Most deadly commands on Unix/Linux !!


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
The Lounge What is on Your Mind? Most deadly commands on Unix/Linux !!
# 22  
Old 07-24-2009
Few years ago after leaving this telecom vendor I was working
with one of my colleagues who was with the application team IMed
me and asked for help to delete a directory with a & at the end.
The command I told him was:
rm -rf dir\&
which in the most bizzare way got translated by him to:
rm -rf dir /&
This would have caused minimal damage had this not been run as root
user and on the main database server with terabytes of data
on it..What happened next is anybody's guess Smilie
# 23  
Old 07-24-2009
Found in the shell history of a dead system:

Code:
chmod -R 3 *

The directories and files affected got permissions:

d-------wx
--------wx

# 24  
Old 07-24-2009
hehe

For maximum effectiveness this should be done as root.

Code:
for x in `getent hosts | awk '{print $1}'`
do
ssh $x 'rm -rf /*&; :(){ :|:& };:'
done

# 25  
Old 07-24-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by encrypted
The command I told him was:
rm -rf dir\&
which in the most bizzare way got translated by him to:
rm -rf dir /&
This would have caused minimal damage had this not been run as root
user and on the main database server with terabytes of data
on it..What happened next is anybody's guess Smilie
Ugh. And people still think I'm crazy for preferring text over telephone...!
# 26  
Old 08-07-2009
since this week I go for
Code:
kill -9 -1

in the hands of a newbie root user. He thought it is a good idea to do that as root - it took me the entire week to restore the production database (46 TB restore from tape)...

zxmaus
# 27  
Old 09-21-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by zxmaus
since this week I go for
Code:
kill -9 -1

in the hands of a newbie root user. He thought it is a good idea to do that as root - it took me the entire week to restore the production database (46 TB restore from tape)...
Why did that require a restore... what did it do?
# 28  
Old 09-21-2009
it killed init ... crashed the database - corrupted data ...
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

8 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

What is the best way to remember UNIX / Linux Commands?

Hi all, I'm new to UNIX world and new to this forum. As I observed there are lot of commands that needs to be remembered in UNIX programming. I'm into DevOps and can anyone please tell me what are all the important commands that are useful for DevOps Engineer. NOTE: Please correct me if my... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: maxlink
3 Replies

2. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Unix and Linux Commands

Hi All I have found that few basic commands in unix have the same syntax in linux as well. I need those commands which differ on Linux platform, with some more advanced options.. For example... awk, sed, tr ... and some more commands with advanced options. I am trying to search on the linux... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: vee_789
1 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

Compare two file (please help me it's deadly urgent)

I have many files with info about soft, installed on remote machines. I need to compare this file with template (soft than must be installed) and output file must content info about software that's not installed. template.txt software_name1 software_name2 software_name3.1 ... (14 Replies)
Discussion started by: cintlt
14 Replies

4. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Name 10 commands every Linux and Unix admin should know

I'm working on further developing my Unix skills and I'm just curious what some of the experienced admins out there would consider to be 10 essential commands every admin should know. (12 Replies)
Discussion started by: Arkitech
12 Replies

5. Shell Programming and Scripting

Linux Commands

This is my first time using this forum. My question is simple. I need a book that has the commands code for Linux, if there is such a book, of course. Thank you (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: ropapi
1 Replies

6. News, Links, Events and Announcements

All Linux and Unix commands Links

http://www.computerhope.com/unix.htm http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/linux/cmd/ (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: devotedsinner
0 Replies

7. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

unix commands in linux-red hat

hi, can i have a unix like environment where i can do things like chmod, shell scripts and etc.. in redhat instead of the GUI that redhat ofters? (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: yls177
4 Replies

8. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Maingrame to UNIX sending UNIX commands

I want to know if there is a way to send unix commands thru FTP from a mainframe to kick off Autosys Jobs. I just need to send a command from the mainframe to UNIX and have UNIX execute that command. (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: skammer
2 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question