After installing Virtualbox 4.3 something strange happens; I can not become “root” withthe command SU + Password.
I can not launch Yast, since it asks forauthentication and do not recognize the root password. No problem.,though I,
I can start up in runlevel 1 (single User) by means ofGrub. So did I , and I became root at runlevel 1. I changed the
password for root with the command “password” and, to make thingssure, I deleted in /etc/shadow the Password for root.
I can also launch Yast atrunlevel 1 with no problem. I can use Yast at runlevel 3 and so Ihave acess to the repositories.
But as soon as I reachrunlevel 5, I have no access to Yast and can not become “root” bymeans of SU+ password . I
:\am pretty sure that the virtual Boxinstallation has messed up the permissions, but how an where?.
The system (Opensuse 13.1)runs stable and without problems, only I can not install anything(Well’only with Yast and ar Runlevel 3).
Has anyone an idea.I wouldhate to reinstall the system
First, there is no command SU. You probablty mean su.
Then I think it is a bit dangerous to edit /etc/shadow yourself. Specialy when you first change the password and then remove it there.
Third, you stress that this is with VirtualBox. Shouldn’tthis then be in the Virtualization forum, or do I interprete you wrongly here?
On 2013-12-10 21:36, hcvv wrote:
>
> First, there is no command SU. You probablty mean su.
>
> Then I think it is a bit dangerous to edit /etc/shadow yourself.
> Specialy when you first change the password and then remove it there.
Agreed.
> Third, you stress that this is with VirtualBox. Shouldn’tthis then be in
> the Virtualization forum, or do I interprete you wrongly here?
I understand he installed virtualbox and then the openSUSE host started
misbehaving.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
That was one of my interpretations of the text. I hesitated because I do not see any connection. But the OP is of course very correct to mention this when that install marks the start of the problem. So we leave it here and hope that nevertheless some VirtualBox users will shed some light on it.
Hi jcaser1948,
To be clear, so other people have the same understanding that you have, of what happened, this is what happened to you:
- You are running oS ( openSUSE ) 13.1 directly on your hardware. ( is it 32 bit or 64 bit, what CPU? )
- Immediately before step 3, you were able to su to root, run YAST, do things as root, etc.,
without any problems, at any run level. - You downloaded VirtualBox 4.3.x ( what is x? ) from virtualbox.org ( instead of from the
openSUSE repositories, because that version of VirtualBox isn’t available yet from the oS
repositories ) and installed Virtualbox to run under oS 13.1. - You made no other changes to your system, nothing else was installed, removed, configured,
but immediately after step 3, you were no longer to do anything as root, other than in run level 1.
Then you did this:
- Became root at run level 1.
- Emptied the password field for the root user in /etc/shadow.
- Then set the password for the root user using the passwd command.
- Now you are able to be root at run levels up to 3, but not at 5.
Apart from any missing information I asked you to supply, that is all exactly what happened,
in exactly that order, yes?
It might also be helpful if you would please answer these questions:
A) Do you have any aliases for your machine name?
B) Do you have more than one IP address associated with your machine name, other than something like 127.0.0.* ?
C) Are you using IP v6 ?
D) Are you able to run a DE ( Desktop Environment ( such as KDE, GNome ) ) ?
E) Do you have any problems running anything under X Windows?
F) If you reboot the machine, do you still have the same problem?
G) If you manually unload the vbox modules, do you still have the same problem?
The sequence of events is exactly as you explain
The system is 13.1 64 bits
The machine is dual- boot with UEFI (windows 7 and Grub)
I have no aliases in the machine
I have no problem running anything in the X11 system
When I reboot the machine , I have the same problem (no access to Root at runlevel 5)
I have not try yet to uninstall the vbox modules, since I try first to understand what happened
Thanks for your time
jcaser1948,
Thanks for the information.
Sorry, I should have asked, did you run VIrtualBox at all, before you had the problem becoming root?
I wasn’t talking about uninstalling the vbox modules, in the sense of removing them permanently from the system. I was talking about unloading them from memory, temporarily, using a command such as:
modprobe -r vboxdrv
If you were able to become root before running VirtualBox, but not after running it, that could tell us something. Sometimes the modules being loaded into memory can interfere with other things. Usually any interference would tend to affect other “virtual” facilities you might be using. Yet, if you had run VirtualBox before having the problem, just to double check, I was going to ask you to try to unload the modules from memory, to see if you still had the problem.
Which specific version of VirtualBox did you install, 4.3.4? More specifically, did you install from an RPM with this name:
VirtualBox-4.3-4.3.4_91027_openSUSE123-1.x86_64.rpm
or a different version, and what was the procedure that you followed to install it? Did you install anything else related to VirtualBox, such as an Extension Pack?
