Find another Sudoers Password

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Is there any way that an administrator could find out the password to another administrator or even non administrator's account?



I've made an oops and forgotten the password I used to use for a few of my machines. I don't want to reset from grub/recovery mode at every box, it would be more helpful to find out that password and keep using it for security reasons.



Worst case scenario I will reset the passwords, but this is not the question, I know how to do that. Yes or no is the format I would genuinely prefer.










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  • No. It would make no sense if one user (admin or not) could easily find paswords of other users.
    – mikewhatever
    Feb 9 at 21:57










  • Related: askubuntu.com/q/383057/367990
    – Byte Commander
    Feb 9 at 22:20










  • Not entirely certain why I got downvoted but anyway yes it would defeat the purpose and technically yes you can decrypt a hash btw so long as you know it's derivation which seeing as linux is entirely opensource I don't see why not. Good news- passwords recalled! Getting too old for this stuff.
    – Tmanok
    Feb 13 at 19:58














up vote
-1
down vote

favorite












Is there any way that an administrator could find out the password to another administrator or even non administrator's account?



I've made an oops and forgotten the password I used to use for a few of my machines. I don't want to reset from grub/recovery mode at every box, it would be more helpful to find out that password and keep using it for security reasons.



Worst case scenario I will reset the passwords, but this is not the question, I know how to do that. Yes or no is the format I would genuinely prefer.










share|improve this question























  • No. It would make no sense if one user (admin or not) could easily find paswords of other users.
    – mikewhatever
    Feb 9 at 21:57










  • Related: askubuntu.com/q/383057/367990
    – Byte Commander
    Feb 9 at 22:20










  • Not entirely certain why I got downvoted but anyway yes it would defeat the purpose and technically yes you can decrypt a hash btw so long as you know it's derivation which seeing as linux is entirely opensource I don't see why not. Good news- passwords recalled! Getting too old for this stuff.
    – Tmanok
    Feb 13 at 19:58












up vote
-1
down vote

favorite









up vote
-1
down vote

favorite











Is there any way that an administrator could find out the password to another administrator or even non administrator's account?



I've made an oops and forgotten the password I used to use for a few of my machines. I don't want to reset from grub/recovery mode at every box, it would be more helpful to find out that password and keep using it for security reasons.



Worst case scenario I will reset the passwords, but this is not the question, I know how to do that. Yes or no is the format I would genuinely prefer.










share|improve this question















Is there any way that an administrator could find out the password to another administrator or even non administrator's account?



I've made an oops and forgotten the password I used to use for a few of my machines. I don't want to reset from grub/recovery mode at every box, it would be more helpful to find out that password and keep using it for security reasons.



Worst case scenario I will reset the passwords, but this is not the question, I know how to do that. Yes or no is the format I would genuinely prefer.







sudo password security administrator






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edited Feb 9 at 21:56









Byte Commander

59.8k26159269




59.8k26159269










asked Feb 9 at 21:47









Tmanok

155




155











  • No. It would make no sense if one user (admin or not) could easily find paswords of other users.
    – mikewhatever
    Feb 9 at 21:57










  • Related: askubuntu.com/q/383057/367990
    – Byte Commander
    Feb 9 at 22:20










  • Not entirely certain why I got downvoted but anyway yes it would defeat the purpose and technically yes you can decrypt a hash btw so long as you know it's derivation which seeing as linux is entirely opensource I don't see why not. Good news- passwords recalled! Getting too old for this stuff.
    – Tmanok
    Feb 13 at 19:58
















  • No. It would make no sense if one user (admin or not) could easily find paswords of other users.
    – mikewhatever
    Feb 9 at 21:57










  • Related: askubuntu.com/q/383057/367990
    – Byte Commander
    Feb 9 at 22:20










  • Not entirely certain why I got downvoted but anyway yes it would defeat the purpose and technically yes you can decrypt a hash btw so long as you know it's derivation which seeing as linux is entirely opensource I don't see why not. Good news- passwords recalled! Getting too old for this stuff.
    – Tmanok
    Feb 13 at 19:58















