using exec(); in PHP with variables - php

Question

I'm trying to execute a command on a local Debian server. The code is as following;
if (isset($INPUTdifference)) {
$counter = count($INPUTdifference);
for ($i = 0; $i < $counter; $i++) {
$pkts = $INPUTdifference[$i]["pkts"];
$bytes = $INPUTdifference[$i]["bytes"];
$target = $INPUTdifference[$i]["target"]; // = -j
$prot = $INPUTdifference[$i]["prot"]; // = -p
$opt = $INPUTdifference[$i]["opt"];
$in = $INPUTdifference[$i]["in"]; // = -i
$out = $INPUTdifference[$i]["out"]; // = -o
$source = $INPUTdifference[$i]["source"]; // = -s
$destination = $INPUTdifference[$i]["destination"]; // -d
//Filter results
$badOpt;
if (strcmp($opt, $badOpt)) {
$opt = "all";
return $opt;
}
// Execute command with parameters acquired from array
exec("sudo /sbin/iptables -A INPUT -j $target -p $prot -i $in -o $out -s $source -d $destination ");
echo 'complete yo';
}
}
As you can see, I'm trying to use values from the Array into my exec call. The values are all tested and get parsed correctly.
I try to execute the command, and it doesn't give me any feedback/results on the server. At first it was cussing about how I didn't get a parameter right, but I fixed that. So it -is- getting executed on the server. That, I guess, narrows it down to the syntax itself... am I missing something here?

Answer 1

You might want to put direct /path/to/sudo instead of just sudo. exec don't appreciate sometimes to find out the path by itself.