[GH-ISSUE #2225] unable to authorize user to use firejail

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:47 -06:00

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Originally created by @millerthegorilla on GitHub (Oct 29, 2018).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues/2225

my user exists in /etc/firejail/firejail.users but I get the following message:

Error: the user is not allowed to use Firejail. Please add the user in /etc/firejail/firejail.users file, either by running "sudo firecfg", or by editing the file directly.
See "man firejail-users" for more details.

I am running fedora 28 with gnome 3. my userid is normal at 1000, and the uid_min is 1000.
uname - 4.18.16-200.fc28.x86_64
Thanks

Originally created by @millerthegorilla on GitHub (Oct 29, 2018). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues/2225 my user exists in /etc/firejail/firejail.users but I get the following message: > Error: the user is not allowed to use Firejail. Please add the user in /etc/firejail/firejail.users file, either by running "sudo firecfg", or by editing the file directly. > See "man firejail-users" for more details. I am running fedora 28 with gnome 3. my userid is normal at 1000, and the uid_min is 1000. uname - 4.18.16-200.fc28.x86_64 Thanks

gitea-mirror

2026-05-05 08:09:47 -06:00

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gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:51 -06:00

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@SkewedZeppelin commented on GitHub (Oct 29, 2018):

What version of firejail are you using and where did you install it from (git, sourceforge, copr)?

@SkewedZeppelin commented on GitHub (Oct 29, 2018): What version of firejail are you using and where did you install it from (git, sourceforge, copr)?

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:52 -06:00

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@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Oct 30, 2018):

I'm using 0.9.56 from https://sourceforge.net/projects/firejail/files/firejail/firejail-0.9.56-1.x86_64.rpm/download
I used an admin user with no home directory to install (for sudo), then removed, and added my normal user to the wheel group and then reinstalled. Same issue both times.

@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Oct 30, 2018): I'm using 0.9.56 from https://sourceforge.net/projects/firejail/files/firejail/firejail-0.9.56-1.x86_64.rpm/download I used an admin user with no home directory to install (for sudo), then removed, and added my normal user to the wheel group and then reinstalled. Same issue both times.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:53 -06:00

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@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2018):

is there anyway that I can debug this? Perhaps using a debug enabled version and gdb or similar?

@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2018): is there anyway that I can debug this? Perhaps using a debug enabled version and gdb or similar?

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:54 -06:00

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@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2018):

I have just compiled and installed from source and I still get the same problem.

@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2018): I have just compiled and installed from source and I still get the same problem.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:56 -06:00

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@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2018):

fyi, when uninstalling the rpm does not clean the symlinks from the /usr/local/bin directory, nor the desktop files from .local/share/applications/. Also, when installing from source, the /etc/firejail.config file is not created. Also, I now have the following error:

Error:
the user is not allowed to use Firejail. Please add the user in /usr/local/etc/firejail/firejail.users file, either by running "sudo firecfg", or by editing the file directly.
See "man firejail-users" for more details.

Note the different file location for firejail.users. When I run a command, such as less, I get the above error but the command runs none-the-less.

@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2018): fyi, when uninstalling the rpm does not clean the symlinks from the /usr/local/bin directory, nor the desktop files from .local/share/applications/. Also, when installing from source, the /etc/firejail.config file is not created. Also, I now have the following error: > Error: > the user is not allowed to use Firejail. Please add the user in /usr/local/etc/firejail/firejail.users file, either by running "sudo firecfg", or by editing the file directly. > See "man firejail-users" for more details. Note the different file location for firejail.users. When I run a command, such as less, I get the above error but the command runs none-the-less.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:57 -06:00

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@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2018):

upgraded to fedora 29, no change.

@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2018): upgraded to fedora 29, no change.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:57 -06:00

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@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2018):

Do you have two different firejail installations? What does which -a firejail say? When you have firejail in /usr/local/bin, you would need to create/edit firejail.users in /usr/local/etc.

Also note that this file is not created by default any more, and firejail only cares when it exists.

@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 2, 2018): Do you have two different firejail installations? What does `which -a firejail` say? When you have firejail in /usr/local/bin, you would need to create/edit firejail.users in /usr/local/etc. Also note that this file is not created by default any more, and firejail only cares when it exists.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:58 -06:00

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@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 6, 2018):

Firejail is at /usr/local/bin/firejail. The usernames are listed in /etc/firejail/firejail.users and also /usr/local/etc/firejail/firejail.users. There are two users, one of whom has a home partition, and does not have superuser privileges, and a superuser who has no home partition, and who is a member of the wheel group. They are both listed in the users file.

