LFCS Essential Commands Practice Question

Exhibit

Refer to the exhibit.

$ ps aux | grep apache
root      1234  0.0  0.2  12345  6789 ?        Ss   Jan01   0:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
www-data  5678  0.0  0.1  12345  1234 ?        S    Jan01   0:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
www-data  5679  0.0  0.1  12345  1234 ?        S    Jan01   0:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

Based on the exhibit, which process will be affected if the root user runs 'kill 5678'?

⚠ Common exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may mistakenly believe root cannot kill processes owned by other users, or they may confuse the PID argument with a process name, thinking 'kill 5678' affects all processes of a given user or name.

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.

Correct answer & explanation

✓

The www-data process with PID 5678

The 'kill 5678' command sends the default SIGTERM (signal 15) to the process with PID 5678. Since the root user has the CAP_KILL capability and is not subject to the ordinary permission checks that restrict non-root users, root can send signals to any process, including those owned by www-data. Therefore, the www-data process with PID 5678 will be terminated.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

✓
The www-data process with PID 5678
Why this is correct
kill 5678 terminates the process with that PID.
✗
The root process (PID 1234)
Why it's wrong here
PID 5678 is different from 1234.
✗
All www-data processes
Why it's wrong here
Only the process with PID 5678 is killed.
✗
No process, because root cannot kill www-data processes
Why it's wrong here
Root can kill any process.

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LFCS Essential Commands Practice Question

Exhibit

Why each option matters

Option-by-option breakdown

Related to this question