Sudo without password bug

[reedlaw]

I had been using sudo like normal for a long while now, when suddenly I boot up today and discover that sudo is running everything immediately after the command, without asking for the root password. I am running Hoary and I apply all the synaptic updates everyday. Even when I open update-manager or synaptic, instead of the usual gksudo pop-up window that promts me for the root password I get no password prompt and the application opens. I am worried about the security implications of this and am not sure what changed in the updates that I applied to cause this behavior.

[reedlaw]

Originally Posted by reedlaw I had been using sudo like normal for a long while now, when suddenly I boot up today and discover that sudo is running everything immediately after the command, without asking for the root password. I am running Hoary and I apply all the synaptic updates everyday. Even when I open update-manager or synaptic, instead of the usual gksudo pop-up window that promts me for the root password I get no password prompt and the application opens. I am worried about the security implications of this and am not sure what changed in the updates that I applied to cause this behavior.

Anyone else get this problem yet? I still am not asked the root password for any activity. I can run any command simply by prefixing sudo to it. I tried logging into the root account with the original root password and it doesn't allow me to. Do I need to change my root password? What about this Ubuntu system is making sudo run without a password?

[HungSquirrel]

Does this happen every single time, or does it sometimes ask for a password and sometimes not? Sudo has a timeout (I believe the default is five minutes) during which time you don't need to re-enter your password every time you do a sudo command; you need only enter it the first time.

Of course, if it's not asking at all, then you have a major problem that needs to be addressed!

[Roptaty]

What is the contents of /etc/sudoers file?

[reedlaw]

Originally Posted by Roptaty What is the contents of /etc/sudoers file?

here is /etc/sudoers

# sudoers file. # # This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root. # # See the man page for details on how to write a sudoers file.# # Host alias specification # User alias specification # Cmnd alias specification # Defaults Defaults !lecture,tty_tickets # User privilege specification root ALL=(ALL) ALL # Added by Ubuntu installer reed ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL

Sudo is not asking for a password all the time. From the moment I log in I can open update-manager, synaptic, etc. all without supplying the superuser password.

Edit: Looking at the file I guessed that removing the NOPASSWD would do the trick and it did. Thanks for the suggestions. I still wonder how that got there in the first place.

[smarttaz]

Originally Posted by reedlaw I had been using sudo like normal for a long while now, when suddenly I boot up today and discover that sudo is running everything immediately after the command, without asking for the root password. I am running Hoary and I apply all the synaptic updates everyday. Even when I open update-manager or synaptic, instead of the usual gksudo pop-up window that promts me for the root password I get no password prompt and the application opens. I am worried about the security implications of this and am not sure what changed in the updates that I applied to cause this behavior.

Read the thread http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthre...ghlight=visudo for a GOOD answer.

Change with visudo in the file /etc/sudoers, the line:

Defaults		!lecture,tty_tickets

with:

Defaults		!lecture,tty_tickets,timestamp_timeout=0

or:

Defaults		!lecture,!tty_tickets

because of (from the sudoers manpage):

timestamp_timeout
Number of minutes that can elapse before sudo will ask for a passwd again. The default is 5. Set this to 0 to always prompt for a password. If set to a value less than 0 the user's timestamp will never expire. This can be used to allow users to create or delete their own timestamps via sudo -v and sudo -k respectively.

[rb1235]

i have the reverse problem, i need to be root but cannot.

[Xgates]

Yeah its great when you can just type --> 'sudo -s' and hit enter, and then you are at the root prompt without the need for a password, man talk about ---> ZERO SECURITY!

Tisk Tisk Ubuntu Team --->

[Spudgun]

You still need a password to do that.

[harisund]

Why does your last line readreed
ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL
I think that is why you are not asked for a password