setcap

The "setcap" command line tool is used to set or modify the capabilities of a binary executable in Linux systems. Capabilities refer to special permissions beyond the traditional user and group permissions. The tool is typically used to grant specific capabilities to a program, allowing it to perform privileged operations without the need for full root privileges. This improves security by reducing the attack surface. The "setcap" command requires administrative privileges to execute, hence it is usually used by system administrators. It operates by allowing certain capabilities, such as network binding or raw socket access, to be associated with an executable. These capabilities are then inherited by the program when it runs, granting it the necessary permissions to perform the allowed operations.