[wplug-bsd] Password oddity

[Tom Rhodes]

On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 20:39:11 -0500
Benjamin Slavin <bslavin_list at wavecrazy.net> wrote:

> Good evening, all,
> 
> I just rebooted my system in an effort to upgrade FreeBSD to 4.9-STABLE 
> (hoping to solve PPPoE and printer problems). When I went to login, I 
> was on the phone and was reading a URL to a friend... as a result, I 
> accidentally tacked ".com" on the end of my password. I expected to have 
> to re-type it, but was shocked when I ended-up at a login prompt.
> 
> Does anyone know why this might happen? I can append at lest a dozen 
> characters to the end of my password, and it will still work. Also, it 
> will only work for non-root accounts.

Ok, I'm trying to envision this situation...  You mean you cannot
login anymore because of it, or it will no longer change your
password, or ... ?

When someone forgets the root login, I usually recommend they
boot into the single user mode (it will drop you into a root
login with sh(1)), select the shell you normally use (type in
/bin/csh and push enter), and then use the vipw(1) utility to
manually modify the password file.

Does that help?

-- 
Tom Rhodes