Just to give us complete information, does your CPU have hardware assistance for virtual facilities? If you don’t know, please just let us know exactly what CPU you have.
Also, at run level 5, if you try to **su **to become user root, notice the time at which you did that, then you drop down to a run level where you can become root, and look at the system logs in /var/logs for that time, in those logs, do you see any complaints about your attempt to su, and if so, what are the complaints?
First, thank you very muchfor the answer and your time.
I had installed the latestversion of virtual Box from the webside and was unable to run it dueto permissions. I mean it ran but the run was interrupted.
But thisis passed, since in the meantime I have uninstalled (by means of“remove -r” , at runlevel 1)all directories and files which haveanything to do with Vbox. I also disabled by means of YAST (atrunlevel 1) all services related to virtual box.
This means my system is atthe moment, as far as I know “VirtualBox clean.
But I have still theproblem. I can bring the system to runlevel 1 and I can worktperfectly with the system at runlevel 5, except I cannot become root.
This means I can not go fom runlevel 5 to runlevel 1 ,since the system ask for the root password and , when iI give it, is not recognized.
I can only boot to runlevel 1 by means of GRUB (Stooping the boot and addind “single” at the end of the linux line
I could reinstall thesystem, but, since I can work with it and the issue with the passwordinterest me, I will keep it, at least for a while. If you havesuggestions I my implement , do not hesitate to give them
jcaser1948,
There should be no reason why installing a properly functioning version of VirtualBox would affect your ability to become root.
So, if installing a version of VirtualBox changed your system affecting your ability to become root, it would be a “mistake”, and you could not necessarily expect un-installing VirtualBox to un-do what the install did by mistake.
When I spoke of “dropping” from run level 5 to run level 1, I meant you should do that whatever way you can. If you are in run level 5, and you need to re-boot into single user mode, to get into run level 1, then that’s how you “drop” from run level 5 to run level 1.
Please tell us:
-
Exactly
what CPU do you have in your machine. 1. Exactly
what file did you download from virtualbox.org 1. Exactly
what commands did you run to install VirtualBox originally. 1. Exactly
what commands did you run to remove VirtualBox from your system.
Here are the answers to your questions as far a I know
-
what CPU do you have in your machine. -
Intel(r) Core(TM) i7-3770 CPU @3,40 GH 3,9 GH 8 GB RAM what file did you download from virtualbox.org -
VirtualBox-4.3-4.3.4_91027_openSUSE123-1.x86_64.rpm -
what commands did you run to install VirtualBox originally. -
rpm -i VirtualBox-4.3-4.3.4_91027_openSUSE123-1.x86_64.rpm I ran Virtualbox after that, but did not run because of permissions problems what commands did you run to remove VirtualBox from your system. -
rm -r from runlevel 1 seeking all the Directories and files where Vbox might be present
jcaser1948,
Thanks for the information.
Installing something from an rpm can be more than just copying files to your system from the rpm. When you install an **rpm **commands may be executed which change things on your system. To try to be sure that what was done during the install is un-done during an un-install. If you can install something from an rpm as simply as:
rpm -i package_name.rpm
then you should usually un-install it like this:
rpm -e package_name
When you first installed VirtualBox, were there any messages that were output by the install? If yes, what were the messages?
When you first tried to run VirtualBox, what messages were output that let you understand that there were permission problems?
I know that foruninstalling a program properly you need to run rpm -e package_name. Unfortunately the system asks for the root password in order to allow that.
Atthat time the system did not allow the su+ password command. Later Ihad the idea to try to change the password with the runlevel 1, whatI did .
Duringthe installation of the virtual box package were no special messages.
AsI tried to run the Virtual box, there was a message wit somepermissions problems (What exactly I do not remember, since I took noparticular notice at that time
Inany case, this is past, since I cleaned all the directories and Filesof Vbox.
Thisis an interesting situation. If Vbox has messed up something ,fine.But where?
Can you log as root in run level 3?
from GUI press ctrl-alt-F1
from Grub pess e find the linux line go to end enter space then 3 press F10 to continue boot
There are many places the problem could be so it is hard to guess. In any case I have never heard this problem come from installing VB.
If you can log in as root at run level 3 then the problem may be in the GUI routines. Did you try a different user?
On 2013-12-12 21:46, jcaser1948 wrote:
> I know that foruninstalling a program properly you need to run
> rpm -e package_name. Unfortunately the system
> asks for the root password in order to allow that.
