Is this not a variant of the x for shadow passwords?
JT ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ted Harding" ted.harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk To: main@lists.alug.org.uk Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 11:53 AM Subject: [ALUG] "!!" in /etc/passwd
Hi Folks,
Can anyone interpret the following for me? I can't find it referred to in 'man' documentation.
Some "user" entries in /etc/passwd have "!!" in the encrypted password field, e.g.
sshd:!!:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin rpc:!!:32:32:Portmapper RPC user:/:/sbin/nologin
mysql:!!:27:27:MySQL Server:/var/lib/mysql:/bin/bash postgres:!!:26:26:PostgreSQL Server:/var/lib/pgsql:/bin/bash
For the acounts which have /sbin/nologin as "shell" I cannot of course gain entry, even from root.
On the other hand, for the accounts (mysql, postgres) which have a normal shell, I can 'su' from root without entering a password; while if I try to 'su' from any other user I'm prompted for a password (which of course does not exist).
I'm wondering what the full interpretation of the "!!" is. I know about "*" in the encrypted password field: there is no possible password which encrypts fo "*", so such accounts cannot be logged into.
I've already found out something (see above) about "!!" accounts, but is there more that I should know?
In particular, if I were (as root) to use the 'passwd' command to give a "!!" account a real password, would I be treading on any toes in the system?
With thanks, Ted.
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) ted.harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 06-Jun-07 Time: 11:53:29 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
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