topic Re: change shell on login as root in Operating System - HP-UX

change shell on login as root

diego mec — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:56:02 GMT

Hi,
I have a problem with the shell of user root, I changed the default shell directly in /etc/passwd file (big mistake), removing /sbin/sh and inserting /usr/local/bin/bash. But this shell, bash, is not properly installed, so now I cannot login or su - root.
Of course, I am not able also to modify back this file since I cannot login as root.
If I do su - root, I get an error when the system tries to load the bash shell and am disconnected.
The server is remote so I cannot access the console.
Is there any means to login as root but using sh shell and then fix the problem?

Thanks

Re: change shell on login as root

Torsten. — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:14:57 GMT

Never, never change root's shell in /etc/passwd.

Now try this:

# su root -c /sbin/sh

Re: change shell on login as root

Rajeev Shukla — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:16:22 GMT

You shouldn't really change the shell of root coz root's shell should only reside in /sbin and also libraries required should be /lib which means only /sbin/sh is accepted as shell of root.
One way you could try is ftp the /etc/passwd to someother server, edit the file and put the file back using ftp.
Coz any other methods will use shell from passwd file and wont let you login.

Re: change shell on login as root

Deepak Kr — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:19:58 GMT

Yes, default shell for root user should never change to other like ksh or bash (in linux)...

This is HP recommendation also.

Doing ftp is good option as rajeev suggested..

Re: change shell on login as root

diego mec — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:26:56 GMT

Hi,
I already tested su - root -c /sbin/sh but does not work coz shell is loaded before.
I have tried your suggestion but ftp also fails... I see in syslog file:
FTP LOGIN REFUSED (shell not in /etc/shells)

Would it be possible to fix at least connecting on the console? I suppose that shell is not loaded in single-user osr something like that and /etc/passwd might be changed, or not

Thanks

Re: change shell on login as root

Torsten. — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:30:04 GMT

If you bring down the server and boot again, the system will complain about the shell, stop boot and end with a /sbin/sh prompt.

The only problem is to bring down the system - last effort will be a power cycle or hard reset.

Re: change shell on login as root

Robert-Jan Goossens — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:34:02 GMT

Hi Diego,

Would it be possible to fix at least connecting on the console? I suppose that shell is not loaded in single-user osr something like that and /etc/passwd might be changed, or not

Yes, but you will have to reboot your server. You don't have to boot in to single user mode, this will be done automaticly.

Login
# mount -a
set your TERM
# vi /etc/passwd
and change the root shell back to /sbin/sh
:wq!
# shutdown -r -y now

Regards,
Robert-Jan

Re: change shell on login as root

Rasheed Tamton — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:57:22 GMT

Hi,

You have not really tried what Torsten suggested!

su root -c /sbin/sh

You still used a hyphen in front of the root. Use it without the hyphen (dash). Just use
su root

Rgds.

Re: change shell on login as root

diego mec — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:27:13 GMT

Hi,
in fact I did test all possibilities, including without the hyphen:
som@gpparlay[HP-UX]:/home/som# su root -c /sbin/sh
Password:
/usr/lib/hpux32/dld.so: Unable to find library 'libtermcap.so'.
Killed

Re: change shell on login as root

Heironimus — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:01:18 GMT

If you have sudo you can use it to invoke a shell as root. sudo does not rely on the shell defined in /etc/passwd.

If you have an NFS mount you might be able to put a setuid shell on the server and run it on the client to get root access.

Re: change shell on login as root

James R. Ferguson — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:11:43 GMT

Hi Diego:

You could perform an "expert recovery" from your core media, loading a virgin copy of '/usr/newconfig/etc/passwd' to remaster a valid '/etc/passwd' which you then subsequently fix or restore:

http://docs.hp.com/en/5992-3336/ch13s03.html

Regards!

...JRF...