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);


Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

getgrouplist(): _BSD_SOURCE

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 -1. In all cases the actual number of groups is stored in *ngroups.

This function is present since glibc 2.2.4.

This function is non-standard; it appears on most BSDs.

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

    int i, ng = 0;

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

    gid_t *groups = NULL;

    struct passwd *pw = getpwnam(user);

    if (pw == NULL)

        exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);

    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]);

    exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}

getgroups(2), setgroups(2)

This page is part of release 2.73 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

2007-07-26 GNU

Different Versions of this Page: