Why do we use root as user for apache2?

Posted on April 12, 2020

Hi there, I have a question, If we follow the instructions to implement a web server with apache on Ubuntu 18.04, why do we use the root user (or sudo user granted privileges) in the installation process? From what I’ve seen they use www-data user, because of security. Is that OK? Thanks

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alexdo

April 12, 2020

Hello, @ericferrando92

Could you please let me know if you refer to to this article:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-linux-apache-mysql-php-lamp-stack-ubuntu-18-04

As the article says “In order to complete this tutorial, you will need to have an Ubuntu 18.04 server with a non-root sudo-enabled user account”

As for the user with which Apache (and the individual sites) run on the server this can be modified.

If you’re just running apache, serving static files and things, www-data is enough.

If you have a whole bundle of applications also running in apache (in modphp, modperl etc) you end up with lots of your own, custom, internet-facing code running as www-data, which gives the bad guys more of a chances to gain access to that user, and puts them in control of more stuff if they do.

Hope this helps!

Regards, Alex