Thursday, May 27, 2004, 11:50:42 PM, you wrote: > Robert Walker wrote: >> Hello all, >> >> I was trying to increase the security of my Linux box (famous last >> words). I am running Mandrake 9.2 set for console login (run level 3). >> >> I was reading an article about stopping root logins for >> Red Hat Linux (v8.0)... Decided to follow the suggestions. This turned >> out to be a really bad move :-) >> >> Anyhow I am now in the situation where I have ended up with: >> /etc/securetty which is blank (dumb) >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config which disallows root logins (good) >> >> I have KDE, X and tightvnc installed but I am not currently using them. >> >> I can't 'su' root to execute a command/change to root or login as root either with >> a remote >> secure shell or a local shell!! I just get the message: >> "This account is currently not available." >> So I can't even copy the old securetty~ file back... >> >> Do I need to reinstall everything again (would not be fun given the amount >> of hassle I had setting it all up - especially the driver for the PCI >> ADSL modem and kernel customisations) and start from scratch?? >> Is there any other way of getting root access apart from <login> and >> <su>?? >> >> Is there anyway to boot from a CD to get root access back?? Or some >> other solution (possibly mounting the hard disk on another box with >> Linux installed)?? >> >> > I usualy keep on of the floppy or CD mini-distributions around for > things like this. The other option is to boot by feeding the kernel the > option "init=/bin/bash". (append="init=/bin/bash") This will boot you > directly to the bash shell, bypassing most of the security of the > system. You will want to reboot after fixing things.
> Mikkel Hi Mikkel and Derek, Duh I am so stupid!! Of course should of though of Knoppix!! I was all set to physically take the hard disk out and mount it on another machine... :-) Found my downloaded copy lying 'round didn't work (I hadn't got around to trying it out yet) but thats not a problem with 2mbit D/L ADSL :-) All I had to do was log in as root in Knoppix. Mounted the IDE harddisk as R/W. Changed back the /etc/passwd and /etc/securetty files (I had messed up) to allow access to the root account. Rebooted into MDK 9.2... Sorted!! Root access is working again. Cheers guys. Really appreciate it!! -- Best regards, Robert mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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