[ale] Hacking root password

Stephen Lastinger s.lastinger at computernetdesign.com
Wed Aug 9 09:11:29 EDT 2000


Carl,

     I've had problems myself using the rescue image with different
versions of same and different distros.  If possible (should be able to
download), get the approperate boot and rescue images from suse's site.

     I havent installed suse, but i know with redhat's text installer if
you go to tty2 you are given a shell.  If the original boot and rescue
images from suse didn't work, I'd try going some of the way through an
install up to a point and then at the tty2 bash prompt type 'mount' to
see what was mounted and try manually mounting the scsi hd from there if
need be.  Install routines usually have an initial image (initrd) for
the kernel which preloads a boat load of scsi devices (to make for an
easy/possible install : ).

-Stephen

Carl Forsell wrote:
> 
> Well, back to this beast... I have been trying this suggestion as well as
> others and have had no luck.
> 
> I can catch it at the lilo boot and enter linux -s... it does take me to
> single user mode... and then asks for the root password.
> 
> I have noticed that the "recovery" disk that I have tried booting from is
> generic and it appears as though the scsi controller is not being
> initialized
> 
> I pray to thee, oh gods of knowledge, help me to rise from this sea of
> ignorance and dispair that are binding my very soul!
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Hyland <john.hyland at zapmedia.com>
> To: cforsell at roman.net <cforsell at roman.net>
> Date: Friday, July 28, 2000 10:49 PM
> Subject: RE: [ale] Hacking root password
> 
> >Carl,
> >
> >If you have physical access to the machine, can you just boot into single
> user
> >mode ('linux -s' at the LILO: prompt) and use 'passwd root' to change the
> >password?
> >
> >- John Hyland
> >
> >----Original Message-----
> >> From: Carl Forsell [mailto:cforsell at roman.net]
> >> Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2000 5:15 PM
> >> To: ale at ale.org
> >> Subject: [ale] Hacking root password...
> >>
> >>
> >> I have a customer's server that they lost the password, and
> >> want me to hack.
> >> They are running SuSE6.3 with scsi drives as sda1 & sda2. The
> >> box is a Dell
> >> PIII.
> >>
> >> I booted with the install disk, used the rescue disk and tried the
> >> mount  -t ext2 /dev/sda1/mnt" command.  I tried to go to
> >> /mnt/etc/ and edit
> >> the passwd file (I have done this 5 or 6 times on other
> >> machines and have
> >> never had a problem).  On this box, I can not get to
> >> /mnt/etc!!!  (I have
> >> tried just about every imaginable combination of the "mount"
> >> string - with
> >> ext2, without ext2, with & without the -t, ...)
> >>
> >> I hacked a similar box that had IDE drives as hda1, 2. and 3
> >> and had no
> >> problem.  Any suggestions?
> >
> 
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