Error: host file not writable, try running with elevated privileges (Linux Mint 20.1)

[Harald-U]

General information

• OS: Linux
• Hypervisor: KVM
• Did you run crc setup before starting it (Yes/No)? Yes

CRC version

CodeReady Containers version: 1.23.1+be17b141
OpenShift version: 4.7.0 (embedded in executable)

CRC status

CRC VM:          Running
OpenShift:       Unreachable (v4.7.0)
Disk Usage:      12.24GB of 32.74GB (Inside the CRC VM)
Cache Usage:     13.01GB
Cache Directory: /home/harald/.crc/cache

CRC config

- consent-telemetry                     : yes
- memory                                : 16384
- pull-secret-file                      : /home/harald/bin/pull-secret

Host Operating System

NAME="Linux Mint"
VERSION="20.1 (Ulyssa)"
ID=linuxmint
ID_LIKE=ubuntu
PRETTY_NAME="Linux Mint 20.1"
VERSION_ID="20.1"
HOME_URL="https://www.linuxmint.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forums.linuxmint.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://linuxmint-troubleshooting-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.linuxmint.com/"
VERSION_CODENAME=ulyssa
UBUNTU_CODENAME=focal

Steps to reproduce

1. crc start

Expected

CRC should start but doesn't

Actual

crc startterminates with
INFO CodeReady Containers VM is running
INFO Starting network time synchronization in CodeReady Containers VM
Error running post start: exit status 1

Logs

IMHO relevant part of the log is:

Running '/home/harald/.crc/bin/admin-helper-linux rm api.crc.testing oauth-openshift.apps-crc.testing console-openshift-console.apps-crc.testing default-route-openshift-image-registry.apps-crc.testing'
Command failed: exit status 1

Trying to run the command manually:

$ /home/harald/.crc/bin/admin-helper-linux rm api.crc.testing oauth-openshift.apps-crc.testing console-openshift-console.apps-crc.testing default-route-openshift-image-registry.apps-crc.testing
Error: host file not writable, try running with elevated privileges
host file not writable, try running with elevated privileges

admin-helper-linux has SUID flag set:

$ ls -l /home/harald/.crc/bin/admin-helper-linux
-r-s--x--- 1 root harald 3256320 Mär 17 17:11 /home/harald/.crc/bin/admin-helper-linux

$ ls -l /etc/hosts
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 533 Mär 17 17:45 /etc/hosts

If I modify permissions of /etc/hosts from 644 to 666 it works ...

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[cfergeau]

This bug is a bit mysterious, I'd expect suid root binary to be able to able to write to a 644 root.root file. Any idea if linux Mint is doing anything specific in that regard?

[Harald-U]

I don't think so, it should be pretty much the same as Ubuntu 20.04 on which it is based

[cfergeau]

I just tested this on a stock 20.04 install with crc 1.26. After crc setup:

$ ls -al /etc/hosts
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 253 mai   17 16:41 /etc/hosts

$ ls -al ~/.crc/bin/admin-helper-linux 
-r-s--x--- 1 root teuf 3295016 mai   17 16:39 /home/teuf/.crc/bin/admin-helper-linux

$ ~/.crc/bin/admin-helper-linux add 192.168.130.11 foo.crc.testing
$ cat /etc/hosts | grep foo.crc.testing
192.168.130.11 foo.crc.testing

(in other words, this worked as expected on this system)

[Harald-U]

I have no clue what could be different and I can't think of any changes they made to Mint that would explain what happens. Why would they change SUID behaviour?

Thanks for taking the time to test this, Christophe! I guess I'll get used to changing permissions on the hosts file :-)

Unless you have another idea please go ahead and close this issue. And thanks again for your help!

[dgn]

FYI I'm running Ubuntu with an encrypted home directory and it has the nosuid mount option set -- triggering this problem

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.