Running commands as different user from bash script

Question

I have 2 users: usr1 and usr2. Neither is a root user.

usr1 starts a bash script. And from the script, I want to run some commands as usr2. I understand that the way to do it is:

su -l <usr2> -c "command"

The issue is with passing the password. These are 2 different users with different privileges, so, skipping the password for usr2 is not an option.

This script can go interactive, and ask the user for the password. Is there a way to do this in bash script ?

Note: I am not an expert with scripting. And I have done some research before asking this question, but I couldnt find a suitable answer.

Would adding the NOPASSWD option in the sudoers file be an option for you? — Jason
– Jason, Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 14:30
Stack Overflow is a site for programming and development questions. This question appears to be off-topic because it is not about programming or development. See What topics can I ask about here in the Help Center. Perhaps Super User or Unix & Linux Stack Exchange would be a better place to ask. — jww
– jww, Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 14:33
@Jason: Nope, security is of utmost importance, and skipping the password is a big NO — singleX
– singleX, Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 14:41
Isn't the script already prompting for usr2's password when executed interactively? Can you include a MCVE and terminal transcript? — that other guy
– that other guy, Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 16:25

eorochena · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-20 19:11:52Z

1

You can try using the read read man page command see example below:

#!/bin/bash

read -s -p "Enter your password: " pass
echo $pass

In that case you will need to use /bin/su -c along with sudo -S

#!/bin/bash 

user=$1
read -s -p "Enter pass: " pass
cmd=$(echo $pass|sudo -S <some-command>)
su -c '$cmd' - $user

Where user=$1 additional bash argument, in this case the user id for usr2, then jut run it

$sudo bash -x ./password.sh <target-user>

edited Sep 20, 2018 at 19:11

answered Sep 20, 2018 at 17:39

eorochena

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2 Comments

singleX Over a year ago

The issue is how to use this password for running commands as su -l user

eorochena Over a year ago

You can try to use /bin/su along with /usr/bin/sudo, I updated my answer to reflex this but, probably a better approach would be to give to use linux file ownership and permissions to control which user can execute it via groups.

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