A file that exists doesn't exist. (Bash claims a file exists when it doesn't.)

Question

root@omega-15:/var/unreal/src# find ./ircd
./ircd
root@omega-15:/var/unreal/src# ./ircd
bash: ./ircd: No such file or directory

What the hell is this? Bash thinks that the file doesn't exist, when it obviously does.

-rwxr-xr-x 1 unreal unreal 2075069 Jul 20 04:01 ircd
ircd: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.15, not stripped

Answer 1

Smells like a (badly configured) rootkit, very common in some irc-environments.

It could also be an oddly named filename (with a space to the end?).

I'd recommend researching this without running that binary, although it's probably too late already. You could chkrootkit/rkhunter.

If it does turn out to be a rootkit (or rather: if you can't find a clear alternate explanation) you should probably reinstall the entire system.

Answer 2

It's probably complaining that a shared library doesn't exist. Try ldd ./ircd to see what shared libraries are missing.

Answer 3

Have you installed Unreal IRC Server?

Linux Version Of Unreal IRC Servers Contained Trojans Since 2009 ...

Answer 4

Additionally to the answer of Paul Tomblin: If you are running a 64-bit operating system and try to execute a 32-bit binary without having installed the 32-bit libraries (usually called multilib or alike), this is the error you'll usually get.

Answer 5

There could be extra spaces around the filename? Try running the following to find the whole name:

find . -name '*ircd*' -printf '"%p"\n'