Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 03:39:18 -0800 From: hugle <hugle@vkt.lt> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: master.passwd -- securing Message-ID: <7071603920.20031218033918@vkt.lt> In-Reply-To: <Law10-F101X6eDUsca10000d2ab@hotmail.com> References: <Law10-F101X6eDUsca10000d2ab@hotmail.com>
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RJ> Ive been playing with "vipw" trying to change passwords into "*" for a RJ> slightly higher level of security but ran into some very big problems. From RJ> reading through the FreeBSD handbook it seemed all i had to do was replace RJ> the encrypted password with *, which is what i did. I thought it seemed a RJ> bit odd but continued anyway. Foolishly (although i was quite tired) i did RJ> this to both my user account and root. So they both had * as their password RJ> and looked the same as every other entry in the file. I saved it and "vipw" RJ> updated the database so i thought all was well and logged off to check... RJ> big mistake! The net result of this was not good, i couldnt access my user RJ> account or root :( Anyway i had to cut the power to my PC since i couldnt RJ> shut it down because i was locked out. After that i went into single user RJ> mode and changed the passwords back and its working now but i cant hide the RJ> passwords. So i guess after all this rambling my question is how to i secure RJ> the password file? How do i change from the encrypted password to * without RJ> screwing over my system? Any help would by much appreciated try doing that: #Forget your root pw? 1. Reboot. when you see the "boot" prompt, type boot -s and hit enter 2. run this command: fsck -p / && mount -u / 3. use the `passwd` command to set a password for root 4. reboot, done hope that helps..
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