Bug 5265

Summary:	becoming root without knowing root password
Product:	[Retired] Red Hat Linux	Reporter:	rquast
Component:	lilo	Assignee:	David Lawrence <dkl>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	high
Version:	6.0	CC:	wwmccros
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	i386
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	1999-09-21 14:51:12 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description rquast 1999-09-21 09:26:56 UTC

RedHat Linux 6.0 allows to boot in single user mode (and
become root) without asking for the root password.

Comment 1 Bill Nottingham 1999-09-21 14:51:59 UTC

and you can do the same thing with linux init=/bin/bash.
Therefore, we won't change the 'linux single' behavior.

Comment 2 Bill Nottingham 1999-09-21 22:10:59 UTC

*** Bug 5287 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Are you aware that when the computer is sitting at the lilo:
prompt and you type 'linux 1', when it boots to single user,
you can use the passwd utility to change the root password
without knowing the root password!

I don't know if this is a bug or if this is supposed to be
this way.  It just seems like it is not real secure.

Comment 3 asosin 2000-03-16 18:26:59 UTC

I don't understand why this is marked as resolved.  This is a major security
problem.  On the Server this may not be an issue, but in a desktop environment
if a user knows how to type :   linux init=/bin/bash
or some other command like that, this will allow them root or God access.
 Is there some way to prompt a user for root password every time they type
something in, but if they use the menu option "tab" then no password is required
?