Open System Services Management and Operations Guide (G06.25+, H06.03+)

Managing Security
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Use of suid Scripts
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The password for the user ID of a new shell
Security is enforced by requiring the user to complete a normal login procedure for the
new login name. The new user ID stays in force until the shell exits. The new password
stays in force until it is changed again.
For super ID users, the shell substitutes a # (number sign) for its usual prompt.
You can specify a login shell using /bin/sh with the appropriate environment
variables. You can also specify a string to be passed to the shell as a command to
execute. See the osh(1) reference page either online or in the Open System Services
Shell and Utilities Reference Manual for a discussion about using this option.
For more information about the su command, see the su(1) reference page either
online or in the Open System Services Shell and Utilities Reference Manual.
Displaying Your User Login Name
The logname utility writes to the standard output file the name you used to log in to
the system. You can use this utility after you have issued the su command and want to
check your current user ID.
For more information about the logname command, see the logname(1) reference
page either online or in the Open System Services Shell and Utilities Reference
Manual.
Changing Your User Group
If you are logged in as the super ID, the newgrp command allows you to become a
member of any defined group. This ability can be a convenience when you are
administering files in the OSS file system.
Correct behavior of the newgrp command depends on whether you have a SHELL
environment variable defined for your current terminal session or your user ID has an
INITIAL-PROGRAM attribute defined for it. For more information about the newgrp
command, see the newgrp(1) reference page either online or in the Open System
Services Shell and Utilities Reference Manual.
Use of suid Scripts
Some scripts, known as suid scripts, enable users to perform some activities that
require appropriate privileges; that is, the scripts could be used by an intruder to
assume the identity of the super ID (255,255 in the Guardian environment, 65535 in
the OSS environment).
As a result, it is a good practice to make sure that there are no such script files on your
system. As installed, the OSS environment does not contain suid script files.