Strange softlink permissions problem in Tru64 5.1B

From: gmb-mcg-it-unix-admin <gmb-mcg-it-unix-admin_at_cardinal.com>
Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:04:14 -0500

Hello,

I need some help in trying to determine whether a softlink permissions problem is either a bug or part of normal UNIX security. This is on a Tru64 5.1B machine.

In summary, various userids including root received 'permission denied' when cd'ing into a softlink defined in /tmp as shown-
        
        lrwxrwxrwx 1 zuserid1 system 12 Apr 1 11:21 zzzzdir -> /tmp/zzzz <=== Softlink in /tmp
        drwxrwxrwx 2 zuserid2 system 8192 Apr 1 11:21 zzzz <== Actual directory in /tmp

                # id
                uid=0(root) gid=1(daemon) groups=0(system)
                # cd zzzzdir
                ksh: zzzzdir: permission denied
                # cd zzzz
                #

The zzzz directory is owned by user zuserid2 and has universal read/write/execute permissions, so any userid can cd directly into /tmp/zzzz with no problem. The softlink is owned by zuserid1 which normally should not be an issue. The problem was circumvented by deleting the zzzzdir softlink and recreating it under root-

        lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 12 Apr 4 11:28 zzzzdir -> /tmp/zzzz

Any idea why the softlink must be owned by root to circumvent the problem?

Sincerely,

Marc Brandon
Systems Engineer
Cardinal Health
Waukegan, IL
Received on Tue Apr 05 2005 - 17:06:16 NZST

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