RHEL 6.2 console login as root fails

pyroman59 · 10-15-2013, 08:38 PM

Hi - I have a new RHEL 6.2 sys I loaded and then ran through several OS hardening routines per CISecurity guidelines. Mainly the hardening was permissions changes... so, I then reboot and it came up with the login banner. I entered root and the password, then the banner goes away and about 5-10 seconds later, it appears again. I tried fail-safe login also. Nogo. Same thing. Any ideas of what would cause this behavior? Also, how can I mount the drive to fix, even after I find out what to fix?

btmiller · 10-15-2013, 10:15 PM

Maybe root doesn't have a valuid shell entry in /etc/passwd or that one of the changes you madfe somehow denied root's ability to run its login shell or told the system to deny root logins? Can you login to another account and su to root? If not, try rebooting into single user mdoe (there are numerous guides on the web for how to do this) and check /var/log/secure to see if you can figure out why root logins are beign denied.

John VV · 10-15-2013, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Mainly the hardening was permissions changes..

You made a typo maybe ?
or a SELinux context problem
if the system folders have the Wrong permissions SE will STOP the login

or SE might stop the boot if something like /etc is 777

pop in the install dvd and run it is "Rescue mode" and after you run

Code:

chroot /mnt/sysimage

go over what you did and double check it .

unSpawn · 10-16-2013, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pyroman59

Any ideas of what would cause this behavior?

Apart from the fact that you should not login as root anyway: boot into runlevel 1 (or else use a Live CD) and check the logs and login records for clues.

pyroman59 · 10-16-2013, 09:38 PM

Hi and thanks to:
btmiller
John VV
unSpawn

I booted from the rescue CD and got in and looked around. I found out that the nosuid option was set for / in fstab by mistake... I took that out and all was OK. Ugh.

Thank you very much.