all subsystems.
# Priority may be crit, err, warn, notice, diag, info, trace, or debug.
# Multiple subsystem@priority may be specified, separated by a comma.
#
#Debug sudo /var/log/sudo_debug all@debug
#Debug sudoers.so /var/log/sudoers_debug all@debug
SEE ALSO
sudo_plugin(5), sudoers(5), sudo(8)
AUTHORS
Many people have worked on sudo over the years; this version consists of
code written primarily by:
Todd C. Miller
See the CONTRIBUTORS.md file in the sudo distribution
(https://www.sudo.ws/about/contributors/) for an exhaustive list of peo-
ple who have contributed to sudo.
BUGS
If you believe you have found a bug in sudo.conf, you can either file a
bug report in the sudo bug database, https://bugzilla.sudo.ws/, or open
an issue at https://github.com/sudo-project/sudo/issues. If you would
prefer to use email, messages may be sent to the sudo-workers mailing
list, https://www.sudo.ws/mailman/listinfo/sudo-workers (public) or
<sudo@sudo.ws> (private).
Please not report security vulnerabilities through public GitHub issues,
Bugzilla or mailing lists. Instead, report them via email to
<Todd.Miller@sudo.ws>. You may encrypt your message with PGP if you
would like, using the key found at https://www.sudo.ws/dist/PGPKEYS.
SUPPORT
Limited free support is available via the sudo-users mailing list, see
https://www.sudo.ws/mailman/listinfo/sudo-users to subscribe or search
the archives.
DISCLAIMER
sudo is provided “AS IS” and any express or implied warranties, includ-
ing, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and
fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. See the LICENSE.md
file distributed with sudo or https://www.sudo.ws/about/license/ for
complete details.
Sudo 1.9.16p2 November 6, 2023 SUDO.CONF(5)
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