how to know who use su command

[jousif]

Hi Admins,
some users use su command to become root user
I want to know how can I dicover these users
please advise.

[Victor Semaska_3]

In order for a user to become root using 'su' they have to be part of the 'system' group.

I guess the easiest way to see who's in the system group is to look in the /etc/group file.

Vic

[AwadheshPandey]

view sulog file for view successful attempts of su.

Awadhesh

[Ivan Ferreira]

Create a file called /var/adm/sialog. This file will log security related records, and the use of su, like this:

Successful authentication for su from root to ferreiri

[Ann Majeske]

The sialog file is designed for temporary use in debugging sia problems, it is not designed for long term use as an auditing tool. Leaving the sialog running for long periods can cause serious problems on your system including performance problems with logins, filling up the /var filesystem, and potential system hangs.

To audit the use of the su command you can use the audit subsystem. See the Security Administration manual for information on the audit subsystem.

Ann Majeske

[Deb Kenney]

You could always check out the /var/adm/syslog.dated/current/auth.log file.

[Ivan Ferreira]

The sialog file won't be a problem, we use that, and we use the /usr/lbin/logclean command to rotate the file.

[Ann Majeske]

Ivan,

Just because you haven't had any problems using sialog all the time (that you have been able to attribute to using sialog), doesn't mean that everyone can use sialog all the time. I have seen examples of all the problems that I listed on systems with the sialog left enabled for long periods of time.

The sialog was designed to only be used short term to diagnose sia related problems. I was on the development team, I talked to the people who developed it. It was a documentation error in the man page that this restriction was not clearly stated in the man page as originally written.

Ann

[Ivan Ferreira]

Ann Majeske, thanks for the information. I did not readed that in the security manual. But, is su operations logged anywhere else? We have all in debug mode in syslog but it does not works.

[Ann Majeske]

Ivan,

As I stated in my previous reply, you can use the Audit subsystem to audit the use of the su command. See the Security Administration manual for more information.

Ann