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sudo (/ s uː d uː / [4]) is a program for Unix-like computer operating systems that enables users to run programs with the security privileges of another user, by default the superuser. [5] It originally stood for "superuser do", [ 6 ] as that was all it did, and this remains its most common usage; [ 7 ] however, the official Sudo project ...
In some cases, the actual name of the account is not the determining factor; on Unix-like systems, for example, the user with a user identifier (UID) of zero is the superuser [i.e., uid=0], regardless of the name of that account; [1] and in systems which implement a role-based security model, any user with the role of superuser (or its synonyms ...
The command su, including the Unix permissions system and the setuid system call, was part of Version 1 Unix.Encrypted passwords appeared in Version 3. [5] The command is available as a separate package for Microsoft Windows as part of the UnxUtils collection of native Win32 ports of common GNU Unix-like utilities.
A core security feature in these systems is the file system permissions. All files in a typical Unix filesystem have permissions set enabling different access to a file. Unix permissions permit different users access to a file with different privilege (e.g., reading, writing, execution).
A command line tool for Unix. su (substitute user) allows users to switch the terminal to a different account by entering the username and password of that account. If no user name is given, the operating system's superuser account (known as "root") is used, thus providing a fast method to obtain a login shell with
The wheel group is a special user group used on some Unix systems, mostly BSD systems, [citation needed] to control access to the su [4] [5] or sudo command, which allows a user to masquerade as another user (usually the super user). [1] [2] [6] Debian and its derivatives create a group called sudo with purpose similar to that of a wheel group. [7]
Ordinary users are granted only enough permissions to accomplish their most common tasks. UNIX systems have built-in security features. Most users cannot set up a new user account nor do other administrative procedures. The user “root” is a special user, something called super-user, which can do anything at all on the system.
The /etc/passwd file typically has file system permissions that allow it to be readable by all users of the system (world-readable), although it may only be modified by the superuser or by using a few special purpose privileged commands. The /etc/passwd file is a text file with one record per line, each describing a user account.