Bug 74814

Summary:	/etc/nologin is not removed on boot
Product:	[Retired] Red Hat Linux	Reporter:	Need Real Name <bugzilla.redhat>
Component:	initscripts	Assignee:	Bill Nottingham <notting>
Status:	CLOSED NOTABUG	QA Contact:	Brock Organ <borgan>
Severity:	low	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	7.3	CC:	dkelson, jscalia, kenyon, rvokal
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	i386
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2002-10-01 21:13:32 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:
Bug Depends On:
Bug Blocks:	150221

Description Need Real Name 2002-10-01 21:13:26 UTC

I rebooted my RedHat 7.3 server.  It was having some kind of wacky file
descriptor insanity.  When it came back on-line I was unable to ssh in because
the /etc/nologin was still present.  I had to ssh in as root (only possible
because I had overlooked this security hole) and remove the file before I could
log in as a normal user.


Expected Results:

  I think the mature UNIXes deal with this problem by performing an "rm
/etc/nologin" somewhere in their init scripts.  RedHat should do this too. 
rc.sysinit is the likely candidate.

Comment 1 Bill Nottingham 2002-11-12 06:32:18 UTC

This was determined as not the way to do it back in 1999; I'm not sure I want to
change this behavior now.

Comment 2 Need Real Name 2002-11-12 15:51:24 UTC

So, are you saying that when the reboot malfunctions somehow and the machine
boots with an /etc/nologin that the only resolution is physical access by
someone with the root password?

If this is the case, how do I prevent /etc/nologin from being created during the
reboot process?

Comment 3 Bill Nottingham 2002-11-19 16:13:11 UTC

*** Bug 78129 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 4 Dax Kelson 2006-02-01 17:46:56 UTC

The other UNIXes have this behavior (which has been in place for decades) correct. 

A reboot should delete the /etc/nologin file.

Comment 5 Dax Kelson 2015-10-30 20:20:22 UTC

I'm happy to see that 8.5 years later, RHEL7 agreed with me. :)