Privileges are fine-grained, discrete rights on processes that are enforced in the kernel. Oracle Solaris defines over 80 privileges, ranging from basic privileges like file_read to more specialized privileges like proc_clock_highres. Privileges can be granted to a process, a user, or a role. Many Oracle Solaris commands and daemons run with just the privileges that are required to perform their task. Privilege-aware programs can prevent intruders from gaining more privileges than the program itself uses.
The use of privileges is also called process rights management. Privileges enable organizations to specify, hence limit, which privileges are granted to services and processes that run on their systems.
For more information, see the following:
Process Rights Management in Securing Users and Processes in Oracle Solaris 11.2
Chapter 2, Developing Privileged Applications, in Developer’s Guide to Oracle Solaris 11 Security
Selected man pages include ppriv (1) and privileges (5) .