Sudo Is Broke

[ep]

This seems like a major security issue to me. I am not being prompted for a password when I use sudo under my normal user name. For instance, when end my current session, log back in under my normal user name. Open up a console window and type "sudo touch /bullmanure", it will create the file without asking me for a password.

For some background information: I started having problems after I installed xbuntu-desktop package. All my ".bashrc" and related files disappeared from my home directory and konsole wasn't listing files in color anymore. I copied all "*.bash*" files back from /etc/skel back to home directory. I also copied them to the /root per some advice i got on #kubuntu (perhaps this was a mistake).

Am I going to need to reinstall? I'm panicking here

[penguin.ch]

Re: Sudo Is Broke

Ep,

no need to panic - at least not yet in order to help you on, could you please have me / us a look a the contents of your /etc/sudoers file?

HTH
Bernd

[ep]

Re: Sudo Is Broke

I'm panicking less now After some time delay, using sudo will indeed prompt me for a password. Seems odd that it doesn't ask for a password right after I start a new session.

Anyway for completeness, my user name is mdr and here is the sudoers file. I don't quite understand it. Any explantation is helpful. I'm trying to learn.

# /etc/sudoers
#
# This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root.
#
# See the man page for details on how to write a sudoers file.
# Host alias specification

# User alias specification

# Cmnd alias specification

# Defaults

Defaults !lecture,tty_tickets,!fqdn

# User privilege specification
root ALL=(ALL) ALL

# Members of the admin group may gain root privileges
%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL
mdr@ephome:~$

[penguin.ch]

Re: Sudo Is Broke

# /etc/sudoers
Defaults !lecture,tty_tickets,!fqdn
[snipped]

Edit the file "in root mode" (aka "sudo") and change the defaults to:

Defaults !lecture,tty_tickets,!fqdn,timestamp_timeout=0

From now on, you will be asked for the password every time you dare to "sudo".

(Background: password caching is default behaviour - to be overwritten by the described edition ... further ranting, er, reading).

As for "colorized terminal listings": adding alias ls='ls --color=auto' to every user's (and, if wished, also root's) ~/.bashrc and "restarting" the terminal (sessions) to get the changed "parameters" loaded should to the trick.

Birdy aka littleDrHouse

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Postscript: reference updated