iruserok(3) - NetBSD Manual Pages

Command:
Section:
Arch:
Collection:
>>>
RCMD(3)                   NetBSD Programmer's Manual                   RCMD(3)


NAME

     rcmd, rresvport, iruserok, ruserok, orcmd - routines for returning a
     stream to a remote command


SYNOPSIS

     #include <unistd.h>

     int
     rcmd(char **ahost, int inport, const char *locuser, const char *remuser,
             const char *cmd, int *fd2p);

     int
     orcmd(char **ahost, int inport, const char *locuser, const char *remuser,
             const char *cmd, int *fd2p);

     int
     rresvport(int *port);

     int
     iruserok(u_int32_t raddr, int superuser, const char *ruser,
             const char *luser);

     int
     ruserok(const char *rhost, int superuser, const char *ruser,
             const char *luser);


DESCRIPTION

     The rcmd() function is available for use by anyone to run commands on a
     remote system.  It acts like the orcmd() command, with the exception that
     it makes a call out to the rcmd(1) command, or any other user-specified
     command, to perform the actual connection (thus not requiring that the
     caller be running as the super-user), and is only available for the
     ``shell/tcp'' port.  The orcmd() function is used by the super-user to
     execute a command on a remote machine using an authentication scheme
     based on reserved port numbers.  The rresvport() function returns a de-
     scriptor to a socket with an address in the privileged port space.  The
     iruserok() and ruserok() functions are used by servers to authenticate
     clients requesting service with rcmd().  All five functions are present
     in the same file and are used by the rshd(8) server (among others).

     The rcmd() function looks up the host *ahost using gethostbyname(3),  re-
     turning -1 if the host does not exist.  Otherwise *ahost is set to the
     standard name of the host and a connection is established to a server re-
     siding at the well-known Internet port inport.

     If the connection succeeds, a socket in the Internet domain of type
     SOCK_STREAM is returned to the caller, and given to the remote command as
     stdin and stdout. If fd2p is non-zero, then an auxiliary channel to a
     control process will be set up, and a descriptor for it will be placed in
     *fd2p. The control process will return diagnostic output from the command
     (unit 2) on this channel, and will also accept bytes on this channel as
     being UNIX signal numbers, to be forwarded to the process group of the
     command.  If fd2p is 0, then the stderr (unit 2 of the remote command)
     will be made the same as the stdout and no provision is made for sending
     arbitrary signals to the remote process, although you may be able to get
     its attention by using out-of-band data.

     The protocol is described in detail in rshd(8).

     The rresvport() function is used to obtain a socket with a privileged ad-
     dress bound to it.  This socket is suitable for use by rcmd() and several
     other functions.  Privileged Internet ports are those in the range 0 to
     1023.  Only the super-user is allowed to bind an address of this sort to
     a socket.

     The iruserok() and ruserok() functions take a remote host's IP address or
     name, respectively, two user names and a flag indicating whether the lo-
     cal user's name is that of the super-user.  Then, if the user is NOT the
     super-user, it checks the /etc/hosts.equiv file.  If that lookup is not
     done, or is unsuccessful, the .rhosts in the local user's home directory
     is checked to see if the request for service is allowed.

     If this file does not exist, is not a regular file, is owned by anyone
     other than the user or the super-user, or is writeable by anyone other
     than the owner, the check automatically fails.  Zero is returned if the
     machine name is listed in the ``hosts.equiv'' file, or the host and re-
     mote user name are found in the ``.rhosts'' file; otherwise iruserok()
     and ruserok() return -1.  If the local domain (as obtained from
     gethostname(3))  is the same as the remote domain, only the machine name
     need be specified.

     If the IP address of the remote host is known, iruserok() should be used
     in preference to ruserok(), as it does not require trusting the DNS serv-
     er for the remote host's domain.


DIAGNOSTICS

     The rcmd() function returns a valid socket descriptor on success.  It re-
     turns -1 on error and prints a diagnostic message on the standard error.

     The rresvport() function returns a valid, bound socket descriptor on suc-
     cess.  It returns -1 on error with the global value errno set according
     to the reason for failure.  The error code EAGAIN is overloaded to mean
     ``All network ports in use.''


ENVIRONMENT

     RCMD_CMD    When using the rcmd() function, this variable is used as the
                 program to run instead of rcmd(1).


SEE ALSO

     rcmd(1),  rlogin(1),  rsh(1),  intro(2),  rexec(3),  hosts.equiv(5),
     rhosts(5),  rexecd(8),  rlogind(8),  rshd(8).


HISTORY

     The orcmd(), rresvport(), iruserok() and ruserok() functions appeared in
     4.2BSD, where the orcmd() function was called rcmd.() The (newer) rcmd()
     function appeared in NetBSD 1.3.


BUGS

     As the rcmd function uses getpwent(3) functions, passing in a previous
     value from one of this family of functions can result in unpredictable
     results.  Do not write code like the following:

           struct passwd *pw;

           pw = getpwuid(getuid());
           if (rcmd(host, port, pw->pw_name, pw->pw_name, cmd, fd2p) < 0)
                   err(1, "rcmd");


     When a reentrant version of getpwent(3) is available, rcmd should be
     changed to use this instead.

4.2 Berkeley Distribution        June 4, 1993                                2