Why does sendmail change the username for the root user (/proc/self/loginuid)?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • Why do messages from the "root" user show as a different username?

  • Mail is delivered as the user that had logged in to the system, even after switching to root. This happens on a RHEL 6 system with sendmail configured as the MTA and using mail/mailx as the MUA. The problem does not manifest on a RHEL 5 system, or RHEL 6/postfix/mailx and RHEL 6/sendmail/mutt combination.

  • Sending an email with sudo su - shows the incorrect user in the from address

  • /proc/self/loginuid is configured with a value other than "0" and sendmail changes the root users "from" address

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Sendmail

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