Working with Special Bits

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Working with Special Bits

While they don't come up very often, it's important to know how to manage the special bits that can be set on files and directories. This lab will walk through some of the ways to manage them.

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Lab Info

Level

Beginner

Last updated

Apr 06, 2025

Duration

15m

Challenge

Create the Collaborative Area

First, we need to create the directory:

mkdir /opt/managers

Then we set it so that all new files created will be owned by the managers group:

chmod g+s /opt/managers
Challenge

Create a Scratch Area, Similar to /tmp, Named scratch

First create the directory:

mkdir /opt/managers/scratch

Then set permissions:

chmod 777 /opt/managers/scratch

Then set the Sticky Bit:

chmod o+t /opt/managers/scratch
Challenge

Configure the suid Executable

First we need to copy the executable:

cp /tmp/suid /opt/managers

Then set ownership:

chown bob.managers /opt/managers/suid

And finally we set the setUID bit:

chmod u+s /opt/managers/suid

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