Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!decwrl!ucbvax!TGV.COM!adelman
From: adelman@TGV.COM (Kenneth Adelman)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Wollongong TCP/IP ping question, VMS
Message-ID: <900709124038.254000b1@TGV.COM>
Date: 9 Jul 90 19:40:38 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: Adelman@TGV.COM (Kenneth Adelman)
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 22

> Under VMS (version 5.2), what privileges does PING require?
> Tech Support at Wollongong told me it was cmkrnl, but, when ping image
> is installed with that privilege, this message appears when trying to
> use ping (from regular user account; works fine from system account):
>   $ ping _node_
>   ping: socket: Permission denied
>
> I've played with it, and, will ping work when installed with only the
> sysprv privilege?

    Both WINS/TCP and MultiNet use 'SYSPRV' as the equivalent of the
UNIX 'root' user, so SYSPRV is required to create the raw socket
required by PING.  I'd be careful about installing arbitrary programs
with SYSPRV, as you may breach system-security by allowing someone to
use that program to overwrite system files.

    MultiNet's PING is installed with SYSPRV by default, and in order
not to cause a security breach, PING disables it on startup and
enables it only to create the socket.

						    Kenneth Adelman
						    TGV, Inc.