Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!randvax!segue!jim
From: jim@segue.segue.com (Jim Balter)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: mkdir has stopped working - SCO Xenix
Message-ID: <7194@segue.segue.com>
Date: 19 Apr 91 21:55:07 GMT
References: <1991Apr10.090338.4967@nodecg.ncc.telecomwa.oz.au> <15884@smoke.brl.mil> <veit.671986606@du9ds3>
Reply-To: jim@segue.segue.com (Jim Balter)
Organization: Segue Software, Inc. - Santa Monica, CA. +1-213-453-2161
Lines: 12

In article <veit.671986606@du9ds3> veit@du9ds3.uni-duisburg.de (Holger Veit) writes:
>In <15884@smoke.brl.mil> gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) writes:
>>I would guess that somebody changed the owners of the system utilities,
>>or their protection modes, or something like that.
>
>But Mark Baker said above, that even root cannot make a directory. So, setuid 0
>for mkdir is obviously not the problem.

Watch that word "obviously".  Changing owner on a setuid file doesn't clear the
setuid bit, so mkdir could have ended up setuid to someone other than root.
If the effective user is not root, the mknod will fail even if root is the
real user.