nerdexam
LPI

010-160 · Question #10

What is the UID of the user root?

The correct answer is E. 0. The root superuser account is always assigned UID 0 on Linux and Unix-like systems, and this value is what the kernel uses to grant unrestricted privileges.

Security and File Permissions

Question

What is the UID of the user root?

Options

  • A1
  • B-1
  • C255
  • D65536
  • E0

How the community answered

(21 responses)
  • B
    5% (1)
  • C
    5% (1)
  • E
    90% (19)

Why each option

The root superuser account is always assigned UID 0 on Linux and Unix-like systems, and this value is what the kernel uses to grant unrestricted privileges.

A1

UID 1 is typically assigned to the first non-root system account such as 'daemon' or 'bin', not to the root account.

B-1

UIDs are unsigned integers on Linux; negative values are not valid and cannot be assigned to any user.

C255

UID 255 falls within the range commonly used for system or service accounts, not for the root superuser.

D65536

UID 65536 exceeds the traditional 16-bit UID space and is sometimes used as a sentinel value for 'nobody', not for root.

E0Correct

UID 0 is reserved exclusively for root by POSIX convention and is hardcoded into the kernel's privilege model. The kernel checks the numeric UID 0 - not the string 'root' - when determining superuser access, so any account assigned UID 0 inherits full system privileges regardless of its login name.

Concept tested: Root user UID 0 assignment in Linux

Source: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/passwd.5.html

Topics

#root user#UID#user accounts

Community Discussion

No community discussion yet for this question.

Full 010-160 Practice