No. It would make no sense if one user (admin or not) could easily find paswords of other users.
– mikewhatever
Feb 9 at 21:57




No. It would make no sense if one user (admin or not) could easily find paswords of other users.
– mikewhatever
Feb 9 at 21:57












Related: askubuntu.com/q/383057/367990
– Byte Commander
Feb 9 at 22:20




Related: askubuntu.com/q/383057/367990
– Byte Commander
Feb 9 at 22:20












Not entirely certain why I got downvoted but anyway yes it would defeat the purpose and technically yes you can decrypt a hash btw so long as you know it's derivation which seeing as linux is entirely opensource I don't see why not. Good news- passwords recalled! Getting too old for this stuff.
– Tmanok
Feb 13 at 19:58




Not entirely certain why I got downvoted but anyway yes it would defeat the purpose and technically yes you can decrypt a hash btw so long as you know it's derivation which seeing as linux is entirely opensource I don't see why not. Good news- passwords recalled! Getting too old for this stuff.
– Tmanok
Feb 13 at 19:58










3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
1
down vote



accepted










On Ubuntu, user passwords are not stored in a feasibly recoverable format, but as hashes.



To be more specific, they are salted and hashed using SHA-512, and the result is stored in /etc/shadow. On a running system, also only root may read this file, but of course if you mount the disk in a different system, it can be read by anyone.



Back to the hash, it's not really possible to reverse the hashing process and recover the original password from it. So against mathematical recovery, the passwords are safe.



However, one can "simply" brute-force it and try all possible passwords until one fits. Intelligent attackers would use dictionaries and try real words and common derivations of these first, as they have a higher probability to be used by humans. This will of course take some time, depending on computational power and length/complexity of the password. SHA512 is just a strong cryptographic hash though, but not a special password hash with extra large computation effort, like e.g. bcrypt or PBKDF2, so it's probably possible to find a rather short password within more or less reasonable time.



So no, you can not recover your password directly, but yes, if you spend enough time and computation power, you can just try until you find it.






share|improve this answer




















  • Thank you Byte Commander, I appreciate the insight and yes I suppose it would make sense that a brute force would be quicker than de-hashing the key. SHA512 does have some limitations in SHA2 but I assume Ubuntu is up to date using SHA3 which hasn't been compromised by the public yet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2#Comparison_of_SHA_functions
    – Tmanok
    Feb 13 at 20:02

















up vote
1
down vote













No .. the password hash generation is a one way process. You can't reveres the hash to clear text password.






share|improve this answer



























    up vote
    0
    down vote













    No. Ubuntu uses a secure algorithm and a salt. This makes it near impossible to find the password, unless it's very weak. If you know the format of the password (e.g. aAaaa#111) it's more trivial to crack. Hashcat is the goto password cracker - but even that may take some significant time.



    If another person has access to sudo on the machines, they can reset the password for you. sudo passwd username will change the password for username - without asking for the old password.






    share|improve this answer




















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      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes








      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes








      up vote
      1
      down vote



      accepted










      On Ubuntu, user passwords are not stored in a feasibly recoverable format, but as hashes.



      To be more specific, they are salted and hashed using SHA-512, and the result is stored in /etc/shadow. On a running system, also only root may read this file, but of course if you mount the disk in a different system, it can be read by anyone.



      Back to the hash, it's not really possible to reverse the hashing process and recover the original password from it. So against mathematical recovery, the passwords are safe.



      However, one can "simply" brute-force it and try all possible passwords until one fits. Intelligent attackers would use dictionaries and try real words and common derivations of these first, as they have a higher probability to be used by humans. This will of course take some time, depending on computational power and length/complexity of the password. SHA512 is just a strong cryptographic hash though, but not a special password hash with extra large computation effort, like e.g. bcrypt or PBKDF2, so it's probably possible to find a rather short password within more or less reasonable time.



