login password different from sudo password?

[Fizz]

HI all-

As i understand things, in Mint (and Ubuntu) doesn't have a password for root. It is always locked. So to do things requiring elevated privelges, you use the password of your user account. How do other flavors of linux compare in this- still use user password or the root password?

In Mint, is it possible to have one password for logging into the system, and another password that is used for elevated priveleges (like sudo or su, updates, new installs, etc)? Seems like it would be a simple step for extra security.

Just curious. Thanks!

-Fizz

[rene]

su already needs a different password, the root password, i.e., the password of user "root", but as to sudo, yes, possible: you can set the rootpw, targetpw or runaspw options: see man sudoers. The same you can setup for polkit-based authentication, the authentication as used by most/all GUI tools, simply by throwing out unix-group:sudo from its AdminIdentities; sudo mv /etc/polkit-1/localauthority.conf.d/51-ubuntu-admin.conf{,.disabled}. Note for onlookers: of course best don't idly try that without having set a root password first.

Whether or not it actually gains you anything real I'll leave up to you to decide. I would find not.

[Pjotr]

In Mint, is it possible to have one password for logging into the system, and another password that is used for elevated priveleges (like sudo or su, updates, new installs, etc)? Seems like it would be a simple step for extra security.

A simple step for extra complexity. Not for extra security.

My advice: don't do that. Just go with the flow. You might find this article interesting, that I've written about security in Linux Mint and Ubuntu:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... urity.html

[Fizz]

su already needs a different password, the root password, i.e., the password of user "root",

Hmmm... in the pinned thread about passwords, it says that the root password is the same as that for the first user. It didn't seem like it could be changed.

A simple step for extra complexity. Not for extra security.

I don't have need for super-security (no secret rocket plans or anything), but after reading the pinned thread about passwords i got curious. I was thinking that if someone figured out my login password, then having a separate sudo password would help keep critical things safe.

-Fizz

[Hoser Rob]

su already needs a different password, the root password, i.e., the password of user "root",

Hmmm... in the pinned thread about passwords, it says that the root password is the same as that for the first user. It didn't seem like it could be changed.

Um, I doubt that. Read it again.

A simple step for extra complexity. Not for extra security.

I don't have need for super-security (no secret rocket plans or anything), but after reading the pinned thread about passwords i got curious. I was thinking that if someone figured out my login password, then having a separate sudo password would help keep critical things safe.

Um, no. You don't need a root password for security.

And if you are using a root password, the OS will assume you know EXACTLY what you're doing and let you completely trash your system with zero warning. In serious multiuser Linux/Unix setups, there's only one person with a root password, and that's the head sysadmin. There's a reason that Ubuntu/Mint, which are beginner oriented, do not set a root password by default.

[Fizz]

Hmmm... in the pinned thread about passwords, it says that the root password is the same as that for the first user. It didn't seem like it could be changed.

Um, I doubt that. Read it again.

Yep. i did. There is a line that says:

By default, on Linux Mint, the root password is the same as the password of the first user created (password chosen during the installation).

And i don't see anything that says it can be changed.

That said, i'm sure the instructions that rene gave in his reply to me would work.


-Fizz

[rene]

Hmmm... in the pinned thread about passwords, it says that the root password is the same as that for the first user. It didn't seem like it could be changed.

The root password being set the same as the first user's used to be the case on Mint but was abandoned semi-recently (Mint 19? 18?) with Mint from that point on following upstream Ubuntu's ways of not by default setting a root password at all. It is any case trivial to change/set: sudo passwd root. I do that to e.g. have access to a root-login on a virtual console, the Ctrl-Alt-F<n> text-terminals, but not as a "security" measure.

If you ping the author of the pinned post you refer to he or she may agree that it's better to change the wording.

[jonau01]

linux mint 19 you can sudo su using your password (the same one that you use to sudo + command>. So root password and your password is the same.

We can argue all day long between su and sudo su, but the end result is the same : you become root.

However you can not login using root with the defaut installation.

[rene]

linux mint 19 you can sudo su using your password (the same one that you use to sudo + command>. So root password and your password is the same.

No. sudo as described by default asks for the invoking user's password and makes you become root. You therefore then invoke su as root and hence need no password. If you still disagree: sudo passwd root and set it to something of your liking different from your user password and just try.