sudo:timestamp too far in the future

[widyawan]

Dear all,

When I try to use sudo command, I got a message "sudo:timestamp too far in the future". I get this message after adjust date&time from XWindows panel.
I can not use sudo since then. I already reboot but still the error appear.
Any clue how to fix it?
Thanks b'fore

Widy

[johnc4510]

Open the adjust time and date again,
1.make sure it's set to 2006
2.Use the bottom tab to syncronize one time only with web.
Don't know if this will work, but a good place to start

It worked for me.

[widyawan]

Unfortunatelly it's not work. I 've faced this problem twice. I think my first problem arose from different cause, but I can not remember how.

[Mustard]

Try this command..

sudo -K

Then see if sudo starts working again.

[widyawan]

After I restarted the computer it's work for me.
Could someone explain to me why this is happen and how to prevent this sudo:timestamp happen again?
Thanks ...

[Mustard]

I believe its a security measure to stop a method of getting around certain security related restrictions by changing the date. To stop people from changing the date to use this 'exploit', sudo gives this message if the timestamp is 'too far into the future'. That's my vague explanation. I've read about it in detail a long time ago, but I don't recall the exact details. Basically if your clock is way out of sync and you change the date, this problem will occur. There are methods of fixing it, but they are not well documented on the wiki or in the forum atm. It might be an idea for someone to do the research and create a little HOW TO on how to resolve the issue.

[rivimont]

You should also be able to remove the user file in /var/run/sudo

I did this:
- su to root
- remove directory (rm -rf /var/run/sudo/username

Thats it. Hope this helps.

[Lil_Eagle]

I never encountered this until today. Unfortunately, it's impossible to su to root unless you already enabled the (by default disabled) root account.

To do that, you need to do sudo passwd, which of course you can't because it won't let you do sudo commands.

It is really annoying. I think this issue changed my opinion of the sudo vs. su debate that is continuing. I was editing my dchp settings, accidently forgot a semi-colon and now I can't change it!

I know I can reboot into the recovery console and fix it, but what is the point of having a stable system that doesn't need rebooting if you have to reboot it to fix a stupid error like this one. It has to be a bug.

One thing I will certainly do is enable the root account.

There is another point to this sudo vs. root that people do not take into consideration. People around you can see what passwords you type and if you have to type your own password to do administrative functions, then the chances are higher that others (family members for instance) will learn your password.

They have more opportunities to see you type it if you log in every time with the same password as you use for administrative tasks. Alas, because almost all of the functions are coded to work with sudo, even after enabling the root account you still have to type the sudoer's password to access funtions, unless of course your in a terminal.

[wizkrz]

I was able to get around this by doing the following:

1. Check the timestamp sudo reports (will look something like below).
sudo: timestamp too far in the future: Jun 17 08:17:55 2006

2. Use Adjust Date & Time to set the date/time to the sudo timestamp or later.

3. Execute the 'sudo -k' command. (Clears the timestamp).

4. Use Adjust Date & Time to set the date/time back to the correct values.

Worked for me!

peace!