xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/setuid.2 (revision 2a399c6883d870daece976daec6ffa7bb7f934ce)
1.\"	$NetBSD: setuid.2,v 1.5 1997/07/14 23:20:15 kleink Exp $
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34.\"     @(#)setuid.2	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
35.\"
36.Dd June 4, 1993
37.Dt SETUID 2
38.Os BSD 4.2
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm setuid ,
41.Nm seteuid ,
42.Nm setgid ,
43.Nm setegid
44.Nd set user and group ID
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
47.Fd #include <unistd.h>
48.Ft int
49.Fn setuid "uid_t uid"
50.Ft int
51.Fn seteuid "uid_t euid"
52.Ft int
53.Fn setgid "gid_t gid"
54.Ft int
55.Fn setegid "gid_t egid"
56.Sh DESCRIPTION
57The
58.Fn setuid
59function
60sets the real and effective
61user IDs and the saved set-user-ID of the current process
62to the specified value.
63The
64.Fn setuid
65function is permitted if the specified ID is equal to the real user ID
66of the process, or if the effective user ID is that of the super user.
67.Pp
68The
69.Fn setgid
70function
71sets the real and effective
72group IDs and the saved set-group-ID of the current process
73to the specified value.
74The
75.Fn setgid
76function is permitted if the specified ID is equal to the real group ID
77of the process, or if the effective user ID is that of the super user.
78.Pp
79The
80.Fn seteuid
81function
82.Pq Fn setegid
83sets the effective user ID (group ID) of the
84current process.
85The effective user ID may be set to the value
86of the real user ID or the saved set-user-ID (see
87.Xr intro 2
88and
89.Xr execve 2 ) ;
90in this way, the effective user ID of a set-user-ID executable
91may be toggled by switching to the real user ID, then re-enabled
92by reverting to the set-user-ID value.
93Similarly, the effective group ID may be set to the value
94of the real group ID or the saved set-user-ID.
95.Pp
96.Sh RETURN VALUES
97Upon success, these functions return 0;
98otherwise \-1 is returned.
99.Pp
100If the user is not the super user, or the uid
101specified is not the real, effective ID, or saved ID,
102these functions return \-1.
103.Sh SEE ALSO
104.Xr getuid 2 ,
105.Xr getgid 2
106.Sh STANDARDS
107The
108.Fn setuid
109and
110.Fn setgid
111functions are compliant with the
112.St -p1003.1-90
113specification with
114.Li _POSIX_SAVED_IDS
115not defined.
116We do not implement the
117.Li _POSIX_SAVED_IDS
118option as specified in the standard
119because this would make it impossible for a set-user-ID executable owned
120by a user other than the super-user to permanently revoke its privileges.
121.Pp
122The
123.Fn seteuid
124and
125.Fn setegid
126functions are extensions based on the
127.Tn POSIX
128concept of
129.Li _POSIX_SAVED_IDS ,
130and have been proposed for a future revision of the standard.
131They provide the same feature of toggling effective IDs as
132.Li _POSIX_SAVED_IDS ,
133but do so independent of the current effective
134ID, rather than requiring the super-user to permanently revoke its
135privileges.
136