Add a user to Ubuntu server from PHP script

Question

I am trying to write a PHP script which executes a shell command (via system()?) to add a new user to the server. I am thinking about using useradd or adduser but don't know how I will get it to work. What flags are necessary to execute useradd in a script? And how would I set the permissions on the script so it executes properly? This doesn't work:

<?

$user = $_GET['user'];

system("sudo useradd -m -p 4dk/kBWvKaP52/POJYOZGLam8qZnCkQtdw== $user; echo $user");

?>

@wallyk It's a web page, so I am assuming the user running it is Apache...? — stooploopl
– stooploopl, Commented Apr 4, 2011 at 23:52
@KingCrunch Yes, $user is a GET variable. Echo is just for testing purposes. — stooploopl
– stooploopl, Commented Apr 4, 2011 at 23:54

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-17 20:38:18Z

5

You'll need to add a line to /etc/sudoers like

www-data ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/useradd

This allows www-data to run the useradd command.

You may also need to comment out this line, if it exists in /etc/sudoers:

Defaults requiretty

By the way, it's a good idea to escape your inputs with escapeshellarg():

$user = escapeshellarg($_GET['user']);
system("sudo useradd -m -p 4dk/kBWvKaP52/POJYOZGLam8qZnCkQtdw== $user; echo $user");

edited Nov 17, 2023 at 20:38

CommunityBot

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answered Apr 4, 2011 at 23:55

Frank Farmer

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1 Comment

wallyk Over a year ago

@stooploopl: check the server log and system log, and maybe the security log (if security is enabled). Somewhere there is a message hinting at the cause of the problem.

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