Recursive permission changes incorrectly applied with chmod -R as root user - how can this be fixed?

(Doc ID 2318132.1)

Last updated on OCTOBER 18, 2017

Applies to:

Linux OS - Version Oracle Linux 4.4 and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Goal

How can I revert bulk permission changes after the root user unintentionally recursively modified permissions on the system with the chmod -R command?

Examples of this are:

chmod -R go-rw /


chmod -R 777 ./*

or any other recursive combination of permissions.

Solution

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