bin/43591: cron for user not defining PATH

[reed%reedmedia.net@localhost]

>Number:         43591
>Category:       bin
>Synopsis:       cron for user not defining PATH
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       high
>Responsible:    bin-bug-people
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Sat Jul 10 01:50:00 +0000 2010
>Originator:     reed%reedmedia.net@localhost
>Release:        NetBSD 5.99
>Organization:
>Environment:
        
        
>Description:

One of my cron jobs failed since PATH was not defined.

I looked at my email headers and saw:

X-Cron-Env: <SHELL=/bin/sh>
X-Cron-Env: <HOME=/home/jreed>
X-Cron-Env: <LOGNAME=jreed>
X-Cron-Env: <USER=jreed>
X-Cron-Env: </usr/bin:/bin:/usr/pkg/bin:/usr/local/bin>

Notice the last line probably should have PATH=. I looked at older email 
headers from an old cron and it did have PATH.

This is:

/usr/sbin/cron:
     $NetBSD: crt0.c,v 1.5 2007/09/27 10:51:18 dogcow Exp $
     $NetBSD: cron.c,v 1.6 2010/05/18 21:49:51 christos Exp $
     $NetBSD: database.c,v 1.2 2010/05/06 18:53:17 christos Exp $
     $NetBSD: do_command.c,v 1.2 2010/05/06 18:53:17 christos Exp $
     $NetBSD: entry.c,v 1.2 2010/05/06 18:53:17 christos Exp $
     $NetBSD: env.c,v 1.2 2010/05/06 18:53:17 christos Exp $
     $NetBSD: job.c,v 1.2 2010/05/06 18:53:17 christos Exp $
     $NetBSD: misc.c,v 1.2 2010/05/06 18:53:17 christos Exp $
     $NetBSD: popen.c,v 1.2 2010/05/06 18:53:17 christos Exp $
     $NetBSD: pw_dup.c,v 1.2 2010/05/06 18:53:17 christos Exp $

root's cron job does work. I have it run a script that simply is just 
one line:
echo $PATH

The cron email has:

X-Cron-Env: <PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin>

And the body is:

/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin

root's crontab specifically defines the PATH.

# crontab -l -u root | grep PATH
PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin

But running the shell script as a normal user does:

X-Cron-Env: </usr/bin:/bin:/usr/pkg/bin:/usr/local/bin>

(notice no PATH=)

The output is:
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/pkg/bin:/usr/local/bin

(see it has different PATH)

So then I had it also run "env" and "export" in the shell script. For 
the root it is:

CRON_WITHIN=7200
PWD=/var/log
HOME=/var/log
PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
USER=root
LOGNAME=root
SHELL=/bin/sh

CRON_WITHIN
HOME
LOGNAME
PATH
PWD
SHELL
USER

(notice root's does have PATH)

For the regular user it is:

PWD=/home/jreed
HOME=/home/jreed
USER=jreed
LOGNAME=jreed
SHELL=/bin/sh

HOME
LOGNAME
PWD
SHELL
USER

(notice no PATH)

Now when I do set PATH in the user's crontab, it is fixed:

X-Cron-Env: <PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/pkg/bin:/foo/bar>

and my output:

/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/pkg/bin:/foo/bar

PWD=/home/jreed
HOME=/home/jreed
PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/pkg/bin:/foo/bar
USER=jreed
LOGNAME=jreed
SHELL=/bin/sh

HOME
LOGNAME
PATH
PWD
SHELL
USER

Maybe the problem is related to the patches related to path for
login classes. I didn't test vixie-cron from pkgsrc to compare.

>How-To-Repeat:
cron job as a normal user (or maybe remove PATH from root's crontab?)
>Fix:
        

>Unformatted: