Privileges restrict the use of certain system functions to
processes created on behalf of authorized users. These restrictions
protect the integrity of the operating system's code, data, and
resources and thus, the integrity of user service. Grant privileges
to individual users only after carefully considering the following
two factors:
Whether the user has the skill and
experience to use the privilege without disrupting the system
Whether the user has a legitimate need for the privilege
Privileges fall into the following seven categories according
to the damage that the user possessing them could cause the system:
None: No privileges
Normal: Minimum privileges to use the system effectively
Group: Potential to interfere with members of the
same group
Devour: Potential to consume noncritical systemwide
resources
System: Potential to interfere with normal system
operation
Objects: Potential to compromise the security of
protected objects (files, devices, logical name tables, global sections,
and so on)
All: Potential to control the system
A user's privileges
are recorded in the user's UAF record in a 64-bit privilege mask.
When a user logs in to the system, the user's privileges are stored
in the header of the user's process. In this way, the user's privileges
are passed on to the process created for the user. Users can use
the DCL command SET PROCESS/PRIVILEGES to enable and disable privileges
for which they are authorized and to further control the privileges
available to the images they run. Moreover, any user with the SETPRV
privilege can enable any privilege.
OpenVMS PrivilegesTable 8-2 lists
the privileges by category and gives brief, general definitions
of them. The following sections describe all privileges available
on OpenVMS systems in detail; each section title identifies the
privilege category (Normal, Devour, and so on). For each privilege,
the appendix describes the capabilities granted by the privilege
and the users who should receive them.
HP OpenVMS Guide to System Security
Security for the System Administrator
