apache running as root?

[Philipp Schulte <p.schulte@matrix.uni-duisburg.de>]

Hello,
I am running Apache 1.3.9 and I am wondering, if this might be a
security issue. There is always one Apache-process running as root.

$ ps aux | grep apache says:

root       513  0.0  1.0  2496 1276 ?        S    18:57   0:00
/usr/sbin/apache
www-data   514  0.0  1.0  2520 1272 ?        S    18:57   0:00
/usr/sbin/apache
www-data   515  0.0  1.0  2520 1272 ?        S    18:57   0:00
/usr/sbin/apache
www-data   516  0.0  1.0  2520 1272 ?        S    18:57   0:00
/usr/sbin/apache
www-data   517  0.0  1.0  2520 1272 ?        S    18:57   0:00
/usr/sbin/apache
www-data   518  0.0  1.0  2520 1272 ?        S    18:57   0:00
/usr/sbin/apache

>From my point of understanding Apache starts as root and then switches
to www-data. Ok, but does this mean, that a host might connect to the
root-Apache? 
Phil