Login or Register to Ask a Question and Join Our Community


Linux

Cant su to root

Login to Discuss or Reply to this Discussion in Our Community

 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Operating Systems Linux Cant su to root
# 1  
Old 02-10-2009
Cant su to root
Hello, I can ssh as root directly, but when login as normal user, I cant su to root:

Code:
user@server:~% su
Password:

and in the /var/log/messages:

Code:
session opened for user root by user(uid=501)
session closed for user root

Im sure the root password is correct, any pointer?
# 2  
Old 02-10-2009
Check /etc/pam.d/su. If you see a line like this:
Code:
auth           required        pam_wheel.so use_uid

without a # preceding it, then your username must be in the "wheel" group. Go to /etc/group, find the line starting with "wheel", and add user username to the end of it. (If there is already another username there, add a comma (,) and then your username).
# 3  
Old 02-10-2009
Code:
user@server:~% grep "pam_wheel.so use_uid" /etc/pam.d/su                                                                
6:#auth       required     /lib/security/$ISA/pam_wheel.so use_uid

I dont think the admin who was installing the OS is knowledgeable enough to change this setting.

Btw, the OS is Red Hat.

I think I should describe this issue a bit further:

When prompting for the root password, after I type it the first time, there is no output and nothing happen, the second time, it complains "command not found"

Code:
user@server:~% su                                                            
Password:

bash: line 1: root_password: command not found

Last edited by bsddaemon; 02-11-2009 at 09:35 PM..
# 4  
Old 02-11-2009
Why the "6:" in front of the output of the grep command?

Try
Code:
rpm -qf /bin/su

On my RedHat system, it gives "coreutils" with some version info. Now do this:
Code:
 rpm -q --verify coreutils

Any files whose permissions or md5 signatures have changed will be shown, like this:
Code:
S.5....T c /bin/su

If you see such a thing, your system has been compromised. If not, we'll investigate further.
# 5  
Old 02-11-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by otheus
Why the "6:" in front of the output of the grep command?
Ah, it is just the line number. I used grep with the option showing line number.

Quote:
Try
Code:
rpm -qf /bin/su

Output:

Code:
coreutis-5.2.2-31.7

Quote:
On my RedHat system, it gives "coreutils" with some version info. Now do this:
Code:
 rpm -q --verify coreutils

It gave me an empty output

Regards,
# 6  
Old 02-12-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by bsddaemon
It gave me an empty output
Good.

Now do:
Code:
type -a su

Also, if "ltrace" isn't installed, go ahead and install it.
# 7  
Old 02-12-2009
Code:
% type -a su                                                                    
su is /bin/su

ltrace has been installed, how should I run it?

Regards,
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

Can a root role change the root password in Solaris 10?

i do not have root on a solairs 10 server , however i do have the root role, i was wondering if I can change the root password as a a role with the passwd command? I have not tried yet. and do i have to use the # chgkey -p afterwards? i need to patch is why i am asking. thanks (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: goya
1 Replies

2. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Can you gain root privileges if the suid program does not belong to root?

I had a question in my test which asked where suppose user B has a program with 's' bit set. Can user A run this program and gain root privileges in any way? I suppose not as the suid program run with privileges of owner and this program will run with B's privileges and not root. (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: syncmaster
1 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

Find users with root UID or GID or root home

I need to list users in /etc/passwd with root's GID or UID or /root as home directory If we have these entries in /etc/passwd root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash rootgooduser1:x:100:100::/home/gooduser1:/bin/bash baduser1:x:0:300::/home/baduser1:/bin/bash... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: anil510
6 Replies

4. SuSE

Auditors want more security with root to root access via ssh keys

I access over 100 SUSE SLES servers as root from my admin server, via ssh sessions using ssh keys, so I don't have to enter a password. My SUSE Admin server is setup in the following manner: 1) Remote root access is turned off in the sshd_config file. 2) I am the only user of this admin... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: dvbell
6 Replies

5. Solaris

Migration of system having UFS root FS with zones root to ZFS root FS

Hi All After downloading ZFS documentation from oracle site, I am able to successfully migrate UFS root FS without zones to ZFS root FS. But in case of UFS root file system with zones , I am successfully able to migrate global zone to zfs root file system but zone are still in UFS root file... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: sb200
2 Replies

6. Solaris

Lost Root Password on VXVM Encapsulated Root Disk

Hi All Hope it's okay to post on this sub-forum, couldn't find a better place I've got a 480R running solaris 8 with veritas volume manager managing all filesystems, including an encapsulated root disk (I believe the root disk is encapsulated as one of the root mirror disks has an entry under... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: sunnyd76
1 Replies

7. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

How to allow access to some commands having root privleges to be run bu non root user

hi i am new to unix and i have abig task. i have to \run particular commands having root privileges from a non root user. i know sudo is one of the way but i need sum other approach kindly help Thanks (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: suryashikha
5 Replies

8. AIX

Can't login root account due to can't find root shell

Hi, yesterday, I changed root's shell in /etc/passwd, cause a mistake then I can not log in root account (can't find correct shell). I attempted to log in single-mode, however, it prompted for single-mode's password then I type root's password but still can not log in. I'm using AIX 5L version 5.2... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: neikel
2 Replies

9. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I need it to prompt me for a root password, so I don't have to log as root

Hi folks, I'm trying to install a program, and I want to place some of the executables into /usr/bin so that they can be executed from any folder on the computer. I've been giveng the root password, but told never to log in directly as root. Instead, I can wait for a password prompt. However, I... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: lunchtime
2 Replies

10. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Run non-root script as root with non-root environment

All, I want to run a non-root script as the root user with non-root environment variables with crontab. The non-root user would have environment variables for database access such as Oracle or Sybase. The root user does not have the Oracle or Sybase enviroment variables. I thought you could do... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: bubba112557
2 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question