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setreuid

Intro

setreuid - is a system call used to set the real and effective user identities.

Description

The setreuid() system call allows a process to set its real user ID, effective user ID and sub-process user ID. This call can be used by a process to set the user identity to its current user identity, that of its effective user identity, or to a specified user ID.

By setting the effective user identity to a given user ID, a process is able to act as that user. This can be used by a process to gain additional privileges. However, elevating a process's privileges carries the risk of introducing security vulnerabilities. Therefore, due diligence and caution should be used when using this system call.

Arguments

  • ruid: uid_t - specifies the real user identity of the process and is written to the ruid field in the uarea.
  • euid: uid_t - specifies the effective user identity of the process and is written to the euid field in the uarea.

Available tags

K - Originated from kernel-space. U - Originated from user space (for example, pointer to user space memory used to get it)

Hooks

setreuid

Type

Kprobes

Purpose

To capture the system call arguments and trigger certain actions when the given parameters are used.

Example Use Case

A process can use setreuid() to temporarily configure its user identity in order to execute a privileged operation.

Issues

Security vulnerabilities can be introduced if elevating the process's privileges without proper care.

  • getuid: allows a process to query its user identites
  • seteuid: allows a process to set its effective user identity

This document was automatically generated by OpenAI and needs review. It might not be accurate and might contain errors. The authors of Tracee recommend that the user reads the "events.go" source file to understand the events and their arguments better.