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Re: [edlug] Unknown Passwords




On 2005.03.22 20:03, Keith W Wyse wrote:

Hi all. I have read an article in the February 2005 Sys Admin magazine, I thought the group might find interesting. Basically the author suggests setting up a cronjob to reset root's password every minute to a random value, hence there would be no direct root access available as even the admin would not know the password. All access is through sudo commands. The author gives a method for achieving a root session by sudo su - I wonder what you all think of this method? Certainly, not having any direct root access provides a bit more security, but if the sudoer file is written to exclude all users (either accidentally or under attack), then won't there be no root access at all, and no possibility of regaining root access? Also I wonder if it would be possible to use this method under kerberos, which I have just been introduced to. I have been considering my Home Auto system again and thought that I might use that to implement a centralised user database.

http://www.samag.com/documents/s=9494/sam0502h/0502h.htm

--
Keith Wyse

This is my Origami and it is strong


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Keith,

If you have phyical access to the box you can always boot it in single user mode and go straight into a root shell.
No password required.


Grub users add 'single' (no quotes) to the end of the kernel line in grub.conf.

Regards,

Roy Bamford
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