Lynn pretty much covered this one, but I wanted to add one suggestion.

After you run the chmod (not CHMOD; Unix/Linux is case sensitive) command as Lynn advises, then run "ls -l /usr/local/bin/su" to verify that the permissions are set properly (that is, that they match the example Lynn showed you from his system). Do NOT change permissions on /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow (or /etc/group, the file that probably caused your last error message).

If the su command still does not work after you make this change, report back with ...

        output of "ls -l /usr/local/bin/su"
        output ls "ls -l /bin/passwd"
        output of "ls -l /etc/shadow"
        output of "ls -l /etc/passwd"

... and the exact command you enter and the exact error you get.

I'm also a bit perplexed by the utmp problem you reported, though this one I can recreate here on a test Bering system I set up. It looks as though the utmp file is not being properly updated in some way ... I remember seeing this problem before, but many years ago, back in the days of 1.x kernels. Very odd ... unless it is some security measure I am unfamiliar with (Jacques??).

At 10:11 AM 5/29/2003 -0500, Theodore Wynnychenko wrote:
lynn-

sorry, i wasn't ignoring anything.

i guess i just didn't say it. but i did EXACTLY what you suggested.

i logged in as ROOT (via lshd), and typed "chmod +411 /usr/local/bin/su"

after this i logged out, went back to and reconnected, and logged back in as
the user.  trying "SU" gave me the same password error message.

sorry for the misunderstand.  i don't want you to think that i was ignoring
your advice, i wasn't.  i guess my reply didn't make it clear that i had
followed your suggestion to the letter, and that it didn't change the error
message.  that's when i went and looked at the /etc/shadow file and tried
chaning it's permissions, and that's when the error message changed.

so.  to be clear.  I logged in as ROOT.  i entered "CHMOD +4111
/usr/local/bin/su".
i logged out.  i logged back in as the user.  i entered "su".  i entered the
root password.  the error message was NOT CHANGED.

so, then i changed read permission on /etc/shadow (as root)

now, instead of getting and "su: incorrect password" error message, i get an
"su: cannot set groups:  Operation not permitted" error message.

are you implying with your comments that the second error message is also
indicative of a problem with the permissions under which su is running?

i also didn't think about the issue of making the password file available to
anyone that logs in.  certainly, that is not a good idea.  but "chmod +4111
/path/to/su"
executed as root, did not change the error/problem.
[older stuff deleted]





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