Security Basics mailing list archives

RE: Root account desactivated


From: "Harshul Nayak" <harshul.nayak () patni com>
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 12:14:11 +0530


hello martin,
why don;t you restart your machine and boot into a single user mode.
then modify the /etc/passwd file appropriately !

-regs
harshul
-----Original Message-----
From: MARTIN M. Bénoni [mailto:benoni_martin () hotmail com]
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 8:18 PM
To: security-basics () securityfocus com
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!

_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus


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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. 
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