note 56274 modified in function.exec by danbrown

Using sudo (http://www.sudo.ws/) to exec system commands from PHP This is a secure way to use sudo from PHP to perform sysadmin tasks from a php webapplication. (can be used with exec or passthru) - Make a PHP script in the WWW root directory : client.php [/home/mywebdir/html/client.php] <?php passthru('echo hello world | sudo /usr/bin/php -f /home/server.php'); ?> - Make a PHP script outside the WWW directory : server.php [/home/server.php] <?php echo join('',file('php://stdin')); ?> Add a line to /etc/sudoers [in /etc/sudoers] www ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/php -f /home/server.php Now execute client.php in the webbrowser (as www user) - client.php will execute sudo - sudo will execute server.php by php as root ! In server.php you can do everything you like requiring root privileges. BEWARE ! every php script can now execute server.php, make it secure ! (filter parameters etc.) I have tested this method and it works ! Kind regards, Pim Koeman Wittenborg-University, Deventer, the Netherlands http://www.wittenborg-university.com --was-- Using sudo (http://www.sudo.ws/) to exec system commands from PHP This is a secure way to use sudo from PHP to perform sysadmin tasks from a php webapplication. (can be used with exec or passthru) - Make a PHP script in the WWW root directory : client.php [/home/mywebdir/html/client.php] <? passthru('echo hello world | sudo /usr/bin/php -f /home/server.php'); ?> - Make a PHP script outside the WWW directory : server.php [/home/server.php] <? echo join('',file('php://stdin')); ?> Add a line to /etc/sudoers [in /etc/sudoers] www ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/php -f /home/server.php Now execute client.php in the webbrowser (as www user) - client.php will execute sudo - sudo will execute server.php by php as root ! In server.php you can do everything you like requiring root privileges. BEWARE ! every php script can now execute server.php, make it secure ! (filter parameters etc.) I have tested this method and it works ! Kind regards, Pim Koeman Wittenborg-University, Deventer, the Netherlands http://www.wittenborg-university.com http://php.net/manual/en/function.exec.php