php can't execute any external command?

Question

We moved from Slackware to CentOS here, it was working fine then without notice, php stopped executing external calls such as calls to "wc" and "spamc". All such calls appear on error_log as:

sh: /usr/bin/spamc: Permission denied

The paths are correct. We have the permissions set correctly and apache is supposed to be able to execute the files with no problem. We're NOT on safe_mode and we do not have base_dir set. It is not SELinux, or at least sestatus says SELinux is disabled.

summary:

• PHP can't execute anything thru exec() or popen()
• Paths to binaries are correct.
• We are not in safe mode
• We don't have base_dir set
• Permissions on the binaries allow apache user to execute them
• SELinux is disabled
• on php.ini the disable_functions is empty
• We have no clue why it doesn't work

PHP version 5.3.3 and CentOS 5.5

Anyone has a clue of what might be happening? Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Found the error.

I was trying to execute /usr/bin/tidy for example, the usr folder had a 644 permission which is akin to lovecraftian horror in my book. I could work because I was root.

I figured it out after going crazy and deciding to check the permissions on all the path components of the command from the root / folder to the tidy binary, I found all permissions set correctly but the usr folder perms were completely screwed.

This is fixed.

Answer 2

Permissions ?

This hits of permissions... keep in mind

"Permission denied" can be anywhere along the path and not just the file your calling itself. So look at "/usr /usr/bin" and "/" as well.

PHP

This could also be due to php not having something compiled it wants. Can you turn strace on and try it again ?

to do this - you will need to stop/start apache / exim (or whatever) w/ strace turned on:

strace -f -o trace.txt /etc/rc.d/init.d/servicename  start

Generally this is apache btw

strace -f -o trace.txt /etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd start Now simply try to run the function again

Since the "-o" option saves the result to "trace.txt" file let's go ahead and peek @ that file:

cat trace.txt | grep "/usr/bin/spamc"

That should allow you see a much better log and a hint to what is happening

Make sure you turn that strace off - or the logs will become very large