Question

I am attempting to run a command as root from a php page, is there any way to run shell_exec(su - root -c 'apt-get update') (for example) and pass the password to the shell? Or is there another way to run a root command from php and pass the password to the command.

I would prefer not to do the follow:

edit the /etc/sudoers file;
install the ssh2 php extension;

Answer 1

Used an entirely PHP based SSH implementation called phpseclib.

This way the user doesn’t have to install a php extension like ssh2, just download the files and include them in your script. Then you can pipe the password to the command, like so:

set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . 'phpseclib');
include('Net/SSH2.php');

 $ssh = new Net_SSH2('localhost');
 if (!$ssh->login('root', $password)) {
     exit('Login Failed');
  }

 echo $ssh->exec('whoami');

This php code will return the value “root”. Any commands you run at this time will be run as root.