View source for SuEXEC

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{{Infobox software
| name = suEXEC
| logo = Apache HTTP server logo (2019-present).svg
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| developer = [[Apache Software Foundation]]
| released = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
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| programming language = [[C (programming language)|C]]
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| included with = [[Apache HTTP Server]]
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| genre = [[Apache HTTP Server|Apache]] module
| license = [[Apache License|Apache-2.0]]
| website = <!-- {{URL|example.org}} -->
}}
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
Apache '''suEXEC''' is a feature of the [[Apache HTTP Server|Apache]] [[web server]]. It allows users to run [[Common Gateway Interface]] (CGI) and [[Server Side Includes]] (SSI) applications as a different user. Normally, all web server processes run as the default web server user (often wwwrun, www-data, apache or [[nobody (username)|nobody]]). The '''suEXEC''' feature consists of a module for the web server and a [[Executable|binary]] executable which acts as a wrapper. suEXEC was introduced in Apache 1.2 and is often included in the default Apache package provided by most [[Linux distribution]]s.
If a client requests a CGI and suEXEC is activated, it will call the suEXEC binary which then wraps the CGI scripts and executes it under the user account of the server process (virtual host) defined in the virtual host directive.<ref name=huff />
Additionally, suEXEC perform a multi-step check on the executed CGI to ensure security for the server (including path-checks, a limit of permitted commands, etc.)<ref>[http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/suexec.html apache.org - suEXEC Support]</ref>
==Example==
User "Alice" has a website including some Common Gateway Interface script files in her own <code>public_html</code> (a common web root directory name) folder, which can be accessed by <code><nowiki>https://example.com/~alice</nowiki></code>.
User "Bob" now views Alice's webpage, which requires Apache to run one of these CGI scripts.
Instead of running all scripts as "wwwrun" (which results in the need that all scripts have to be readable and executable for the "wwwrun" group if the file is owned by that group or for all users otherwise), the scripts in <code>/home/alice/public_html</code> will be wrapped using suEXEC and run with Alice's user ID resulting in higher security and eliminating the need to make the scripts readable and executable for all users or everyone in the "wwwrun" group (instead only Alice herself needs to be able to run the script).
== References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=huff>{{cite web|last1=Miller|first1=Chris|title=Deploying PHP: mod_php? CGI/suExec? FastCGI?|date=26 September 2012 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/cmiller/deploying-php-mod_pp-cgis_b_1824688.html|publisher=Huffington Post|accessdate=26 February 2015}}</ref>
}}
== External links ==
* [https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/suexec.html apache.org - suEXEC Support (Apache 2.4)]
* [https://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/suexec.html apache.org - suEXEC Support (Apache 1.3)]
[[Category:Apache Software Foundation|HTTP Server]]
[[Category:Apache httpd modules]]
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[[Category:Unix security-related software]]
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