RVDowning Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 (edited) Booted up my machine this morning and went into MCC and I noticed it didn't ask for a root password. I brought up a shell konsole and did an su and it didn't ask me for a password -- it just gave me root access. It seems that somehow my root password has gone away. How can this be??? I just reset roots password, by doing su and executing the passwd command, but it still doesn't ask me for a password when I go to do something privileged. I've seen so many script kiddies tryng to get into my system using ssh that right now I'm scared to death. How do I get my security back? Edited January 7, 2006 by RVDowning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 Unless you are comprimised already ... Are you sure you didn't start as root by error? Also dopes it ask for the password from the CLI now from a normal user or does it just skip the password in KDE/gnome? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 I just did some researches on your problem and did not find any similar thing while googling through the world... My first hint was also that you might have started as root accidently. But on a second guess, I don't think that you wouldn't have noticed that. If the machine was already up and running for some time, maybe the timeout for the root password got altered (maybe the value got zero'd) and needs to be reset to "normal" parameters, like e.g. 120 seconds. Just an idea... :unsure: A general note: Shut down all unnecessary services on your machine and set up a working firewall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVDowning Posted January 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 (edited) Since I am the only user of this system at home, I have it auto login my own account, and I come right up into KDE. Not much of any way for me to screw it up. Also, I turn my system off at night. It is in my bedroom and its fans just make too much noise. I boot it up at first use every morning, and turn if off at end of last use every night. Only thing I can think of -- I was in and out of MCC several times yesterday. It gives you a prompt as to whether it should remember the root password. At one point I said "Yes." I wonder if that has something to do with it. In the past, that would just apply to MCC, nothing else, and was only operative until I logged out. Also, I have a firewall in my dsl modem. Only have ports open for ssh and vnc. And of course, I have "PermitRootLogin no" in sshd_config. For the time being I've taken sshd down. Only have two user defined users. Myself and my buddy. I can su to root or his id and don't get asked for a password. If I su to his id and then try to su from his id to my id, it does ask for a password. Seems it is just my id that is affected. By the way, this is Mandriva 2006. Any suggestons appreciated. Edited January 7, 2006 by RVDowning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 Only thing I can think of -- I was in and out of MCC several times yesterday. It gives you a prompt as to whether it should remember the root password. At one point I said "Yes." I wonder if that has something to do with it. I bet it has something to do with it. I don't know right now how to get out of that mess. I am a bit in a hurry (leaving now with my girlfriend) and will only be able to look into my Mdv2006 box tomorrow. Maybe someone else has an idea. Perhaps you should check if you got added to a sudoers list on your system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVDowning Posted January 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 Well, I tried to do a urpmi --auto-select --auto and it totally hosed my system. Had to do with the nvidia card. I couldn't get back into the graphical user interface I had to go to a backup, so my password problem is fixed. Now, if I can just figure out why I've lost all sound. Sigh......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.