[rhn-users] Root login with telnet

[Fred Chagnon]

|  I've noticed that when trying to telnet into RHEL AS 4, and 
|  NOT using SSH, I am unable to log in as root directly, I 
|  have to log in as user and SU.
|  
|  But with SSH connection, I can login with root account straight away.
|  
|  Is there a way to change this security feature so direct 
|  root login can be done with regular telnet?

Add the following to /etc/securetty

pts/0
pts/1
pts/2
pts/3
pts/4
pts/5
pts/6
pts/7
pts/8
pts/9

This will allow 10 telnet connections for root. 

The obvious security implications here are that you're exposing yourself
to sending your root password over the wire in clear text. Anyone
sniffing ethernet traffic between your desktop and the server can pick
up this password. This is why, by default, Red Hat has disabled this
ability. 

Root logins over ssh are controlled in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file. If
you ever wanted to disable remote root logins over ssh (another good
idea) set the following:

PermitRootLogins no

And then restart sshd. 

# /etc/init.d/sshd restart

--
Fred Chagnon [fchagnon at loyalty.com]
Senior UNIX Administrator, 
AIR MILES(r) Reward Program

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