Hello Rudi, On Tue, 2012-01-03 at 11:14 +0200, Rudi Ahlers wrote: > How does something like c99shell allow a local user (not root) to read > the /etc/shadow file? I do not vouch for every app that is written to break good security practices. Try $ ls -l /etc/shadow If the tool you are using allows normal users access to /etc/shadow it is using some sort of root privileges, either it's a suid tool (ouch) or it needs entries in /etc/sudoers (visudo). In either case, I cannot think of a valid reason to allow normal users access to this file. http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Shadow-Password-HOWTO.html for more information on shadow passwords. Regards, Leonard. -- mount -t life -o ro /dev/dna /genetic/research