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https://github.com/trifectatechfoundation/sudo-rs

A memory safe implementation of sudo and su.
https://github.com/trifectatechfoundation/sudo-rs

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A memory safe implementation of sudo and su.

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README 

        
# sudo-rs



A safety oriented and memory safe implementation of sudo and su written in Rust.



## Status of this project



Sudo-rs is being developed further; features you might expect from original sudo

may still be unimplemented or not planned. If there is an important one you need,

please request it using the issue tracker. If you encounter any usability bugs,

also please report them on the [issue tracker](https://github.com/trifectatechfoundation/sudo-rs/issues).

Suspected vulnerabilities can be reported on our [security page](https://github.com/trifectatechfoundation/sudo-rs/security).



An [audit of sudo-rs version 0.2.0](docs/audit/audit-report-sudo-rs.pdf) has been performed in August 2023.

The findings from that audit are addressed in the current version.



Sudo-rs currently is targeted for Linux-based operating systems only; Linux kernel 5.9

or newer is necessary to run sudo-rs.



## Installing sudo-rs



The recommended way to start using `sudo-rs` is via the package manager of your Linux distribution.



### Arch Linux



Arch Linux can be installed via AUR [sudo-rs](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/sudo-rs) or [sudo-rs-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/sudo-rs-git).



Note: [AUR usage help](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AUR_helpers)



```sh

yay -Syu sudo-rs

```



### Debian/Ubuntu

If you are running Debian 13 (trixie) or later, or Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble Numbat) or later, you can use:

```sh

sudo apt-get install sudo-rs

```

This will offer the functionality using the commands `su-rs` and `sudo-rs`. If you want to invoke sudo-rs

via the usual commands `sudo` and `su` instead, prepend `/usr/lib/cargo/bin` to your current `$PATH` variable.



### Fedora



If you are running Fedora 38 or later, you can use:

```sh

sudo dnf install sudo-rs

```

This will offer the functionality using the commands `su-rs` and `sudo-rs`.



### Installing our pre-compiled x86-64 binaries



You can also switch to sudo-rs manually by using our pre-compiled tarballs.

We currently only offer these for x86-64 systems.



We recommend installing sudo-rs and su-s in your `/usr/local` hierarchy using the commands:

```sh

sudo tar -C /usr/local -xvf sudo-VERSION.tar.gz

```

and for su-rs:

```sh

sudo tar -C /usr/local -xvf su-VERSION.tar.gz

```

This will install sudo-rs and su-rs in `/usr/local/bin` using the usual commands `sudo` and `su`.



### Building from source



Sudo-rs is written in Rust. The minimum required Rust version is 1.70. If your

Linux distribution does not package that version (or a later one), you can always

install the most recent version through [rustup]. You also need the C development

files for PAM (`libpam0g-dev` on Debian, `pam-devel` on Fedora).



On Ubuntu or Debian-based systems, use the following command to install the PAM development library:

```

sudo apt-get install libpam0g-dev

```



On Fedora, CentOS and other Red Hat-based systems, you can use the following command:

```

sudo yum install pam-devel

```



With dependencies installed, building sudo-rs is a simple matter of:

```

cargo build --release

```



This produces a binary `target/release/sudo`. However, this binary must have

the setuid flag set and must be owned by the root user in order to provide any

useful functionality. Consult your operating system manual for details.

On operating systems other than Linux we also require an environment variable

`SUDO_RS_IS_UNSTABLE` to be set, and it must have the value

`I accept that my system may break unexpectedly`. This because we are in an

early stage of supporting non-Linux OSes. If you are unsure about how to set

this up, then the current version of sudo is not intended for you.



Sudo-rs needs the sudoers configuration file. The sudoers configuration file

will be loaded from `/etc/sudoers-rs` if that file exists, otherwise the

original `/etc/sudoers` location will be used. You must make sure that a valid

sudoers configuration exists at that location. For an explanation of the

sudoers syntax you can look at the

[original sudo man page](https://www.sudo.ws/docs/man/sudoers.man/).



[rustup]: https://rustup.rs/



## Differences from original sudo



sudo-rs supports less functionality than sudo. Some of this is by design. In

most cases you will get a clear error if you try something that is not

supported (e.g. use a configuration flag or command line option that is not

implemented).



Exceptions to the above, with respect to your `/etc/sudoers` configuration:



* `use_pty` is enabled by default, but can be disabled.

* `env_reset` is ignored --- this is always enabled.

* `visiblepw` is ignored --- this is always disabled.

* `verifypw` is currently ignored; a password is always necessary for `sudo -v`.

* `mail_badpass`, `always_set_home`, `always_query_group_plugin` and

  `match_group_by_gid` are not applicable to our implementation, but ignored for

  compatibility reasons.



Some other notable restrictions to be aware of:



* Some functionality is not yet supported; in particular `sudoedit` and preventing shell

  escapes using `NOEXEC` and `NOINTERCEPT`.

* Per-user, per-command, per-host `Defaults` sudoers entries for finer-grained control

  are not (yet) supported.

* Sudo-rs always uses PAM for authentication at this time, your system must be

  set up for PAM. Sudo-rs will use the `sudo` service configuration. This also means

  that resource limits, umasks, etc have to be configured via PAM and not through

  the sudoers file.

* sudo-rs will not include the sendmail support of original sudo.

* The sudoers file must be valid UTF-8.

* To prevent a common configuration mistake in the sudoers file, wildcards

  are not supported in *argument positions* for a command.

  E.g., `%sudoers ALL = /sbin/fsck*` will allow `sudo fsck` and `sudo fsck_exfat` as expected,

  but `%sudoers ALL = /bin/rm *.txt` will not allow an operator to run `sudo rm README.txt`,

  nor `sudo rm -rf /home .txt`, as with original sudo.



If you find a common use case for original sudo missing, please create a feature

request for it in our issue tracker.



## Aim of the project



Our current target is to build a drop-in replacement for all common use cases of

sudo. For the sudoers config syntax this means that we support the default

configuration files of common Linux distributions. Our implementation should support

all commonly used command line options from the original sudo implementation.



Some parts of the original sudo are explicitly not in scope. Sudo has a large

and rich history and some of the features available in the original sudo

implementation are largely unused or only available for legacy platforms. In

order to determine which features make it we both consider whether the feature

is relevant for modern systems, and whether it will receive at very least

decent usage. Finally, of course, a feature should not compromise the safety of

the whole program.



Our `su` implementation is made using the building blocks we created for our

sudo implementation.  It will be suitable replacement for the `su` distributed

by [util-linux].



[util-linux]: https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux



## Future work



While our initial target is a drop-in replacement for most basic use cases of

sudo, our work may evolve beyond that target. We are also looking into

alternative ways to configure sudo without the sudoers config file syntax and to

extract parts of our work in usable crates for other people.



## Sponsors



The initial development of sudo-rs was started and funded by the [Internet Security Research Group](https://www.abetterinternet.org/) as part of the [Prossimo project](https://www.memorysafety.org/).



An independent security audit of sudo-rs was made possible by the [NLNet Foundation](https://nlnet.nl/).