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I have some issues with files /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow. Both of them are without permissions:

---------- 1 root root   1357 Aug  5 11:30 passwd
---------- 1 root shadow 1175 Aug  5 11:30 shadow

And i don't know how this happened or why. Basically I can't edit/remove these files or change permissions when I am logged as the root user. It ends with "Operation not permitted". Eg. when I try:

root@server:/etc# chmod 600 passwd
chmod: changing permissions of ‘passwd’: Operation not permitted

The main issue is that any logged user has "I have no name!@..." in the command line and I can't use "su" or run some services as an another user. I guess these files should have some permissions and that's the problem. My system is Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS with the newest updates.

Martin Sudolsky
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1 Answers1

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Did you try:

# lsattr /etc/shadow

What's the output of this on the command line?

If is looking like this:

----i-------- /etc/shadow

Then is immutable and you can't edit/delete the file even as root.

You have to run:

chattr -i /etc/shadow

Now you can edit the file.
This procedure is available only if the immutable -i is showing on the file.

HBruijn
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DoruH
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