How to make sudo exit on sudoers syntax errors in version 1.9.5 or later?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • sudo version 1.8.x exits with an error when it encounters a syntax error while parsing the sudoers file.
  • In contrast, sudo version 1.9.5 and later prints a warning but continues to operate by ignoring the line with the syntax error.
  • The goal is to configure sudo 1.9.5 and later to exit on a sudoers syntax error, which mimics the stricter behavior of version 1.8.x.

    ### sudo-1.8.29-7.el8
    # sudo -l
    sudo: unable to stat /etc/sudoers.d/801_myrule: No such file or directory
    sudo: parse error in /etc/sudoers near line 119
    sudo: no valid sudoers sources found, quitting
    sudo: unable to initialize policy plugin
    (exit with error)
    
    ### sudo-1.9.5p2-1.el8_9
    # sudo -l
    sudo: unable to stat /etc/sudoers.d/801_myrule: No such file or directory
    (shows results)
    

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9 and 10
  • sudo 1.9.5p2 or later

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