Here is something you might want to check (this is from the solaris stat manpage which you may want to read):

"You do not need any access rights to the file to get this information but you need search rights to all directories named in the path leading to the file." (italics mine for emphasis)

The permissions are set to 777(wide open)

This may be true of the parent directory, but is it true of all the directories in the path? Have the permissions changed on any of them?

davidj