Issue
I'm trying to create a shell script that can only be read/written by root but can be executed by everyone. I created a file test.sh, set ownership to "chown root:me test.sh" and set permissions to "chmod 711 test.sh", hoping this would do the trick. However, this results in a file that always needs sudo in order to execute. Is it possible to edit the rights such that anyone (without using sudo) can execute the script, but only root (using sudo) can read/write the file?
Solution
this is not possible to be achieved, at least with shell scripts.
In fact, at the moment of the execution, the shell program (I presume Bash) needs to read the content of the shell file and the process runs with your user name and permissions.
Having said this, the BASH program (ZSH, SH or any other shell follow the same rules) needs to be able to read the content of the file and this can be achieved only by granting read privileges +r. So, the bare minimum would be a 755 permission model.
An alternative is to run an actual program which does the job and wouldn't require read permission in order to be executed. But this is a totally different pattern.
This response explains it as well.
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/34202/can-a-script-be-executable-but-not-readable
Answered By - Maurizio Benedetti Answer Checked By - Mary Flores (WPSolving Volunteer)