SK0-004 · Question #919
A systems administrator is installing and configuring a Linux-based VM. After installing an OS, security patches, and OS hardware, the systems administrator tries to execute the following command…
The correct answer is A. The systems administrator account is not in /etc/passwd. Running 'sudo su -' and receiving 'permission denied' most likely means the account is not recognized by the system's primary user database.
Question
A systems administrator is installing and configuring a Linux-based VM. After installing an OS, security patches, and OS hardware, the systems administrator tries to execute the following command:
sudo su – The systems administrator receives a “permission denied” message. Which of the following is MOST likely the reason for this response?
Options
- AThe systems administrator account is not in /etc/passwd.
- BThe systems administrator is a part of a different group.
- CThe systems administrator is a part of the DB group.
- DThe system administrator is not part of the wheel group.
How the community answered
(23 responses)- A74% (17)
- B4% (1)
- C13% (3)
- D9% (2)
Why each option
Running 'sudo su -' and receiving 'permission denied' most likely means the account is not recognized by the system's primary user database.
The /etc/passwd file is the Linux system's user account database, and every valid user must have an entry there for the OS and authentication subsystems to recognize them. Without a valid /etc/passwd entry, sudo cannot verify the user's identity and will deny elevated privilege requests. This is a more fundamental prerequisite than group membership - the account must exist in the system before any privilege grants can apply.
Being in a different group does not inherently cause 'permission denied' for sudo su - unless that group specifically lacks sudo access rights, making this too vague to be the most likely cause.
Membership in the DB group has no bearing on superuser access via sudo; the DB group controls database permissions, not system-level privilege escalation.
While not being in the wheel group is a common cause of sudo denial on many Linux distributions, the account must first exist in /etc/passwd as a more fundamental prerequisite for any system authentication.
Concept tested: Linux /etc/passwd user account database and sudo
Source: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/passwd.5.html
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