passwd, permission denied

[Dan Yefimov]

On 18.03.2009 15:28, Marc Weber wrote:
> I'm getting this on my vserver:
>
> [root at nixos:~]# passwd root
> Changing password for root.
> passwd: Permission denied
>
>
> [root at nixos:~]# cat /etc/pam.d/passwd
> auth     include        common
> account  include        common
> password include        common
> session  include        common
>
> [root at nixos:~]# cat /etc/pam.d/common
> #  auth     sufficient     /no-such-path/lib/security/pam_ldap.so
> auth     sufficient
> /nix/store/22w3l41qxszyisqn09pjad8vc93kwr49-pam_unix2-2.1/lib/security/pam_unix2.so
> debug
> auth     required       pam_deny.so debug
>
> #  account  optional       /no-such-path/lib/security/pam_ldap.so
> account  required
> /nix/store/22w3l41qxszyisqn09pjad8vc93kwr49-pam_unix2-2.1/lib/security/pam_unix2.so
> debug
>
> #  password sufficient     /no-such-path/lib/security/pam_ldap.so
> password sufficient
> /nix/store/22w3l41qxszyisqn09pjad8vc93kwr49-pam_unix2-2.1/lib/security/pam_unix2.so
> debug
>
> #  session  optional       /no-such-path/lib/security/pam_ldap.so
> session  required
> /nix/store/22w3l41qxszyisqn09pjad8vc93kwr49-pam_unix2-2.1/lib/security/pam_unix2.so
> debug
>
> syslog:
> Mar 18 12:26:41 nixos passwd[7919]: pam_unix2(passwd:chauthtok): pam_sm_chauthtok() called
> Mar 18 12:26:41 nixos passwd[7919]: pam_unix2(passwd:chauthtok): username=[root]
> Mar 18 12:26:41 nixos passwd[7919]: User root: Permission denied
>
> strace output looks like this: http://rafb.net/p/7jq2vb43.html
>
The problem is with settings in /etc/login.defs, I think. I've no idea why is it 
used. Moreover, your installation looks very unusual, strange to me. For 
example, originally spawned passwd execs another, "real" passwd from the 
different location, while the latter still uses /etc/login.defs, not login.defs 
from the appropriate location. I think, you should invoke passwd from the 
context of the virtual server, not from the master context.
-- 

Sincerely Your, Dan.