Cannot "su -" or access Yast in Suse.

AllanP · 09-06-2009, 03:26 PM

I posted the following on Suse, but no help so far and am becoming impatient:

I think I created this problem. Ubuntu has GRUB and I accessed Suse's partition while in Ubuntu to copy Suse's new kernel id from the menu.lst and paste it into Ubuntu's menu.lst. I boot into Suse OK but, don't have any rights. "su -" gives me "su: cannot set groups: Operation not permitted". I can't open Yast either.

paulsm4 · 09-06-2009, 03:37 PM

Hi -

It definitely sounds like something got changed besides your GRUB "menu.lst".

This link might help:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-pls-help-767/
<= Suggestion:

Quote:

I would make sure that the su binary is suid root. Then make sure that /etc/passwd and /etc/group are both world readable...

PS:
This particular advice comes from Jeremy himself (the guy who started LinuxQuestions.org). It's good advice - 'hope it helps in your scenario!

AllanP · 09-06-2009, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulsm4

Hi -

It definitely sounds like something got changed besides your GRUB "menu.lst".

This link might help:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-pls-help-767/
<= Suggestion:

PS:
This particular advice comes from Jeremy himself (the guy who started LinuxQuestions.org). It's good advice - 'hope it helps in your scenario!

All sounds pretty complicated for the likes of me. Actually I had this happen once before and I think it's to do with Suse's security and the knowledge that a "read only file" was accessed from an outside source (from within Ubuntu). The files "passwd & group" are both readable. I may re-install or try the "Repair" option on the DVD.

AlucardZero · 09-06-2009, 06:35 PM

Quote:

I think it's to do with Suse's security and the knowledge that a "read only file" was accessed from an outside source (from within Ubuntu).

No offense meant but that is silly.

Your su binary has lost its setuid root bit. Put it back.

Log in directly as root, or do sudo bash and hope that sudo works. Then fix the permissions, /bin/su should be -rwsr-xr-x, or 4755 in octal.

AllanP · 09-06-2009, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlucardZero

No offense meant but that is silly.

Your su binary has lost its setuid root bit. Put it back.

Log in directly as root, or do sudo bash and hope that sudo works. Then fix the permissions, /bin/su should be -rwsr-xr-x, or 4755 in octal.

Could I do that from within Ubuntu?

AlucardZero · 09-06-2009, 08:21 PM

AllanP · 09-07-2009, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlucardZero

No offense meant but that is silly.

Your su binary has lost its setuid root bit. Put it back.

Log in directly as root, or do sudo bash and hope that sudo works. Then fix the permissions, /bin/su should be -rwsr-xr-x, or 4755 in octal.

Not so silly. I tried what you said without success. I then re-installed Suse 11.1. This time I did an Acronis disk image of the Suse partition before trying anything else. Then I did the same thing as yesterday; went into Ubuntu and access the Suse partition's menu.lst. Then I booted into Suse; guess what! the same results. Shutdown greyed out, no Yast or su-. I will now restore the partition.