Re: Root account desactivated

["Torry Crass" <torryc () paradigm-digital com>]

This may or may not 'work' from a practical sense since I've never tried it
but the first thing I would do is boot into single-user mode with a RH boot
disk (the one you should have made when you installed) If you don't have
this disk you should be able to make one as a basic user on the system.
Once you get into single-user mode you might be able to get into etc and
edit the passwd file and add a shell back into it.  If this doesn't work,
you might look into ways of overwriting the file somehow.  For instance,
take the file to another computer and modify it accordingly and then in
single-user mode copy the file over itself (if it will allow it).  That's
about all I can think up right now.  Good luck!

Torry Crass
torryc () paradigm-digital com
Service Manager || Paradigm Digital Systems

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "MARTIN M. Bénoni" <benoni_martin () hotmail com>
To: <security-basics () securityfocus com>
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 8:48 AM
Subject: Root account desactivated


> Hi community!
>
> I have a really stupid trouble: on a Redhat 9.0, the line matching the
root
> account in the file /etc/passwd has been changed from ".../bin/bash" to
> ".../sbin/nologin". We have the root password, but when performing a "su"
> command, the system replies that the account is not currently available.
>
> So the question is: how from an user's account and knowing the root's
> password but having the root account disabled can we reactivate this
root's
> account?
>
> Any suggestion would be appreciated, I do not want to reinstall the box :(
>
> Thanks a lot in advance!
>
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Ethical Hacking at the InfoSec Institute. Mention this ad and get $545 off 
any course! All of our class sizes are guaranteed to be 10 students or less 
to facilitate one-on-one interaction with one of our expert instructors. 
Attend a course taught by an expert instructor with years of in-the-field 
pen testing experience in our state of the art hacking lab. Master the skills 
of an Ethical Hacker to better assess the security of your organization. 
Visit us at: 
http://www.infosecinstitute.com/courses/ethical_hacking_training.html
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