su produces a "su: incorrect password' error with valid password
Issue
- Local users can no longer use 'su' command to get root rights.
- Only this generic message is generated in logs which is the same as supplying the wrong password:
Dec 14 16:49:57 testserver su(pam_unix)[23992]: authentication failure; logname=test uid=500 euid=500 tty=pts/2 ruser=test rhost= user=root
- If switch to account of the other user, it fails with a "password incorrect' error even the password is correct.
# su -
Password:
su: incorrect password</code>
Environment
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Subscriber exclusive content
A Red Hat subscription provides unlimited access to our knowledgebase of over 48,000 articles and solutions.
Welcome! Check out the Getting Started with Red Hat page for quick tours and guides for common tasks.
