topic Re: sendmail problems in Operating System - HP-UX

sendmail problems

Chris Fadrowski — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 09:55:52 GMT

/sbin/init.d/sendmail start
/etc/mail/sendmail.cf: line 698: fileclass: cannot open '/etc/mail/sendmail.cw': World writable directory
WARNING: World writable directory /var
451 4.0.0 /etc/mail/sendmail.cf: line 698: fileclass: cannot open '/etc/mail/sendmail.cw': World writable dire
ctory

i was trying to send an email using sendmail. i got this message, so i tried to stop and start sendmail and am still getting the message. any idea what it means?

Re: sendmail problems

Jaime Bolanos Rojas. — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 10:01:16 GMT

Hi Chris!

This old thread should help you resolve your problem:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1026689

Regards,

Jaime.

Re: sendmail problems

Steven E. Protter — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 10:13:49 GMT

Shalom Chris,

1) You need not start sendmail to send mail. The sendmail daemon accepts mail, is not required to send it.

Specific issues.

1) Check permissions an existance of /etc/mail/sendmail.cw I do not believe it is neccessary and sendmail.cf may have been customized.

2) Change permissions on /var It should never be world readable.

SEP

Re: sendmail problems

Prasanth B — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:30:54 GMT

Hi,

Check the permission on /, /etc/ and /etc/sendmail directories. As the WARNING message above indicates check the permission on /var as well.

-PB

Re: sendmail problems

Bill Hassell — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 21:32:56 GMT

This looks like a serious problem -- not just with email! This message:

WARNING: World writable directory /var

is a very serious error in the permission of one of the most critical directories in HP-UX (and all Unix flavors). It cannot be 777 permission! It must be changed back to 555 (the correct value) to prevent devastating damage to major components of the system.

And this message:

'/etc/mail/sendmail.cw': World writable directory

also is serious. World writable means that every login on your system, no matter how untrained, will be able to trash all the files in /etc/mail. This a serious security risk in that anyone could divert or modify email messages, including root's address. That's why sendmail shows the warning and quits.

As with /var, the /etc/mail directory must be 555 permission. Now I woulod be VERY concerned about other permission errors. Someone with root privileges has modified the original (proper) permissions. If this system is important, run the swverify command and look at the resultant log. All errors must be addressed.