root mail priviliges

akitchens · 12-18-2005, 02:05 AM

I am running a default install of redhat 9
I am trying to access the root users email via imap. I keep getting a wrong username or bad password error.
I know the username and password are correct and I can access all other users email without problem.
Is there some sort of security that prevents access to roots mail? If so how do I disable it?

TIA
Andrew

uopjohnson · 12-19-2005, 01:32 PM

I'm not sure what specific protections might be built into RH9.
Instead of accessing roots mail directly you can forward it to another user by placing a file called .forward in /root/ with a single line containing the user name of the account you wish to forward mail to. This is a built in sendmail function, if you are running a different mail setup this will probably still work though.

akitchens · 12-19-2005, 09:39 PM

I have since forwarded all mail to another user and gone to the site the machine was hosted and forwarded the existing mail manually, it would still be nice to know why I couldnt access it like the other users though

linmix · 12-20-2005, 02:33 AM

how did you try to acces root mail (i.e. what command)?

uopjohnson · 12-20-2005, 08:58 AM

It looks like he is trying to log in remotely over imap.
Again. I don't use RH, but I'm betting that some protection has been put in "for your own good" to keep you from logging into any of roots accounts from outside localhost. This isn't really a bad thing as it will make it impossible to brute force your root password, but I can see why it might be annoying. However, unless you are using a very secure connection it is a really bad idea to allow that kind of access anyway so maybe RH has done you a favor here.

tkedwards · 12-20-2005, 05:09 PM

I'm not 100% sure but I think that most mail servers won't deliver to root, they have to have root aliased to another user.