We had to recently move a FC4 VM to a new physical box with a new vmware id. Now I am unable to ssh log into the server using root - access denied.

However I am able to putty into the box using private key.

When I attempt to change root passwd I get the following error message:

passwd: Critical error - immediate abort

Looking in the /var/log/secure file I see the following message:

pam_stack[14627]: substack returned 26 (Critical error - immediate abort)

Here is what versions of PAM I'm using:

pam.i386 0.79-9.6 installed
pam-devel.i386 0.79-9.6 installed
pam_ccreds.i386 1-6 installed
pam_krb5.i386 2.1.7-3 installed
pam_passwdqc.i386 0.7.6-1 installed
pam_smb.i386 1.1.7-6 installed

and passwd:

pam_passwdqc.i386 0.7.6-1 installed
passwd.i386 0.69-2 installed
passwdgen.i386 2.2-2.fc4.rf installed


This VM has not been modified in any way, except for the change in physical server location [and VM id].

Also I am unable to change any other account passwords.

Any suggestions?

What do the stacks contain?