De man chmod
:
A numeric mode is from one to four octal digits (0-7), derived by adding up the bits with values 4, 2, and 1. Any omitted digits are assumed to be leading zeros. The first digit selects the set user ID (4) and set group ID (2) and sticky (1) attributes.
O que são "set user ID", "set group ID" e "sticky", você pergunta?
setuid and setgid (short for "set user ID upon execution" and "set group ID upon execution", respectively) are Unix access rights flags that allow users to run an executable with the permissions of the executable's owner or group. They are often used to allow users on a computer system to run programs with temporarily elevated privileges in order to perform a specific task. While the assumed user id or group id privileges provided are not always elevated, at a minimum they are specific.
Além disso, quando aplicado a um diretório, o setuid / setgid faz com que novos arquivos criados no diretório herdam o uid ou gid, respectivamente, do diretório pai. Esse comportamento varia com base no sabor do unix. Por exemplo, o Linux respeita o setgid, mas ignora o setuid nos diretórios.
E adesivo :
The most common use of the sticky bit today is on directories. When the sticky bit is set, only the item's owner, the directory's owner, or the superuser can rename or delete files. Without the sticky bit set, any user with write and execute permissions for the directory can rename or delete contained files, regardless of owner. Typically this is set on the /tmp directory to prevent ordinary users from deleting or moving other users' files.