RPM (Red Hat Package Manager)

• “Maximum RPM: Taking the Red Hat Package Manager to the Limit” – http://www.rpm.org/max-rpm/index.html

Misc

• Interogating packages:
  • rpm -qa = lists installed packages
  • rpm -redhatrequires cron
  • rpm -redhatprovides cron
  • rpm -qpR cron *
• Installing packages: -i = –install
  • rpm -i package1 package2 … = rpm –install package1 package2 …
  • rpm -i -nodeps package1 package2 … = install packages without their dependencies
  • rpm -U package1 package2 … = installs the latest versions of packages = updates the packages
• Remove packages: -e
  • rpm -e package1 package2 …
  • rpm -e –force package1 … = forces uninstallation without regards for remaining dependency constraints
  • rpm -e –nodeps package1 …

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Sites

• rpm – Trac – http://www.rpm.org/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPM_Package_Managera

Enforcing password virtues in Linux

• “Linux: Prevent From Using Or Reuse Same Old Passwords” by Vivek Gite – http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/how-to-linux-prevent-the-reuse-of-old-passwords.html
• A very clear article: “Linux Password Security with pam_cracklib” by Hal Pomeranz – http://www.deer-run.com/~hal/sysadmin/pam_cracklib.html
• “System Authentication using LDAP” by Brad Marshall (Plugged In Software) – http://quark.humbug.org.au/publications/ldap/system_auth/sage-au/system_auth.html

John the Ripper

Places

• Home – http://www.openwall.com/john/
• Custom binary builds, by various users – http://openwall.info/wiki/john/custom-builds

Simple dictionary-based cracking

For Linux systems, the hashed passwords are contained in the /etc/shadow file. To use John the ripper, one needs both that file and /etc/passwd.

• Unshadowing:
  ./unshadow.exe passwd.txt shadow.txt > passwd-unshadowed.txt
• To run John against the unshadowed password file passwdFile-unshadowed.txt using the predefined word-list mywords.lst, run
  following:
  ./john.exe –wordlist=mywords.lst passwd-unshadowed.txt
• To see the cracked passwords run:
  ./john.exe –show passwdFile-unshadowed.txt
• and to save that file:
  ./john.exe –show passwdFile-unshadowed.txt > passwdFile-cracked.txt

Articles

• “Linux Password Cracking: Explain unshadow and john commands ( john the ripper tool )” by Vivek Gite (UnixCraft) – http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/unix-linux-password-cracking-john-the-ripper/
• “Cracking OpenVMS passwords with John the Ripper” by Jean-loup Gailly – http://gailly.net/security/john-VMS-readme.html
  • John the Ripper v1.3.6 source package patched to include OpenVMS SYSUAF.DAT files parsing – http://gailly.net/security/john-VMS-readme.html. It compiles well on Cygwin.
• So far, John does not work for SHA hashes. A patch allowing one to do this is presented at:
  • “Re: “No password hashes loaded” on Ubuntu 9.04″ by Solar Designer (2009.09.02) – http://www.openwall.com/lists/john-users/2009/09/02/3
  • “Crack Password with John the Ripper on Ubuntu 9.10” by Junjun Mao (2010.02.01) – http://pka.engr.ccny.cuny.edu/~jmao/node/26

  This patch allows use of John against SSH type hashes, but requires running John on the same type of system (i.e. unix system that supports the same hashes in logon authentication module).

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Related here: Default passwords, wordlist and Rainbow tables – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/default-passwords/ | Passwords cracking – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/password-crackers/

Unix links

• “The UNIX Programmer’s Manual” online: http://man.freetechsecrets.com/
• “The Unix-Haters Handbook”: http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/weise/uhh-download.html
• “10 Tools To Add Some Spice To Your UNIX Shell Scripts” by Vivek Gite: http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/spice-up-your-unix-linux-shell-scripts.html
• Rosetta Stone for Unix:
  • http://www.pafumi.net/Unix_Command_Translator.html
  • http://www.talisman.org/unix/rosetta.shtml
  • http://bhami.com/rosetta.html
  • http://www.scribd.com/doc/31467371/Rosetta-Stone-For-Unix
• http://www.talisman.org/unix/:
  • Rosetta stone: http://www.talisman.org/unix/rosetta.shtml
  • A list of unix books: http://www.talisman.org/unix/books.shtml
• UnixGuide’s table of commands across various unix flavors: http://www.unixguide.net/unixguide.shtml
• http://www.pafumi.net/
• UNIX Shell Scripting Articles (at SHELLdorado): http://www.shelldorado.com/articles/
• http://www.zazzybob.com/
• Hal Pomeranz – http://www.deer-run.com/~hal/
• LXer – http://lxer.com/ (Linux News: The world is talking about GNU/Linux and Free/Open Source Software)
• RootPrompt.org – an unix-themed wiki – http://rootprompt.org/
• Linux.org.uk by Alan Cox – http://www.linux.org.uk/
• LWN.net – http://lwn.net/
• Freshmeat – http://freshmeat.net/
• LinuxDevices – http://linuxdevices.com/
• DesktopLinux.com – http://www.desktoplinux.com/</li
• Linux Gazette – http://www.linuxgazette.net/
• Free Software Magazine – http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/
• OSDir.com @ O’Reilly Network – http://www.osdir.com/
• LinuxQuestions.org – http://www.linuxquestions.org/
• LinuxForums.org – http://www.linuxforums.org/
• LinuxHomepage.com – http://linuxhomepage.com/
• MobileTechNews.com – http://www.mobiletechnews.com/
• USENIX – http://www.usenix.org/
• “My SysAd” Blog – http://swik.net/Unix/My+SysAd+Blog
• *nixShell blog – http://nixshell.wordpress.com/

Unix humor

• “Nine traits of the veteran Unix admin” by Paul Venezia (InfoWorld; 2011.02.14) – http://www.infoworld.com/t/unix/nine-traits-the-veteran-unix-admin-276
  • “Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin” by Soulskill (SlashDot; 2011.02.14) – http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/02/14/2357242/Common-Traits-of-the-Veteran-Unix-Admin
• Dilbert & Unix 2002-04-22 09:01am – http://www.perturb.org/display/entry/462/