GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide by Graham Williams
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SUDO: Root Access

The sudo package allows a normal user to execute commands as the administrator (the root user) in a controlled manner.

To allow a user to access sudo add them to the sudo group:

$ sudo adduser kayon sudo

Debian's sudo is compiled with

  --with-exempt=sudo
  --with-secure-path="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:...

As a consequence, the PATH of the user is ignored except if the user is in group sudo.

Sudo allows a fairly fine grain of control. Note that inclusions (lists of specific commands/paths allowed, rather than rejected) is preferable. But be careful granting root access to commands with shell escapes.