Re: /etc/passwd corruption

["Benji" <me () b3nji com>]

Just setup a temporary account with no password so shadow won't get referenced, save yourself effort

------Original Message------
From: John Jacobs
Sender: full-disclosure-bounces () lists grok org uk
To: me () halfdog net
To: full-disclosure () lists grok org uk
Subject: Re: [Full-disclosure] /etc/passwd corruption
Sent: Jan 25, 2011 20:21


Hi,

> On ubuntu lucid, I found a way to add corrupted entries to /etc/passwd
> e.g. "AAA\n", but not to /etc/shadow. Does someone know a way to use
> that for privilege escalation? What is the "+" line handling in
> /etc/passwd for?

Please see "man 5 passwd", I suspect you'll be able to leverage this to 
create a system account in /etc/passwd.  The file will likely need to contain 
a crypt()'d password.  Not exactly sure how PAM will handle.

The Ubuntu gents are normally really good about fixing security issues so
you'll likely want to get in touch with them so they can fix it up.

Cheers,
John
                                          
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