On Wed, Feb 01, 2012 at 08:47:28AM -0800, Yasha Karant wrote:
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=636628
>
> Give root password for maintenance
> (or type Control-D to continue):
> 
> At this stage, at every second key stroke, it reports "Login incorrect." and
> repeats the above "Give root password...".
> 
> [boot a live image] and run "fsck.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg0-root" and reboot.


With a corrupted "/", it might be the safer option to boot from a live image
or from a recovery CD.

For one thing, the corruption may be related to problems with your RAID
arrays (you do have your "/" mirrored using RAID1, yes?) and you cannot work
a RAID array when booted from a filesystem on that same RAID array.

Some boot from a recovery CD, supplied with every SL release is probably a good idea.

Personally, I do not actually use a physical CD for this. I boot the recovery CD
over the network using PXE boot. All recent-vintage machines can PXE-boot,
and it is very easy to setup a PXE boot server for booting recovery images,
memtest, kickstart installations, etc.

> 
> The work-around you suggest is mentioned in the above URL; however,
> it appears to disable the root password under reboot failure --
> allowing anyone with physical access to a machine and sound
> knowledge to get root access.  Am I correct?
> 

Anyone with physical access to the machine can walk away with your disks,
or boot their own OS from a USB disk or from the network, and have root access
to all files without having to get root access. So you can safely assume
that for unfriendly purposes, having physical access is the same as knowing
the root password.

-- 
Konstantin Olchanski
Data Acquisition Systems: The Bytes Must Flow!
Email: olchansk-at-triumf-dot-ca
Snail mail: 4004 Wesbrook Mall, TRIUMF, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 2A3, Canada