Why is shell_exec not working even with full visudo permissions?

Asked Mar 11 '19 at 07:18

Active Mar 11 '19 at 07:37

Viewed 37 times

I realise that it is bad security practice to give www-data full permissions with visudo. However, even with the highest permissions, privileged shell commands do not work.

PHP Code in /var/www/html/index.php:

<?php
     echo shell_exec("ls"); //expected output is echoed 
     echo shell_exec("bitcoin-cli getbalance"); //does not output anything
?>

If I type either command into the shell myself, I get the output I expect.

My sudoers file looks like this:

...
root ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

#includedir /etc/sudoers.d

www-data ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL

Why is shell_exec("any command I like") not working with this configuration?

edited Mar 11 '19 at 07:26

asked Mar 11 '19 at 07:18

Oscar Chambers

@vivek_23 that's a typo - apologies – Oscar Chambers Mar 11 '19 at 07:26
@kerbholz question updated to be more relevant – Oscar Chambers Mar 11 '19 at 07:28
Make sure it's not a `safe_mode` issue. – nice_dev Mar 11 '19 at 07:43
I can confirm it is not in safe_mode – Oscar Chambers Mar 11 '19 at 07:47
It's difficult to track the issue without control over your system. Have you tried [the alternatives](https://stackoverflow.com/a/21016100/4964822)? – nice_dev Mar 11 '19 at 08:35
Thanks for the link - it appears none of the alternatives work – Oscar Chambers Mar 11 '19 at 08:39

Why is shell_exec not working even with full visudo permissions?

0 Answers0