Just do that in level 1 even if you already deleted the files.
Question: where did you get the rpm from, exactly?
I see the package name mentions opensuse 12.3, yet you have 13.1. Why?
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
I can login as root at level 3 and at level 5
By means of YAST2 (at lever 5 , as root) I have downloaded and installed the last patches.The system did not complain
Following your suggestion I have made a new user (with YAST2, at level5)
I tried (as the new user) to enter the su+Password command .The same problem (Identification failure)
Now the resumee of the system is as follows
I can work perfectly at all levels as root and as user and, as root, iI can install programms and patches
I can not use te command su+password in the terminal,(Identification failure
The probem escapes me, but I can work without problems
The lesson to be lerned is “Hands off virtual Box”
I will keep the system as it is .Perhaps you find a new suggestion I can implement
Anyhow thanks for your time
Juan Carlos (jcaser)
Does “sudo” work?
Maybe there’s something wrong with your pam configuration?
Please post the output of:
ls -la /etc/pam.d/su*
cat /etc/pam.d/su*
Hiere are the results
jcaser@linux-ug79:~> sudo
sudo: el uid efectivo no es 0, sudo está instalado con setuid root? (The efective uid is not 0 ,sudo is installed with setuid root?
jcaser@linux-ug79:~> ls -la /etc/pam.d/su*
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 277 oct 9 15:07 /etc/pam.d/su
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 203 sep 28 10:45 /etc/pam.d/sudo
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 277 oct 9 15:07 /etc/pam.d/su-l
jcaser@linux-ug79:~> cat /etc/pam.d/su*
#%PAM-1.0
auth sufficient pam_rootok.so
auth include common-auth
account sufficient pam_rootok.so
account include common-account
password include common-password
session include common-session
session optional pam_xauth.so
#%PAM-1.0
auth include common-auth
account include common-account
password include common-password
session include common-session
session optional pam_xauth.so
#%PAM-1.0
auth sufficient pam_rootok.so
auth include common-auth
account sufficient pam_rootok.so
account include common-account
password include common-password
session include common-session
session optional pam_xauth.so
jcaser@linux-ug79:~>
I hope you can see anyting out of it
Thanks Juan Carlos
Your pam configuration is ok.
But that sudo error message could provide a clue.
Apparently sudo (and probably su as well) has the wrong file permissions.
Please post the output of:
ls -la /usr/bin/su*
grep PERMISSION /etc/sysconfig/security
Maybe running “chkstat --system” as root would help? This should set the permissions for important system files to the correct values according to your security settings.
jcaser@linux-ug79:~> ls -la /usr/bin/su*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 31744 oct 9 15:07 /usr/bin/su
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 27104 nov 25 18:59 /usr/bin/subtitle2pgm
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 31224 nov 25 18:59 /usr/bin/subtitle2vobsub
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 1373872 nov 27 02:48 /usr/bin/subtitlecomposer
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 1732 sep 28 11:19 /usr/bin/subtitles
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 137736 sep 28 10:45 /usr/bin/sudo
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 nov 6 20:59 /usr/bin/sudoedit -> sudo
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 73040 sep 28 10:45 /usr/bin/sudoreplay
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35656 dic 4 12:46 /usr/bin/sum
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 1237 sep 28 06:25 /usr/bin/sun2mime
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 1039 sep 28 06:25 /usr/bin/sun-audio-file
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 10496 oct 4 16:10 /usr/bin/sunicontopnm
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 1240 sep 28 06:25 /usr/bin/sun-message
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 1449 sep 28 06:25 /usr/bin/sun-message.csh
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 1209 sep 28 06:25 /usr/bin/sun-to-mime
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 nov 29 10:23 /usr/bin/suseayuda -> susehelp
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 6201 sep 28 11:04 /usr/bin/susehelp
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 4065 sep 28 11:04 /usr/bin/susehelpindex
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 1525 sep 28 11:04 /usr/bin/susehelp-khelpcenter
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 287160 sep 28 07:58 /usr/bin/susetags2solv
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 8288 sep 28 03:07 /usr/bin/suse-update-mime-defaults
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 438 sep 28 20:20 /usr/bin/sushi
jcaser@linux-ug79:~>
jcaser@linux-ug79:~> grep PERMISSION /etc/sysconfig/security
PERMISSION_SECURITY=“easy local”
PERMISSION_FSCAPS=""
PERMISSION_SECURITY. If PERMISSION_SECURITY contains ‘secure’ or
jcaser@linux-ug79:~>
I will implement your other suggestion inmediately
Juan Carlos
Done chkstat -system
Same result