Operational Specifications for POSIX Access Control and Account Management in Linux Environments

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 10:09:25 +0900

In Linux infrastructure operating multi-user environments and container platforms, designing appropriate Discretionary Access Control (DAC) for directories and system files is essential for establishing security boundaries. Incorrect permission settings or ownership definitions directly lead to incidents such as configuration tampering by unauthorized processes, exposure of confidential data to unprivileged users, and application downtime caused by permission denials. This document organizes and verifies the access permission architecture in Linux, privilege modifications using chmod and chown, account lifecycle management, and practical troubleshooting procedures.

Configuration File Manipulation and Basic Editor Operations

The modeless terminal-based text editor nano is frequently used to inspect and edit system configuration files (e.g., /etc/passwd).

Launching and Operating the nano Editor

Launch the editor by specifying the target file.

nano passwd

💡 Operation and Manual Reference Procedures

・Exit Procedure: After completing edits, press Ctrl + X. If unsaved changes exist, a confirmation prompt for saving will appear.

・Help and Manual: Check command-line options and refer to the manual.

nano --help
man nano

To exit the man page viewer, press the q key.

File Attributes, Ownership (chown), and Access Permissions (chmod)

Linux Discretionary Access Control (DAC) functions by assigning bitmasks for read (r), write (w), and execute (x) to three target classes: “Owner/User”, “Group”, and “Others”.

Primary Management Commands

・chmod (Change Mode): Modifies the access permission bits (r, w, x) of files and directories.

・chown (Change Owner): Changes the owner user and owning group of files and directories.

chown [OWNER].[GROUP] FILENAME_OR_DIRECTORY
# Or use the following syntax
chown [OWNER]:[GROUP] FILENAME_OR_DIRECTORY

Practical Verification Scenarios

Scenario A: Restricting Directory Permissions and Verifying Access Denial

Directory Creation and Ownership Reassignment Create directory dir1 under the master user. In an environment where the default umask 022 is applied, the directory is generated with 755 (rwxr-xr-x).
```
mkdir dir1
sudo chown master:master dir1
```
Restricting Permissions Modify permissions on dir1 to completely revoke access rights for the “Others” class.
```
chmod 750 dir1
```

・Octal Notation Breakdown (750):

Owner (7 -> rwx): Full permissions for read, write, and directory traversal (enter).
Group (5 -> r-x): Read and directory traversal permissions.
Others (0 -> ---): All permissions revoked.

Verifying Access Denial Switch context to the unprivileged user user1 (classified under “Others”) and attempt to navigate into the directory.
```
su - user1
cd /path/to/dir1
```

Result: Since traversal permission (x) is absent, a Permission denied error occurs, and entry is rejected.

Scenario B: File Creation Constraints and Dynamic Permission Modification

File Creation by Owner Create a file inside dir1 under the master user context.
```
touch dir1/test1.txt
```

Since master holds w and x permissions on dir1, creation succeeds. The default permissions of the generated file will be 664 or 644.

File Creation Failure by Unprivileged User Attempt to generate a file inside dir1 from the user1 account.
```
touch dir1/test2.txt
```

Result: Fails with Permission denied. Creating a new entry within a directory requires both write (w) and execute (x) permissions on the parent directory.

Expanding Permissions for the “Others” Class Return to the master account and update permissions on dir1.
```
chmod 757 dir1
```

・Octal Notation Breakdown (757):

Owner (7 -> rwx): Full permissions.
Group (5 -> r-x): Read and traversal permissions.
Others (7 -> rwx): All permissions granted.

Re-verification Attempt file creation again from user1.
```
touch dir1/test2.txt
```

Result: Creation completes successfully. The 7 bit assigned to “Others” permits user1 to modify the directory structure.

Detailed Specification via Symbolic Mode

In addition to octal notation, symbolic mode is widely used to add, remove, or set specific permission flags.

Components of Symbolic Notation

Category	Symbol	Description
Target Class	`u`	User: File owner user
	`g`	Group: File owner group
	`o`	Others: Other users
	`a`	All: All classes (combination of `u`, `g`, `o`)
Operator	`+`	Add permission
	`-`	Revoke permission
	`=`	Explicitly set/overwrite permission
Permission Flag	`r`	Read
	`w`	Write
	`x`	Execute / Directory traversal (Execute)

Representative Command Examples

# Add write permission for the owner
chmod u+w filename

# Add write permission for group and others
chmod go+w filename

# Add execute permission for the owner, and write permission for group/others
chmod u+x,go+w filename

# Explicitly set permissions to rwx for all user classes
chmod a+rwx filename

Account Lifecycle Management (`adduser` / `userdel`)

Procedures for managing User Identifiers (UID), which form the foundation of access control.

・Account Creation:

adduser <username>

・Account Deletion (Basic):

userdel <username>

When executing this command, only registry entries in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow are destroyed; the home directory and mail queue remain.

・Complete Deletion of Account and Associated Data (-r option):

userdel -r <username>

⚠️ Internal Processing Flow with -r Option

Deletion of user account entry
Recursive destruction of the home directory (/home/<username>)
Deletion of unprocessed mail in the spool (/var/mail/<username>, etc.)

Troubleshooting

1. Path Resolution Failure Due to Missing Execute (`x`) Permission on Directory

Even if a file’s own permissions are 644 (rw-r--r--), if x permission (traversal permission) is not granted to an ancestor directory, the process cannot reach the file and returns Permission denied.

🛠️ Resolution: Check permissions along the parent directory structure and grant the minimum required execute permissions.

chmod o+x /path/to/parent_directory

2. Lingering Process Error During `userdel -r` Execution

If the target user owns running background processes, the userdel command will fail.

⚠️ Symptom Example:

userdel: user <username> is currently used by process <pid>

🛠️ Resolution Procedure: Terminate the processes owned by the user before executing deletion.

pkill -u <username>
userdel -r <username>

Operational Notes

Terminal log output showing directory configuration, user switching, permission modification, and result verification in this environment.

master@edge-node:~$ mkdir dir1
master@edge-node:~$ sudo chown master:master dir1
master@edge-node:~$ chmod 750 dir1
master@edge-node:~$ ls -ld dir1
drwxr-x--- 2 master master 4096 Sep 15 10:00 dir1

master@edge-node:~$ su - user1
Password: 
user1@edge-node:~$ cd /home/master/dir1
-bash: cd: /home/master/dir1: Permission denied

user1@edge-node:~$ exit
logout

master@edge-node:~$ chmod 757 dir1
master@edge-node:~$ ls -ld dir1
drwxr-xr-w 2 master master 4096 Sep 15 10:02 dir1

master@edge-node:~$ su - user1
Password: 
user1@edge-node:~$ touch /home/master/dir1/test2.txt
user1@edge-node:~$ ls -l /home/master/dir1/test2.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user1 user1 0 Sep 15 10:03 /home/master/dir1/test2.txt
```</username></username></pid></username></username></username></username></username></username>

Linux-Permissions on K-Life Hack | Systems Architecture & DevOps