Update from thread creator: I do infact have it successfully running setuid root, with

@ENV{'PATH'} = '';
[download]

, etc; the strange problems are this:

useradd doesn't like when I add "-s /bin/bash" (Perl yells at me); also, when I run system("passwd... the program dies saying that I can't change my newly created accounts password, very much as if I tried changing another person's password when not logged in as root? This I don't understand.