HP OpenVMS Systems

Finding a User's (Text) Password?

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The Question is:

 
How can I recover a System Password Lost ?
 

The Answer is :

 
  The OpenVMS password hashing mechanism is deliberately
  a non-reversible hashing function (as differentiated from
  a reversible scheme based on encryption), and there is no
  mechanism available -- short of a brute-force security
  attack on the hashed password value, of course -- to
  retrieve a user's password based on the hashed password
  value.
 
  OpenVMS first hashes the text password into a quadword
  value, then compares this value against the saved value
  that was hashed from the original password -- the text
  value of the password is not maintained nor stored.
 
  Assuming you wish to reset the password for the SYSTEM
  or other username, either use the AUTHORIZE utility to
  reset the password (from another privileged username),
  or use the directions for breaking into the OpenVMS
  system that are included in the OpenVMS FAQ and in the
  OpenVMS documentation.
 

  

     

     
answer written or last revised on ( 13-MAR-2001 )
     
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