How does Dreamhost Restrict User Accounts?

Question

Browsing around my shared hosting account on Dreamhost, I noticed that I could not create users if the name is already taken. I can cd /home/username if I created the username, but I can't cd /home/username if the username is not one I created. I can't even begin to explain what is going on with the enhanced security box enabled.

Can anyone possibly explain what Dreamhost does to get this level of security?

Thanks!

Really? All they use is chmod? I'm aware of its existence but by no means am I familiar with it. I suppose now is the best time to learn it! — dab, Nov 30 '11 at 04:06

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 30 '11 at 04:53

Most likely, all the users you create are in the same group. Every other user is in a different group then you. With some trivial filesystem permissions, you would get exactly the behavior indicated. I'm actually rather surprised they let you create users in the first place.

How does Dreamhost Restrict User Accounts?

1 Answers1