What is the process "python3 unattended upgrade shutdown"?

Question

I was looking at the process list on my Ubuntu 18.04 server and saw the following two processes:

 930 ?        Ssl    0:00 /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/networkd-dispatcher --run-startup-triggers
 958 ?        Ssl    0:00 /usr/bin/python3 /usr/share/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrade-shutdown --wait-for-signal

I am sure I did not start them. What are they? Are they harmful? How do I stop them from reappearing?

Gradey

askubuntu.com/questions/1098757/… – Bland

Answer 1

These processes are likely not harmful^[1].

The "unattended upgrades" mechanism is responsible for automatically installing security updates. You can find more information in official documentation, e.g. here.

The networkd-dispatcher allows triggering of scripts in response to a change of the network interface state. Again, if you are curious, check the official docs.

There are plently of processes that the OS starts without the user's explicit knowledge or consent. This is perfectly OK and for the most part you should not interfere unless you know exactly what you are doing. Such processes might be crucial to OS operation and even beneficial for your OS security (such as the unattended upgrades system).

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^{[1] _{Of course, we can't truly know without having full access to your computer}}

Kahn

I actually looked at that page, but did not see any mention of python there. My processes are both related somehow to python.. – Gradey

@ErelSegal-Halevi Only in the sense that the functionality of the processes is implemented as python script. See for example the source code of networkd-dispatcher. Think of it this way: The programmers wrote a python script which must be run "in a python environment". Hence the python executable which precedes the script path and name. – Kahn

The Ubumtu 18.04 default python3 version (3.6) has a critical vulnerability now. Remediation option for this is, to upgrade upto Python 3.9.5. However, after upgrading, above two processors no longer works. Anyone have idea, is that safe to leave it like this? – Damek

its likely a form of loss of control if you dont know whats actually happening on your system. I would ask myself why python needs unattended upgrades, when its me whos controlling which exact version of python and its packages I want to use. so what do i need this daemon for? looks like backdoor to me – Paralytic

Answer 2

As stated by @Elemakil above, these processes are probably not harmful. They run automatically to install updates. You could wait for the updates to finish but if you are in a hurry, you can kill the process by running:

sudo kill <Process PID>

then run:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure unattended-upgrades

and select No to disable automatic updates:

Lunik