What does a dot after the file permission bits mean?

Question

I performed an ls -la on directory on my CentOS 6.4 server here and the permissions for a given file came out as:

-rwxr-xr-x.

I understand what -rwxr-xr-x means, what I don't understand is the . after the last attribute.

Can someone explain it to me? Is it harmful in any way? Can it be removed?

score 34 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 25 '14 at 13:13

34

GNU ls uses a . character to indicate a file with an SELinux security context, but no other alternate access method.

edited Jul 25 '14 at 13:13

Cristian Ciupitu

answered Nov 26 '13 at 12:54

Vombat

the file in question is the service definition for the tomcat server. So I should be fine, right? – gtludwig Nov 26 '13 at 12:58
I guess so. You can read this for more info: https://www.owasp.org/images/0/01/Secure_Web_App_Server_McRee_OWASP.pdf – Vombat Nov 26 '13 at 13:44
Does it means that the selinux is on. – AReddy Mar 10 '16 at 12:29

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 20 '18 at 08:31

3

To see the actual security context applied to the file run this:

ls -Z

The security contexts can be assigned to a file even having SELinux disabled. You can check your security context with this:

id -Z

If SELinux is disabled you will get this message:

id: --context (-Z) works only on an SELinux-enabled kernel

edited Sep 20 '18 at 08:31

answered Sep 20 '18 at 08:11

UaT

2 Answers2