sudoers is world writable error

Question

I changed the /ect file permissions on Ubuntu 12.10 so that i could edit bash.bashrc so that neo4j can see the JVM but now I am getting errors when i try run the neo4j server

I entered the code below and I managed to edit bash.bashrc but now i cant use sudo at all!

sudo chmod -R ugo+rw /ect

sudo -u neo4j /home/neo4j-community-1.8/bin/neo4j start
sudo: /etc/sudoers is world writable
sudo: no valid sudoers sources found, quitting
sudo: unable to initialize policy plugin

I read a forum and a guy said I need to re-insatll ubuntu again, I hope this is not the case? Please HELP!!

score 42 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 19 '12 at 12:16

42

I think i have sorted it out using this command

pkexec chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers

I can now do

sudo -s
root@ubuntu:~#

Is this a good enough solution to the problem?

answered Dec 19 '12 at 12:16

Mike Barnes

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still getting error "sudo: /etc/sudoers.d is world writable" – s4suryapal May 10 '14 at 06:31
This is not a permanent solution. I had to re-install Obuntu – Mike Barnes Feb 04 '15 at 14:27
@MikeBarnes `pkexec chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers` this requires a password. How to get that password? – Vivek Vardhan May 11 '16 at 13:20
It would be your root account password – BrianC Nov 08 '16 at 16:39
`pkexec chmod 555 /etc/sudoers` try that @s4suryapal – Precious Tom May 04 '18 at 21:14
`pkexec chmod 555 /etc/sudoers` `pkexec chmod 555 /etc/sudoers.d/README` This should work – Precious Tom May 05 '18 at 08:38
pkexec chmod 755 /etc/sudoers this requires a password. i am logged in using ssh key file i don't have root password then what i need to do? – Shreya Dec 10 '21 at 04:38

sudoers is world writable error

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