Privilege (Computing)

In Computing, privilege is defined as the delegation of authority over a system. Users who have been delegated absolute control are called privileged. Users who lack most privileges are defined as unprivileged, regular, or normal users.

=Unix=

On Unix-like systems, the Superuser (commonly known as root ) is user that owns all the privileges. These systems do not follow the principle of least privilege; users are granted only enough permissions to accomplish their most common tasks.

Unprivileged users usually cannot: *Adjust kernel options. *Modify system files, or files of other users. *Change the owner of any files. *Reboot or halt the system, although it is becoming common on GNU/Linux to allow regular users to do this. *Change the Runlevel (on systems with System V-style initialization). *Adjust ulimits or disk quotas. *Start or stop daemon (computer software). *Signal processes of other users. *Create device nodes. *Create or remove users or groups. *Mount or unmount volumes, although it is becoming common to allow regular users to mount and unmount removable media, such as Compact discs. *Execute the contents of any sbin/ directory, although it is becoming common to simply restrict the behavior of such programs when executed by regular users.

=Windows NT=

On Windows NT-based systems, privileges are delegated in varying degrees. These delegations can be defined using the Local Security Policy Manager (SECPOL.MSC). The following is an abbreviated list of the default assignments:

Administrator is the closest equivalent to the Superuser on Unix-like systems. However, this user cannot override all of the operating system s protections, as the Superuser can.

*Members of the Administrators group have priveleges almost equal to Administrator . *Members of the Power Users group have the ability to install programs and backup the system. *Members of the Users group are the equivalent to unprivileged users on Unix-like systems. Privilege is effectively defeated on Windows NT-based systems that do not use the NTFS file system, as they cannot administer permissions on files or directories.

=See also=

*Superuser *File system permissions *Kernel