Bug 69562

Summary: Installer creates users with invalid DES encrypted passwords
Product: [Retired] Red Hat Linux Reporter: Mike Gleason <mgleason>
Component: shadow-utilsAssignee: Eido Inoue <havill>
Status: CLOSED CURRENTRELEASE QA Contact: Brock Organ <borgan>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: 7.3CC: msf
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
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Last Closed: 2004-10-27 19:12:50 UTC Type: ---
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description Mike Gleason 2002-07-23 07:15:26 UTC
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Description of problem:
Users creating during the install process seem to have a high probability of
their encrypted DES passwords containing non-base64 characters.  DES passwords
are 13 characters long, and in base64 format with the character set:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789./

Specifically, the "salt" (first two characters of the DES encrypted password)
for these passwords is often invalid, containing non-base64 characters (often
control characters or characters with the high bit set).

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


How reproducible:
Sometimes

Steps to Reproduce:
1.  Boot from the Red Hat Linux 7.3 i386 ISO disc.
2.  Install as usual (minimal will do).
3.  Create 10 or 15 users in addition at the screen where you set the root password.
4.  Unselect "MD5" passwords so DES is used; leave /etc/shadow enabled.
5.  Let install complete, then inspect field two of /etc/shadow.
	

Actual Results:  For 13 users created from the installer, 12 had non-base64
characters in the salt of their passwords.  After logging in and creating
additional users using "useradd" and then "passwd" to set their passwords, each
new user had a valid DES encrypted password in /etc/shadow.  That is why I
suspect the Installer and not glibc or PAM.

I will try pasting the snippet from my /etc/shadow, but I'm not sure the
high-bit characters were copied correctly:

a:BvozAzQMe1Eo:11890:0:99999:7:::
b:17icEAYsoOey2:11890:0:99999:7:::
c:!	r9Ufa8qCbrc:11890:0:99999:7:::
d:Rp9hkCUXuLgq6:11890:0:99999:7:::
e:M@tyYCOSS2BnU:11890:0:99999:7:::
f:NUei8/Rp1IWU:11890:0:99999:7:::
g:VpWPN.xwW5HM:11890:0:99999:7:::
h:;rVbWcNHo2S96:11890:0:99999:7:::
i:&#8776;/PASUWTJTFns:11890:0:99999:7:::
j:z&#8747;fB2DnDYmm.Q:11890:0:99999:7:::
k:KiujHfU0d4Iw:11890:0:99999:7:::
l:wpSesWZQgPpE:11890:0:99999:7:::
m:&#730;UOwGFBoMCqAs:11890:0:99999:7:::

Expected Results:  Correctly formatted DES passwords, such as these created by
/bin/passwd:

n:NB4mPVle/UF7U:11890:0:99999:7:::
o:7C.FhC20LacDA:11890:0:99999:7:::
p:ICkNiod9LxNgs:11890:0:99999:7:::
q:RCVyqHdYCwbZs:11890:0:99999:7:::


Additional info:

Valid DES encrypted passwords are still important for portability to other systems.

Comment 1 Michael Fulbright 2002-07-23 16:00:49 UTC
Any ideas Nalin?  We just call useradd.

Comment 2 Michael Fulbright 2002-07-23 16:01:40 UTC
Would the problem be with how we create the salt?