Why is root password required to save APF configuration?

With APF interface version 3.1 root password is required to save APF configuration. This was introduced as an extra security measure.  

The APF configuration file is a shell script. This means that the configuration file is directly executed with shebang as /bin/sh . Also it is run with root privilege. So if a hacker tries to exploit this configuration file, he can run any shell commands using the APF configuration file. So, as an extra security measure we will be requesting the root password when editing the APF configuration file to make sure that the editing is done by a user who is having root privilege to the server. 

The root password you enter is not stored anywhere and it is used to authenticate the user who is saving the configuration from APF interface.

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