For example, dirty_sockv1 uses the create-user API. That API actually uses a back-end Linux command "adduser" which is not included in all distros of Linux (some just have useradd, for example).

Access to the root user meant that if a hacker gained access to your system, they could wreak havoc on the machine. Eventually, it was decided something had to give. Out of that need, sudo was born.

A doozy of a bug that could allow any local user on most Linux or Unix systems to gain root access has been uncovered — and it had been sitting there for a decade, researchers said. The bug was ...

A vulnerability in Sudo, a core command utility for Linux, could allow a user to execute commands as a root user even if that root access has been specifically disallowed.