User nobody created on update?

[ricklinux]

I just updated and this caught my eye. I think there was an earlier post regarding this? I,m not sure what to think about it.

[2025-02-18T18:09:03-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] :: Building initramfs for linux (6.13.2-arch1-1)
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'nobody' with GID 65534.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'audio' with GID 996.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'disk' with GID 995.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'input' with GID 994.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'kmem' with GID 993.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'kvm' with GID 992.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'lp' with GID 991.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'optical' with GID 990.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'render' with GID 989.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'sgx' with GID 988.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'storage' with GID 987.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'tty' with GID 5.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'uucp' with GID 986.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'video' with GID 985.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'users' with GID 984.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'systemd-journal' with GID 983.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating user 'root' (Super User) with UID 0 and GID 0.
[2025-02-18T18:09:08-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating user 'nobody' (Kernel Overflow User) with UID 65534 and GID 65534.
[2025-02-18T18:09:16-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] :: Building fallback initramfs for linux (6.13.2-arch1-1)
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'nobody' with GID 65534.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'audio' with GID 996.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'disk' with GID 995.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'input' with GID 994.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'kmem' with GID 993.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'kvm' with GID 992.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'lp' with GID 991.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'optical' with GID 990.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'render' with GID 989.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'sgx' with GID 988.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'storage' with GID 987.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'tty' with GID 5.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'uucp' with GID 986.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'video' with GID 985.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'users' with GID 984.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating group 'systemd-journal' with GID 983.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating user 'root' (Super User) with UID 0 and GID 0.
[2025-02-18T18:09:19-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Creating user 'nobody' (Kernel Overflow User) with UID 65534 and GID 65534.
[2025-02-18T18:09:35-0500] [ALPM] running 'dbus-reload.hook'...
[2025-02-18T18:09:35-0500] [ALPM] running 'detect-old-perl-modules.hook'...
[2025-02-18T18:09:35-0500] [ALPM] running 'eos-rankmirrors.hook'...

[ricklinux]

I checked my other system and i see it has that user also. I guess I’m just wondering what it is used for.

[ricklinux@rick-ms7c37 ~]$ cut -d: -f1 /etc/passwd
root
bin
daemon
mail
ftp
http
nobody
dbus
systemd-coredump
systemd-network
systemd-oom
systemd-journal-remote
systemd-resolve
systemd-timesync
tss
uuidd
alpm
_talkd
avahi
named
cups
dnsmasq
fwupd
git
nm-openconnect
nm-openvpn
ntp
openvpn
passim
polkitd
rpc
rpcuser
rtkit
sddm
ricklinux
mysql
[ricklinux@rick-ms7c37 ~]$ 

[ricklinux]

I did some digging on Arch and i see the following.

[drunkenvicar]

so is your conclusion that all of these are normal? Many do look normal. Some look weird (tss
uuidd alpm _talkd avahi etc) and I can see why they caught your eye.

[ricklinux]

I just took it as being normal. It was just the nobody account that i wondered about because there was a topic earlier. I think the user was having issues and removed that account or something? It probably shouldn’t have been removed. This caught my eye as it’s the first time i noticed it.

[joekamprad]

@ricklinux

user 'nobody'

https://www.baeldung.com/linux/nobody-user

[ricklinux]

Very informative.