GETGROUPLIST(3) Linux Programmer's Manual GETGROUPLIST(3)

getgrouplist - list of groups a user belongs to

#include <grp.h>

int getgrouplist (const char *user, gid_t group,
gid_t *groups, int *ngroups);

The getgrouplist() function scans the group database for all the groups user belongs to. Up to *ngroups group IDs corresponding to these groups are stored in the array groups; the return value from the function is the number of group IDs actually stored. The group group is automatically included in the list of groups returned by getgrouplist().

If *ngroups is smaller than the total number of groups found, then getgrouplist() returns a value of `-1'. In all cases the actual number of groups is stored in *ngroups.

The glibc 2.3.2 implementation of this function is broken: it overwrites memory when the actual number of groups is larger than *ngroups.

This function is present since glibc 2.2.4.

/* This crashes with glibc 2.3.2 */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <grp.h>
#include <pwd.h>
int main() {

        int i, ng = 0;

        char *user = "who";	/* username here */

        gid_t *groups = NULL;

        struct passwd *pw = getpwnam(user);

        if (pw == NULL)

                return 0;

        if (getgrouplist(user, pw->pw_gid, NULL, &ng) < 0) {

                groups = (gid_t *) malloc(ng * sizeof (gid_t));

                getgrouplist(user, pw->pw_gid, groups, &ng);

        }

        for(i = 0; i < ng; i++)

                printf("%d\n", groups[i]);

        return 0;
}

getgroups(3), setgroups(3)

2003-11-18 GNU

Different Versions of this Page: