You’re in the front of a Linux computer, you need a root access. What do you do?

Re:You’re in the front of a Linux computer, you need a root ... by pif on Monday April 15, 2013 @10:09AM (#5551534)

If you find the LILO prompt instead of the GRUB screen, use the option "init=/bin/sh" instead.

As already pointed, this is not an attacking method, but just a recovery method. From the POV of security, getting physical access to the console is already bad.

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Re:You’re in the front of a Linux computer, you need a root ... by jolenzy on Monday April 15, 2013 @10:15AM (#5551561)

Of course, totally agree. Yes, thanks for the LILO tip.

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Re:You’re in the front of a Linux computer, you need a root ... by peterwwillis on Monday April 15, 2013 @11:13AM (#5551897)

This is the best method. Use whatever boot loader you have (and you can provide your own via CD, USB, PXE, floppy, etc) to add a kernel argument to run a shell as init process. `mount -av` once booted should bring the filesystems in line.

If you find the BIOS is locked, the drive is encrypted, or you can't run your own bootloader (or edit theirs), use a DMA [1][2] or cold boot [3] attack. This should be the first thing you attempt if the machine is already booted up, in case the drive is encrypted. (Also trying a network attack using metasploit before trying the cold boot attack might net results)

  [1] http://www.breaknenter.org/projects/inception/
  [2] https://github.com/mrbreaker/mofo
  [3] http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine/cold-boot-attack-tools-linux

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