Solaris

Hi Gurus,
i have ussers cannot change their passwords, neither can root change the user's password.

O.S. Solaris 8
up−to−date on security patchaes as far as I know.

Examples (names have been changed to protect the guilty):

User logged on:
$ passwd
passwd: Changing password for <user>
passwd: User unknown: <user>
Permission denied

ROOT logged on:
# passwd <user>
passwd: User unknown: <user>
Permission denied

Permissions for the /usr/bin/passwd file seem to be correct
(r−−sr−−sr−−x).
Permissions on /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow seem to be correct (r−−r−−r−−
and r−−−−−−−− respectively).
<User> does exist in both files and record format is comparable to other
entries.
Home directory does exist and is owned by <user>.

What am I missing???

Thank you in advanced.

do you use a directory service for your user? something like ldap or nis? if so, you have to use the proper tool to change the users password. have a look at /etc/nsswitch.conf for your configuration...

Hi Duke,

This is stand alone, no directory services in place.

try to use the "admintool" or "smc" to change the password. or create a new user and try to change the password... if all this fails, there should be something wrong with the system itself...

Could be that /etc/pam.conf is misconfigured.

in you messages say

#####################
Permissions on /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow seem to be correct (r−−r−−r−−
and r−−−−−−−− respectively).
#####################

but in my experience the correct permissions for /etc/passwd are rw-r--r--

check /var/ssam/install/contents for verify the original permissions for /etc/passwd

grep /etc/passwd /var/sadm/install/contents

the correct permissions are indicated in the fourth column

permission for /usr/bin/passwd should be allowed for execute permission
passwd and shadow file must be either 400 or 600