@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 6, 2018): Firejail is at /usr/local/bin/firejail. The usernames are listed in /etc/firejail/firejail.users and also /usr/local/etc/firejail/firejail.users. There are two users, one of whom has a home partition, and does not have superuser privileges, and a superuser who has no home partition, and who is a member of the wheel group. They are both listed in the users file.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:59 -06:00

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@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 8, 2018):

Could it be a permissions issue? Is there a way of debugging or a resource anywhere that details how to go about debugging? Many thanks for your help..

@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 8, 2018): Could it be a permissions issue? Is there a way of debugging or a resource anywhere that details how to go about debugging? Many thanks for your help..

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:59 -06:00

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@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 8, 2018):

It shouldn't be a permission issue, but it makes sense to check! Just inspect (or paste here the output of) ls -l /etc/firejail/firejail.users and ls -l /usr/local/etc/firejail/firejail.users, these files must be world-readable.

Hard to tell what's going wrong. If you are not interested in the user database and just want firejail to work instantly, you can simply delete these files (firejail version 0.9.56 and later).

Otherwise, one thing you might want to try is renaming them (for later inspection) and manually create new files in their place. Regarding the format: a user name in the firejail.users file must match exactly the user name in /etc/passwd, including empty spaces or tabs if there are any, though I doubt this is the issue here... reading and understanding /etc/passwd is quite easy, there exists a man page for it: man 5 passwd.

@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 8, 2018): It shouldn't be a permission issue, but it makes sense to check! Just inspect (or paste here the output of) `ls -l /etc/firejail/firejail.users` and `ls -l /usr/local/etc/firejail/firejail.users`, these files must be world-readable. Hard to tell what's going wrong. If you are not interested in the user database and just want firejail to work instantly, you can simply delete these files (firejail version 0.9.56 and later). Otherwise, one thing you might want to try is renaming them (for later inspection) and manually create new files in their place. Regarding the format: a user name in the firejail.users file must match exactly the user name in /etc/passwd, including empty spaces or tabs if there are any, though I doubt this is the issue here... reading and understanding /etc/passwd is quite easy, there exists a man page for it: `man 5 passwd`.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:09:59 -06:00

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@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 8, 2018):

When I run a command, such as less, I get the above error but the command runs none-the-less.

Rereading your posts, this sounds interesting... but not sure I understand it right. Can you please run less on a dummy file and paste the output here? Thanks.

@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 8, 2018): > When I run a command, such as less, I get the above error but the command runs none-the-less. Rereading your posts, this sounds interesting... but not sure I understand it right. Can you please run less on a dummy file and paste the output here? Thanks.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:10:00 -06:00

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@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 9, 2018):

less bob
Error: the user is not allowed to use Firejail. Please add the user in /usr/local/etc/firejail/firejail.users file, either by running "sudo firecfg", or by editing the file directly.
See "man firejail-users" for more details.

bob being a text file with some random chars in. It displays fine, but like all other processes, firejail does not start.

@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 9, 2018): less bob Error: the user is not allowed to use Firejail. Please add the user in /usr/local/etc/firejail/firejail.users file, either by running "sudo firecfg", or by editing the file directly. See "man firejail-users" for more details. bob being a text file with some random chars in. It displays fine, but like all other processes, firejail does not start.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:10:00 -06:00

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@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 9, 2018):

Right, my bad, sorry. This is expected behavior, somehow I still had the old behavior in mind.

I'll see if we can add some diagnostic code in git.

@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 9, 2018): Right, my bad, sorry. This is expected behavior, somehow I still had the old behavior in mind. I'll see if we can add some diagnostic code in git.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:10:01 -06:00

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@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 10, 2018):

Hi, actually, my bad. Have now checked firejail.users files and they weren't world readable. I have changed their permissions appropriately to 0644 and everything is fine again.
Thanks!

@millerthegorilla commented on GitHub (Nov 10, 2018): Hi, actually, my bad. Have now checked firejail.users files and they weren't world readable. I have changed their permissions appropriately to 0644 and everything is fine again. Thanks!

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:10:01 -06:00

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@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 10, 2018):

I think this should not happen, it is actually a bug.

@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 10, 2018): I think this should not happen, it is actually a bug.

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 08:10:02 -06:00

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@smitsohu commented on GitHub (Nov 11, 2018):