Red Hat Security - shadow looks good, root can't authenticate

Author

shadow looks good, root can't authenticate

pjr

2004-01-23, 7:51 pm

Hi,

I verified ls -lh shadow and passwd on RH 9.0 (Shrive) and ownership, etc.
look fine.

-----------------------------

Passwd shows:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

This line shows that the root user has a shadow password, as well as a UID
and GID of 0. The root user has /root/ as a home directory, and uses
/bin/bash for a shell.

Shadow shows:

root::11803:0:99999:7::

in other words, the shaw hash removed from between
the first two colons, so pw should be blank)

(also note this epoc date is fictional here b/c it is irrelevant but similar
to # here shown)

Now HERE'S THE WEIRD PART:

At the GUI logon, after entering 'root' <enter> I get a message
"Authentication Failed" <OK> (nothing else in the message), BEFORE I ever
even get the prompt for password (which would/should be empty). This
behavior is not the case if I enter JohnDoe or any other fake user name.

FLUFF: This is a brand new install of RH 9.0 Server on an old box, full
install (all package options, including Kerberos). Accordingly, I have not
established any other user accounts yet on it.

I'm VERY new, so if there is a more appropriate place I can post this, with
high probability of intelligent replies, please let me know.

Thanks in advance,

Paul

paul.j.richardson@earthlink.net

cell: 919-417-7556

Nils Petter Vaskinn

2004-01-23, 7:51 pm

On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 07:24:33 +0000, pjr wrote:

quote:

> At the GUI logon, after entering 'root' <enter> I get a message
> "Authentication Failed" <OK> (nothing else in the message), BEFORE I
> ever even get the prompt for password (which would/should be empty).
> This behavior is not the case if I enter JohnDoe or any other fake user
> name.

Is your system perhaps setup not to allow graphical root logins? (which
btw is a good idea IMHO)

If you don't think it's a "good thing" (tm) look at the config of your
displaymanager (probably xdm or kdm or gdm)

Do a text login (which you obviously know how to do since you could tell
that /etc/passwd was ok) add a user from the console (man useradd) and
login as that user. Then use whatever graphical tool you prefer to
administer your box (Normal 9.0 atleast ask for passwords when one of the
graphical programs need root). Or use su - to become root for your
administration tasks.

hth

--
NPV
"Linux is to Lego as Windows is to Fisher Price." - Doctor J Frink