ssh foo.com sudo command - Prompts for sudo password as visible text. Help?


 
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# 1  
Old 10-25-2011
ssh foo.com sudo command - Prompts for sudo password as visible text. Help?

I am writing a BASH script to update a webserver and then restart Apache. It looks basically like this:

Code:
#!/bin/bash
rsync /path/on/local/machine/ foo.com:path/on/remote/machine/
ssh foo.com sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

rsync and ssh don't prompt for a password, because I have DSA encryption keys. However, if rsync or ssh did prompt for a password, it would be invisible as I typed it in.

Sadly, sudo does prompt for a password. Not only that, the password gets displayed on the screen of my local machine as I type it.

Edited to add this paragraph:
Here is an example of what happens:
Code:
local-box$ ./myScript.sh
[sudo] password for fluoborate:

It wants the password for "sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload", and it wants the password for the user fluoborate on remote-box. When I type in the password, it appears, it is visible on my screen (the screen of local-box).

Possible solutions:

1. Ideally, I would like to be able to do something like this:
Code:
sudo --password=thisIsThePassword /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

Before you balk at how insecure that is: I would prompt for the password earlier in the script, rather than hard-coding it, so reading the source code will not include the password. Also, nobody else can login to the remote machine, so they cannot see the command line arguments or look at my BASH history.

2. Modify my sudoers file. I don't want to do this, and I haven't been able to figure out how. I am on Ubuntu (10.10 server, iirc). I can make it never prompt for a sudo password, but I cannot make it always prompt except for the one command "sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload". If you can provide very explicit instructions to get that working, then please do, I will be forever grateful.

3. Use expect. I simply don't want to do this, it is ugly.

Thank you for the help.

Last edited by fluoborate; 10-25-2011 at 09:49 AM..
# 2  
Old 10-25-2011
What I don't understand is when does sudo intervene ?
On local box in order to be root to rsync?
# 3  
Old 10-25-2011
More clarification:

This script does not prompt for a password:
Code:
rsync /path/on/local/box/ foo.com:path/on/remote/box/
ssh foo.com ls

...that script will happily perform the rsync and then print the listing of a directory on remote-box. SSH and rsync do not require a password because I have DSA keys installed.

This script does prompt for a password:
Code:
ssh foo.com sudo ls

...when I run that script, it pauses and prints:

[sudo] password for fluoborate:

...and when I type it in, my typing is visible.
# 4  
Old 10-25-2011
So I understand here
you connect as fluoborate at foo.com then want to change effective ID (sudo) to root for executing ls
That means you have to look at the sudoers file on foo.com and add a newline or edit existing to look like
Code:
fluoborate ALL=(ALL)               NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/ls

# 5  
Old 10-25-2011
I found some literature:
Using rdist rsync with sudo for remote updating - BigAdmin - wikis.sun.com

Hope that will help...

All the best
# 6  
Old 10-25-2011
I am trying to do that sudoers magic, but it doesn't work. It either prompts for a password for everything or nothing, but I want it to only not prompt for:

Code:
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

Exactly what line should I add to sudoers? Does it matter how many spaces I put in the middle of the line? Is there a problem because "/etc/init.d/apache2 reload" contains a space? Maybe I need to type "/etc/init.d/apache2\ reload" in sudoers?

I have tried a bunch of things, I can't make it work. I invite you to try things on your own sudoers file. However, I can't think of another command that requires superuser permissions and has a space in it.

Thanks.
# 7  
Old 10-25-2011
Did you try
Code:
"/etc/init.d/apache2 reload"

? (should work...)
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