Re:List of Unix binaries that can be used to bypass local se...
by fuzztester on Friday July 07, 2023 @07:27AM
(#36630106)
Yes, good question.
Because su was there in Unix before sudo, IIRC. And sudo means "su do", meaning do (something) as su, which in turn meant "super user" or "substitute user" according to Wikipedia, since it can also be used to login as other users than root , e.g.:
su - tom
Edit: I'm curious because if you still allow su on the system there seems to be little to no reason to set PermitRootLogin in sshd_config regardless of auth mechanism (password, cert, token, etc.).