      So no, you can not recover your password directly, but yes, if you spend enough time and computation power, you can just try until you find it.






      share|improve this answer




















      • Thank you Byte Commander, I appreciate the insight and yes I suppose it would make sense that a brute force would be quicker than de-hashing the key. SHA512 does have some limitations in SHA2 but I assume Ubuntu is up to date using SHA3 which hasn't been compromised by the public yet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2#Comparison_of_SHA_functions
        – Tmanok
        Feb 13 at 20:02














      up vote
      1
      down vote



      accepted










      On Ubuntu, user passwords are not stored in a feasibly recoverable format, but as hashes.



      To be more specific, they are salted and hashed using SHA-512, and the result is stored in /etc/shadow. On a running system, also only root may read this file, but of course if you mount the disk in a different system, it can be read by anyone.



      Back to the hash, it's not really possible to reverse the hashing process and recover the original password from it. So against mathematical recovery, the passwords are safe.



      However, one can "simply" brute-force it and try all possible passwords until one fits. Intelligent attackers would use dictionaries and try real words and common derivations of these first, as they have a higher probability to be used by humans. This will of course take some time, depending on computational power and length/complexity of the password. SHA512 is just a strong cryptographic hash though, but not a special password hash with extra large computation effort, like e.g. bcrypt or PBKDF2, so it's probably possible to find a rather short password within more or less reasonable time.



      So no, you can not recover your password directly, but yes, if you spend enough time and computation power, you can just try until you find it.






      share|improve this answer




















      • Thank you Byte Commander, I appreciate the insight and yes I suppose it would make sense that a brute force would be quicker than de-hashing the key. SHA512 does have some limitations in SHA2 but I assume Ubuntu is up to date using SHA3 which hasn't been compromised by the public yet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2#Comparison_of_SHA_functions
        – Tmanok
        Feb 13 at 20:02












      up vote
      1
      down vote



      accepted







      up vote
      1
      down vote



      accepted






      On Ubuntu, user passwords are not stored in a feasibly recoverable format, but as hashes.



      To be more specific, they are salted and hashed using SHA-512, and the result is stored in /etc/shadow. On a running system, also only root may read this file, but of course if you mount the disk in a different system, it can be read by anyone.



      Back to the hash, it's not really possible to reverse the hashing process and recover the original password from it. So against mathematical recovery, the passwords are safe.



      However, one can "simply" brute-force it and try all possible passwords until one fits. Intelligent attackers would use dictionaries and try real words and common derivations of these first, as they have a higher probability to be used by humans. This will of course take some time, depending on computational power and length/complexity of the password. SHA512 is just a strong cryptographic hash though, but not a special password hash with extra large computation effort, like e.g. bcrypt or PBKDF2, so it's probably possible to find a rather short password within more or less reasonable time.



      So no, you can not recover your password directly, but yes, if you spend enough time and computation power, you can just try until you find it.






      share|improve this answer












      On Ubuntu, user passwords are not stored in a feasibly recoverable format, but as hashes.



      To be more specific, they are salted and hashed using SHA-512, and the result is stored in /etc/shadow. On a running system, also only root may read this file, but of course if you mount the disk in a different system, it can be read by anyone.



      Back to the hash, it's not really possible to reverse the hashing process and recover the original password from it. So against mathematical recovery, the passwords are safe.



      However, one can "simply" brute-force it and try all possible passwords until one fits. Intelligent attackers would use dictionaries and try real words and common derivations of these first, as they have a higher probability to be used by humans. This will of course take some time, depending on computational power and length/complexity of the password. SHA512 is just a strong cryptographic hash though, but not a special password hash with extra large computation effort, like e.g. bcrypt or PBKDF2, so it's probably possible to find a rather short password within more or less reasonable time.



