[comp.unix.i386] passwd

pcg@odin.cs.aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) (04/07/90)

In article <40@choreo.COM> chris@choreo.COM.COM (Chris Hare / System Manager) writes:

   Path: aber-cs!gdt!dcl-cs!ukc!mcsun!uunet!choreo!chris
   From: chris@choreo.COM.COM (Chris Hare / System Manager)
   Newsgroups: comp.unix.i386
   Summary: The answer
   Keywords: passwd
   Date: 3 Apr 90 16:31:34 GMT
   References: <22@grumbly.UUCP>
   Organization: Choreo Systems Inc., Ottawa, Canada
   Lines: 50

   In article <22@grumbly.UUCP>, root@grumbly.UUCP (Superuser) writes:
   > Can anyone tell me where the passwords are stored in SCO unix 3.2?

   If you forget the root password, then you must send a letter to SCO,
   preferably singed by the President or V.P. authorizing SCO to explain how
   to recover the system to a specific person.  Until this letter isin their
   hands, they will not explain how to do it.

Does SCO really make you believe that their system is so secure that
physical access to the disc is not enough to circumvent it?

The only way I can see of achieving this is to encrypt things, and then
whoever knows the encryption password (or the algorithm to generate it,
if dependent on serial numbers, etc..) can break any SCO Unix.

What about booting from floppy, mounting the root say under /mnt on the
floppy, and editing it to your satisfaction?

This is the standard procedure when you have to repair or recover data
from the root when it has become not bootable.

It is also the way I use to restore the root from a tape dump, when I
need to unfragment it, or just because it may have got corrupted.
--
Piercarlo "Peter" Grandi           | ARPA: pcg%cs.aber.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Dept of CS, UCW Aberystwyth        | UUCP: ...!mcvax!ukc!aber-cs!pcg
Penglais, Aberystwyth SY23 3BZ, UK | INET: pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk