[CentOS] strange su behavior

Mon Mar 8 21:03:56 UTC 2010
Dan Burkland <dburklan at NMDP.ORG>

> -----Original Message-----
> From: centos-bounces at centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On
> Behalf Of Uwe Kiewel
> Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 2:17 PM
> To: centos at centos.org
> Subject: [CentOS] strange su behavior
> 
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> 
> Hi,
> 
> I have a strange su hehavior on a CentOS 5.4 32Bit installation in a
> VMware ESXi virtualizied environment:
> 
> If I am root and want to change the user to a non-root user, the system
> prompts me for a password:
> 
> 
> [root at halifax ~]# useradd test00
> [root at halifax ~]# su - test00
> 
> 
> We trust you have received the usual lecture from the local System
> Administrator. It usually boils down to these three things:
> 
>     #1) Respect the privacy of others.
>     #2) Think before you type.
>     #3) With great power comes great responsibility.
> 
> Password:
> 
> [test00 at halifax ~]$ logout
> [root at halifax ~]# su - test00
> [test00 at halifax ~]$ logout
> [root at halifax ~]#
> 
> 
> At this test procedure I just hit the enter key at the password promt.
> 
> 
> Do you have any idea for this behavoir? I expect to do so from root to
> any account _without_ being prompted for the password.
> 
> Thanks,
> 	Uwe
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Have you tried just running su without the dash and space before the username? (For example: su test00). If not try that and let us know if you receive the same result.

Regards,

Dan