Audit a Symlink Permission Chain

You need to inspect symlink targets and every parent directory before deciding whether permissions are wrong.

Command

find fixtures/perm-audit -type l -printf '%p -> %l\n' -exec namei -l {} \;

Before you run this

System impact: Read-only. Can create load on large logs, directories, filesystems, or process tables.

When not to use it: Do not audit only the symlink inode; access depends on the target path too.

Expected output

Each symlink target followed by namei ownership and mode details.

System impact

Read-only, can be slow. Nothing changes. The command lists symlinks and traces their resolved path components.

Scope this to the smallest useful path or service on busy systems.

Recovery / rollback: no state is changed.

When to use it

Use when current-release, shared-secret, or uploads symlinks complicate a permission issue.

When not to use it

Do not audit only the symlink inode; access depends on the target path too.

Explanation-only example

Illustrated output, not a live lab run

This example is intentionally illustrative. It shows the command shape without killing real processes or changing your machine.

demo@lab:~$

$ find sample-files/perm-audit -type l -printf '%p -> %l\n' | sort

sample-files/perm-audit/current/app -> ../releases/2026-06-25
sample-files/perm-audit/releases/2026-06-25/config/prod.token -> ../../../shared/secrets/prod.token

$ find sample-files/perm-audit -type l -printf '%p -> %l\n' -exec namei -l {} \;

sample-files/perm-audit/current/app -> ../releases/2026-06-25
f: sample-files/perm-audit/current/app
drwxr-xr-x root root fixtures
drwxr-xr-x root root perm-audit
drwxr-xr-x root root current
lrwxrwxrwx root root app -> ../releases/2026-06-25
drwxr-xr-x root root   ..
drwxr-xr-x root root   releases
drwxr-xr-x root root   2026-06-25
sample-files/perm-audit/releases/2026-06-25/config/prod.token -> ../../../shared/secrets/prod.token
f: sample-files/perm-audit/releases/2026-06-25/config/prod.token
drwxr-xr-x root root fixtures
drwxr-xr-x root root perm-audit
drwxr-xr-x root root releases
drwxr-xr-x root root 2026-06-25
drwxr-xr-x root root config
lrwxrwxrwx root root prod.token -> ../../../shared/secrets/prod.token
drwxr-xr-x root root   ..
drwxr-xr-x root root   ..
drwxr-xr-x root root   ..
drwxr-xr-x root root   shared
drwxr-xr-x root root   secrets
-rw------- root root   prod.token

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