      So no, you can not recover your password directly, but yes, if you spend enough time and computation power, you can just try until you find it.







      share|improve this answer












      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer










      answered Feb 9 at 22:19









      Byte Commander

      59.8k26159269




      59.8k26159269











      • Thank you Byte Commander, I appreciate the insight and yes I suppose it would make sense that a brute force would be quicker than de-hashing the key. SHA512 does have some limitations in SHA2 but I assume Ubuntu is up to date using SHA3 which hasn't been compromised by the public yet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2#Comparison_of_SHA_functions
        – Tmanok
        Feb 13 at 20:02
















      • Thank you Byte Commander, I appreciate the insight and yes I suppose it would make sense that a brute force would be quicker than de-hashing the key. SHA512 does have some limitations in SHA2 but I assume Ubuntu is up to date using SHA3 which hasn't been compromised by the public yet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2#Comparison_of_SHA_functions
        – Tmanok
        Feb 13 at 20:02















      Thank you Byte Commander, I appreciate the insight and yes I suppose it would make sense that a brute force would be quicker than de-hashing the key. SHA512 does have some limitations in SHA2 but I assume Ubuntu is up to date using SHA3 which hasn't been compromised by the public yet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2#Comparison_of_SHA_functions
      – Tmanok
      Feb 13 at 20:02




      Thank you Byte Commander, I appreciate the insight and yes I suppose it would make sense that a brute force would be quicker than de-hashing the key. SHA512 does have some limitations in SHA2 but I assume Ubuntu is up to date using SHA3 which hasn't been compromised by the public yet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2#Comparison_of_SHA_functions
      – Tmanok
      Feb 13 at 20:02












      up vote
      1
      down vote













      No .. the password hash generation is a one way process. You can't reveres the hash to clear text password.






      share|improve this answer
























        up vote
        1
        down vote













        No .. the password hash generation is a one way process. You can't reveres the hash to clear text password.






        share|improve this answer






















          up vote
          1
          down vote










          up vote
          1
          down vote









          No .. the password hash generation is a one way process. You can't reveres the hash to clear text password.






          share|improve this answer












          No .. the password hash generation is a one way process. You can't reveres the hash to clear text password.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Feb 9 at 21:56









          Soren A

          3,0671724




          3,0671724




















              up vote
              0
              down vote













              No. Ubuntu uses a secure algorithm and a salt. This makes it near impossible to find the password, unless it's very weak. If you know the format of the password (e.g. aAaaa#111) it's more trivial to crack. Hashcat is the goto password cracker - but even that may take some significant time.



              If another person has access to sudo on the machines, they can reset the password for you. sudo passwd username will change the password for username - without asking for the old password.






              share|improve this answer
























                up vote
                0
                down vote













                No. Ubuntu uses a secure algorithm and a salt. This makes it near impossible to find the password, unless it's very weak. If you know the format of the password (e.g. aAaaa#111) it's more trivial to crack. Hashcat is the goto password cracker - but even that may take some significant time.



                If another person has access to sudo on the machines, they can reset the password for you. sudo passwd username will change the password for username - without asking for the old password.






                share|improve this answer






















                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote









                  No. Ubuntu uses a secure algorithm and a salt. This makes it near impossible to find the password, unless it's very weak. If you know the format of the password (e.g. aAaaa#111) it's more trivial to crack. Hashcat is the goto password cracker - but even that may take some significant time.



                  If another person has access to sudo on the machines, they can reset the password for you. sudo passwd username will change the password for username - without asking for the old password.






                  share|improve this answer












                  No. Ubuntu uses a secure algorithm and a salt. This makes it near impossible to find the password, unless it's very weak. If you know the format of the password (e.g. aAaaa#111) it's more trivial to crack. Hashcat is the goto password cracker - but even that may take some significant time.



                  If another person has access to sudo on the machines, they can reset the password for you. sudo passwd username will change the password for username - without asking for the old password.







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered Feb 9 at 22:20









                  vidarlo

                  7,24642140




                  7,24642140



























                       

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