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Re: [Full-disclosure] Root password change

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006, Valdis.Kletnieks@xxxxxx wrote:


On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 09:21:13 EST, Michael Holstein said:

Trivial to defeat.  Just boot in to single user mode with these kernel
options:
        single init=/bin/bash


Again .. only due to initial misconfiguration.

Nobody should allow alternate switches to be passed to the kernel at
boot .. either by password-protecting the bootloader, or via firmware
(as with OpenBoot).


Of course, if you're that paranoid, you *did* configure whatever the machine
uses for a BIOS to only boot off the intended hard drive, right? ;)
In which case the person needs to remove the hard drive, and put it into a different system for the modifications (or mirroring).
For the most part, if an attacker has physical access to the hardware itself, you just lose. 

--
Greg

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