Root password changing by itself

[Vijay Krishnan]

Guys, I don't see how I can have fun by posting a random technical
question for which I am not looking for an answer. This has been
bugging me for some weeks now, and I was hoping to get a less drastic
solution than re-installing my OS.
Thanks to those who have shared their thoughts and I would  be quite
happy to have any insights from your experience to handle the problem.


Vijay


On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 2:06 PM, max bianco <maximilianbianco at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 4:44 PM, Ed Greshko <Ed.Greshko at greshko.com> wrote:
>> Bruno Wolff III wrote:
>>>
>>> On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 13:00:48 -0700,
>>>  "Dr. Peter Roopnarine" <proopnarine at calacademy.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Monday 19 May 2008 12:52:04 pm Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I have Fedora 5 and 6 installed on my machines. I strangely find
>>>>>
>>>>>> that I am often unable to login to the machine with my regular
>>>>>> password using ssh. Fortunately I have physical access to the machine,
>>>>>> which allows me to change the password back. Any idea what could be
>>>>>> the reason?
>>>>
>>>> By changing the password back, you mean that your root password has
>>>> actually been changed? If no, then you need to configure ssh to allow remote
>>>> root login (not a good idea though). If yes, then it's almost a certainty
>>>> that your system has been hacked. Wipe and install Fedora 8 or 9.
>>>> Peter
>>>
>>> That wouldn't be my bet. I doubt someone that gained root access to the
>>> machine would change the root password unless it was someone he knows
>>> playing a prank on him. I expect there is something else going on here.
>>
>> I wonder about pranks since the OP has posted the following on the ubuntu
>> list:
>>
>> <quote>
>
>  the OP is hoping to glean some precious clue on how to hack a linux
> box by coming at the problem from the opposite angle so as to put off
> suspicion?
>
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-- 
Vijay Krishnan
Founder, Infoaxe Inc.
http://www.cs.stanford.edu/~vijayk
http://www.infoaxe.com/hiring.html