chdir outside of web root on linux

[herghost]

Hi Guys

 

I am struggling with a shell_exec command in the long run, but I am trying to work down the root cause.

 

The error I am getting with shell_exec is a file not found error, so I thought I would start with getting to the right folder.

 

I have this

 

$sym_dir = "/root/";
$cwd = getcwd();
  echo getcwd()."\n";
  chdir ($sym_dir);
  echo getcwd()."\n";

 

Which in theory should 1st display '/var/www' as it does and then display the contents of root, at least that is my understanding!

 

However my return is this /var/www /var/www

 

Why cannot I move outside the web root?

 

Cheers

Dave

[requinix]

Few reasons. Apache might be chrooted, maybe you don't have permissions.

 

Try going to just /.

[herghost]

Thanks for your reply

 

the following displays all files and folders for /

 

$sym_dir = "/";
  echo getcwd()."\n";
  chdir ($sym_dir);
echo shell_exec("ls -a");

 

However if I change $sym_dir back to /root/ then I just get the contents of the www folder displayed?

[kicken]

Most likely you don't have permission to enter /root.  It's likely locked down so only the root user can enter it, and apache does not run as root.