freebsd security - May 2003 - su-ing error with FreeBSD 5.0

On a couple servers I have one running 5.0 Release, another running 5.0 
Stable I have a problem with su.

If I login to the server using a regular account, then su - to root, then I 
try to su - to any other account, other than the one I originally logged in 
as the su works but with this error:

su: No controlling tty (open /dev/tty: Permission denied)
su: warning: won't have full job control

With this error, it makes it pretty bad to use this way.

Do I have something not configured correctly? Or is there something I need 
to do more in the 5.0 configuration




         -Derek
         derek@computinginnovations.com

> On a couple servers I have one running 5.0 Release, another
> running 5.0
> Stable I have a problem with su.
5.0-STABLE does not exist, are you talking about 5.0-CURRENT or 5.1-BETA?
> Do I have something not configured correctly? Or is there
> something I need
> to do more in the 5.0 configuration
Well, you could try to ask freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, wich is the
relevant list for asking this question. Or if this is a problem only related
to the (probably?) 5.0-CURRENT server, try asking current@freebsd.org


Erik.

Derek Ragona wrote:
> On a couple servers I have one running 5.0 Release, another running 5.0 
> Stable I have a problem with su.
> 
> If I login to the server using a regular account, then su - to root, 
> then I try to su - to any other account, other than the one I originally 
> logged in as the su works but with this error:
> 
> su: No controlling tty (open /dev/tty: Permission denied)
> su: warning: won't have full job control
> 
> With this error, it makes it pretty bad to use this way.
> 
> Do I have something not configured correctly? Or is there something I 
> need to do more in the 5.0 configuration
from: http://www.freebsd.org/releases/5.0R/errata.html
--snip--
/dev/tty Permissions

FreeBSD 5.0-RELEASE has a minor bug in how the permissions of /dev/tty 
are handled. This can be triggered by logging in as a non-root, non-tty 
group user, and using su(1) to switch to a second non-root, non-tty 
group user. ssh(1) will fail because it cannot open /dev/tty. This bug 
has been fixed in 5.0-CURRENT.
--snip--

this sounds similar to what you are experiencing.  might want to check 
into 5.0-CURRENT.

cheers,
   twkonefal


-- 
Tomasz Konefal
Systems Administrator
Command Post and Transfer Corp.
416-585-9995 x.349