passwd command core dumps

[teqmem]

I have an AIX 4.3.3 machine which has not been used for awhile. Now, when I use the passwd command (as either root or a regular user), the passwd command core dumps as shown below.

Changing password for "test"
test's New password:
Enter the new password again:
Illegal instruction(coredump)

I verified software installation and requisites (lppchk -v) and didn't detect any errors. fsck checked out fine.

Has anybody seen and corrected this error?

Thanks in advance for any reply.

 

[MoshiachNow]

Try running all following commands in sequence :

usrck –y ALL
pwdck –y ALL
grpck –y ALL
mkpasswd -f
lssec -f /etc/security/user -s macuser -a ALL


Long live king Moshiach !

http://www.7for70.com/

 

[teqmem]

Sorry but the commands listed above didn't generate any errors but the problem is still there.

 

[hfaix]

Have you tried fully qualifing the passwd command, just to be sure you aren't pulling a bogus passwd "script" with a bad path?

/usr/bin/passwd

 

[teqmem]

I just ran it with a fully qualified path and it's the real thing that's core dumping.

 

[RodKnowlton]

Does it do this no matter what user's password you're trying to change?

Does pwdadm work?


Rod Knowlton
IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert pSeries and AIX 5L
CompTIA Linux+
CompTIA Security+

 

[teqmem]

It doen't matter if root changes its password or root changes another user's password. It always core dumps.

I tried pwdadm with either '-c' or '-f' parameter but it also core dumps as shown below. I tried on other users too besides test.

# pwdadm -f ADMCHG test
Illegal instruction(coredump)
# pwdadm -f ADMIN test
Illegal instruction(coredump)
# pwdadm -c test
Illegal instruction(coredump)
# pwdadm -q test
test:

 

[kHz]

What is the size of your passwd file? it sounds corrupted.
(it should be
-r-sr-xr-x 1 root security 17018 Mar 19 2001 /usr/bin/passwd

Have you tried a reboot, or fsck?

 

[teqmem]

The parameters for /usr/bin/passwd are the same as yours: file size, creation date, permissions, owner and group.

Just to be current, I just took down the server again to single user mode, ran fsck on all partitions then rebooted but the problem is still there. fsck didn't report any inconsistencies.

 

[kHz]

Any error messages? It could be a hardware exception.

 

[kHz]

Or it is a reserved addressing problem. Which a reboot would correct.

 

[kHz]

Read signal.h

It is most likely a SIGILL. Default action is an "Abnormal Termination of Process."

The signal code would identify what happened (e.g., ILL_ILLADR [illegal addressing], ILL_PRVREG [privileged register], etc.)

 

[teqmem]

Sorry I forgot to check the error report. Here's what reported for the 'passwd' program. I'll try to research what all the symptoms mean. If you know what they mean at the top of you head, please advise. Thanks.

To respond to the last response, I have rebooted.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LABEL: CORE_DUMP
IDENTIFIER: C60BB505

Date/Time: Thu Dec 16 10:30:17
Sequence Number: 798
Machine Id: 004095444C00
Node Id: aieadev
Class: S
Type: PERM
Resource Name: SYSPROC

Description
SOFTWARE PROGRAM ABNORMALLY TERMINATED

Probable Causes
SOFTWARE PROGRAM

User Causes
USER GENERATED SIGNAL

Recommended Actions
CORRECT THEN RETRY

Failure Causes
SOFTWARE PROGRAM

Recommended Actions
RERUN THE APPLICATION PROGRAM
IF PROBLEM PERSISTS THEN DO THE FOLLOWING
CONTACT APPROPRIATE SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

Detail Data
SIGNAL NUMBER
4
USER'S PROCESS ID:
21492
FILE SYSTEM SERIAL NUMBER
5
INODE NUMBER
2
PROGRAM NAME
passwd
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
_copy_nul 0
_copy_fie 2CC
_build_wr 328
_commit_s FC
_commit_a 20C
_commit_a A4
_commit_u D8
putuserat 634
putuserpw 120
putuserpw 1C
_system_c 1B4
chpass D04
setpass 98
main 248
__start 8C

Symptom Data
REPORTABLE
1
INTERNAL ERROR
1
SYMPTOM CODE
PIDS/5765c3403 LVLS/430 PCSS/SPI2 FLDS/passwd SIG/4 FLDS/_copy_fie VALU/2cc
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[polani]

Dear,
Run lppchk -c to see any checksum errors if present in s/w vital product data...



Here comes polani Once again!!!

P690 Certified Specailist
HACMP & AIX Certified Specailist
AIX & HACCMP Instructor

 

[kHz]

Reading the symptom code it is a SIGILL 4 - illegal instruction.

Did a reboot correct the problem?

 

[teqmem]

I just wrote a script to do an 'lppchk -c' on all the installed filesets but no checksum error was reported.

I rebooted before I tried again to get the errpt message above. Rebooting didn't solve the problem.

 

[kHz]

If you have another AIX 4.3.3 machine that has the same maint level, I would copy the passwd executable. Or use your lppsource or CDs and reinstall the bos.rte.security fileset (probably better option than the copy, though).