Apache is normally configured to only have access to its DocumentRoot directory and not to run any system commands. As such, the Apache process normally runs as an unprivileged user and group with no shell access in most platforms.
This is for security reasons as even an exploit to a poorly written PHP or Perl script will not escalate and cause much harm to the system.
Default user and group for Apache process in different distribution is normally different. Ubuntu for example sets the default user and group to www-data while CentOS uses apache.
If you're running a development environment or specifically require your Apache process to run as a specific user or group, you can definitely do that from your Apache's configuration file by updating the User and Group directive.
$ sudo vi /etc/apache2/apache2.conf Password:
User root Group root
The following example is to run it as root and is a big security risk as an exploited script will have full access to the system.
$ sudo chown --recursive username:groupname /home/user/website/
$ sudo systemctl restart apache2 # Ubuntu, Debian, openSUSE and SLES $ sudo systemctl restart httpd # CentOS and Red Hat
$ ps aux | grep apache2 root 1188 0.0 0.1 162184 6664 ? Ss Mar29 0:02 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start root 1197 0.0 0.1 162184 5668 ? S Mar29 0:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start root 1198 0.0 0.1 162184 5916 ? S Mar29 0:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start root 1200 0.0 0.1 162184 5684 ? S Mar29 0:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start root 1201 0.0 0.1 162184 5684 ? S Mar29 0:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start root 1202 0.0 0.1 162184 5684 ? S Mar29 0:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
Guide compatibility:
Operating System |
---|
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) |
Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) |
Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) |
Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) |
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) |
Ubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish) |
Ubuntu 19.04 (Disco Dingo) |
Comment anonymously. Login not required.