[Bug 1890177] [NEW] rsyslogd: file '/dev/console': open error: Permission denied

[Eric Desrochers]

Public bug reported:

The Privilege Drop options ($PrivDrop*) in focal's rsyslog both point to
'syslog' for the user and group, and don't match the
ownership/permission of '/dev/console' generating the following:

syslog:Aug  3 15:16:58 <HOSTNAME> rsyslogd: file '/dev/console': open
error: Permission denied [v8.2001.0 try https://www.rsyslog.com/e/2433 ]

Looking in Bionic/18.04LTS, '/dev/console' used to be root:syslog[1],
nowadays it's root:tty[2]

[1] - Bionic/18.04LTS (Gcloud instance)
# ls -l /dev/console
crw--w---- 1 root syslog 5, 1 Aug  3 15:17 /dev/console

[2] - Focal/20.04LTS (Gcloud instance)
# ls -l /dev/console
crw--w---- 1 root tty 5, 1 Aug  3 17:19 /dev/console

# /etc/rsyslog.conf
$PrivDropToUser syslog
$PrivDropToGroup syslog

** As a debug exercise I did the following:
- Cannot reproduce the situation if I intentionally get rid of the PrivDrop* options.
- Cannot reproduce the situation if I intentionally add 'syslog' user member of 'tty' group.

Meaning that it's pretty obvious with the above statement that the
permission denied is caused by the permission/ownership mismatch between
'/dev/console' 's ownership permission & syslog user
(PrivDropTo[User|Group]).

Other bug:
https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/compute-image-packages/issues/889

** Affects: rsyslog (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Affects: rsyslog (Ubuntu Focal)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: seg sts

** Tags added: seg sts

** Also affects: rsyslog (Ubuntu Focal)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Description changed:

  The Privilege Drop options ($PrivDrop*) in focal's rsyslog both point to
  'syslog' for the user and group, and don't match the
  ownership/permission of '/dev/console' generating the following:
  
  syslog:Aug  3 15:16:58 <HOSTNAME> rsyslogd: file '/dev/console': open
  error: Permission denied [v8.2001.0 try https://www.rsyslog.com/e/2433 ]
  
  Looking in Bionic/18.04LTS, '/dev/console' used to be root:syslog[1],
  nowadays it's root:tty[2]
  
  [1] - Bionic/18.04LTS (Gcloud instance)
  # ls -l /dev/console
  crw--w---- 1 root syslog 5, 1 Aug  3 15:17 /dev/console
  
  [2] - Focal/20.04LTS (Gcloud instance)
- # ls -l /dev/console 
+ # ls -l /dev/console
  crw--w---- 1 root tty 5, 1 Aug  3 17:19 /dev/console
- 
  
  # /etc/rsyslog.conf
  $PrivDropToUser syslog
  $PrivDropToGroup syslog
  
  ** As a debug exercise I did the following:
  - Cannot reproduce the situation if I intentionally get rid of the PrivDrop* options.
  - Cannot reproduce the situation if I intentionally add 'syslog' user member of 'tty' group.
  
+ Meaning that it's pretty obvious with the above statement that the
+ permission denied is caused by the permission/ownership mismatch between
+ '/dev/console' 's ownership permission & syslog user
+ (PrivDropTo[User|Group]).
+ 
  Other bug:
  https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/compute-image-packages/issues/889

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1890177

Title:
  rsyslogd: file '/dev/console': open error: Permission denied

Status in rsyslog package in Ubuntu:
  New
Status in rsyslog source package in Focal:
  New

Bug description:
  The Privilege Drop options ($PrivDrop*) in focal's rsyslog both point
  to 'syslog' for the user and group, and don't match the
  ownership/permission of '/dev/console' generating the following:

  syslog:Aug  3 15:16:58 <HOSTNAME> rsyslogd: file '/dev/console': open
  error: Permission denied [v8.2001.0 try https://www.rsyslog.com/e/2433
  ]

  Looking in Bionic/18.04LTS, '/dev/console' used to be root:syslog[1],
  nowadays it's root:tty[2]

  [1] - Bionic/18.04LTS (Gcloud instance)
  # ls -l /dev/console
  crw--w---- 1 root syslog 5, 1 Aug  3 15:17 /dev/console

  [2] - Focal/20.04LTS (Gcloud instance)
  # ls -l /dev/console
  crw--w---- 1 root tty 5, 1 Aug  3 17:19 /dev/console

  # /etc/rsyslog.conf
  $PrivDropToUser syslog
  $PrivDropToGroup syslog

  ** As a debug exercise I did the following:
  - Cannot reproduce the situation if I intentionally get rid of the PrivDrop* options.
  - Cannot reproduce the situation if I intentionally add 'syslog' user member of 'tty' group.

  Meaning that it's pretty obvious with the above statement that the
  permission denied is caused by the permission/ownership mismatch
  between '/dev/console' 's ownership permission & syslog user
  (PrivDropTo[User|Group]).

  Other bug:
  https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/compute-image-packages/issues/889

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