Linux Capabilities

[sepbot]

Is it possible to alter Linux capabilities of the Java binary in order to use pcap4j without administrative privileges?

I have tried giving JAVA_HOME/bin/java capabilities such as CAP_NET_ADMIN and CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE amongst many other capabilities, however making a very simple call such as Pcaps.getDevByName("lo") still returns null unless I specifically call my application using the sudo command.

Is it in anyway possible to use this library without administrative privileges?

[kaitoy]

I could run a Pcap4J sample with a non-root user by adding cap_net_raw to java command. cap_net_admin may be also needed for some features.

[sepbot]

I think there was a problem with the kernel I was using. I upgraded to 3.2.0-65-generic and it seems to be working now.