2 files changed, 11 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/lib/lib.c b/lib/lib.c
index 48689d3d..08c991dd 100644
--- a/lib/lib.c
+++ b/lib/lib.c
@@ -369,6 +369,16 @@ void xmkpath(char *path, int mode)
 		if (!*p) break;
 	}
 }
+
+// setuid() can fail (for example, too many processes belonging to that user),
+// which opens a security hole if the process continues as the original user.
+
+void xsetuid(uid_t uid)
+{
+	if (setuid(uid)) perror_exit("xsetuid");
+}
+
+
 // Find all file in a colon-separated path with access type "type" (generally
 // X_OK or R_OK).  Returns a list of absolute paths to each file found, in
 // order.
diff --git a/lib/lib.h b/lib/lib.h
index c6226aae..fb2215cf 100644
--- a/lib/lib.h
+++ b/lib/lib.h
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ void xstat(char *path, struct stat *st);
 char *xabspath(char *path);
 void xchdir(char *path);
 void xmkpath(char *path, int mode);
+void xsetuid(uid_t uid);
 struct string_list *find_in_path(char *path, char *filename);
 void utoa_to_buf(unsigned n, char *buf, unsigned buflen);
 void itoa_to_buf(int n, char *buf, unsigned buflen);