Comment by runjake

It doesn't need to be fixed. There isn't an issue here.

Depending on the OS, ping is either set setuid[1] as root, or more commonly these days, ping is granted a "capability"[2], such as CAP_NET_RAW on Linux. macOS does things a little different[3].

This allows non-root users to run stuff like ping without granting them full root access. You do not need to, nor should you, run the script as root.

    % ls -l /usr/bin/ping
    -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 89768 Apr  8 09:00 /usr/bin/ping
    
    % getcap /usr/bin/ping
    /usr/bin/ping cap_net_raw=ep

    ~
    % whoami
    jake
    
    ~
    % id
    uid=1000(jake) gid=1000(jake) groups=1000(jake),4(adm),24(cdrom)
    
    % ping -c 3 8.8.8.8
    PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8): 56 data bytes
    64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=0 ttl=117 time=9.195 ms
    64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=117 time=8.837 ms
    64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=117 time=10.998 ms
    
    --- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
    3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
    round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 8.837/9.677/10.998/0.946 ms

Hope that helps. Happy to elaborate on any unclear points.

1. https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/382771/why-does-pin...

2. https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/592911/how-does-pin...

3. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/312857/how-does-ma...

Edit: updated explanation a bit.