How could I bypass password history for a certain user in Red Hat Directory Server ?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

Red hat Directory Server 8.x
Red hat Directory Server 9.x

Issue

Need to bypass password history control of password policy.

Resolution

Root directory user, as mentioned, cannot bypass password policy. Password syntax and also password history control are always verified despite bind DN. But root directory user could eventually clean password history to let the mentioned action take place.

ldapmodify -ZZZ -D "cn=directory manager" -w <password> -h localhost
dn: uid=test01,ou=People,dc=**,dc=**,dc=**
changetype: modify
delete: passwordHistory

Root Cause

A user needs to exceptionally replace his password by a value already present in password history.

Diagnostic Steps

Example of a user trying to replace his password by a value already present in password history:

ldappasswd -h localhost -ZZZ -x -D "uid=test01,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com" -S -w ******** uid=test01,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
Result: Constraint violation (19)
Additional info: Failed to update password

Even if we try to do this with root directory server user we have the same error, since root user cannot by pass password policy:

ldappasswd -h localhost -ZZZ -x -D "cn=Directory Manager" -S -w ******** uid=test01,ou=People,dc=**,dc=**,dc=**
Result: Constraint violation (19)
Additional info: Failed to update password

We could use ldapmodify command with same result:

ldapmodify -h localhost -D "cn=directory manager" -w *******
dn: cn=user1050,o=redhat
changetype: modify
replace: userpassword
userpassword: <new password>

modifying entry "cn=user1050,o=redhat"
ldap_modify: Constraint violation (19)
    additional info: password in history

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