[Tfug] Cracking a root password?

[Bexley Hall]

--- Christopher Robbins <robbinsc at gmail.com> wrote:

> I could Google that all day, but I was wondering if
> anyone had any
> off-the-cuff, easy (ha!) ways to get the root
> password of a box.
> 
> I don't have the old admin around, so I gotta start
> plugging away at this
> one on my own.
> 
> Ideas?

The "tried and true" scheme for even *nasty* UN*X
boxen (e.g., Solaris -- that won't even let you 
*into* single user mode without root's
credentials) is to boot off a CD (or another
"system" disk) and overwrite /etc/passwd et al.
with a known /etc/passwd.

If you are running one of the *BSD's, you can
just boot single user and 'passwd root' to
overwrite the existing password.

Now, if what you are *really* asking is "what did
the other guy *use* as his password, that's a 
different problem to solve!  :> 



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