[Novalug] Unable to change roots password

[Ed James]

Nick,

    I have a vague memory of a *nix system where stuff like that
can only be done when logged in at the local console - ie, ya
gotta be at the keyboard plugged into the *nix machine.  Prolly
some silly security thing.

Ed James

Quoting Nick Danger <nick at hackermonkey.com>:

> I can connect to this server, and I can su to root (CentOS box) but
> oddly I cannot change roots password.
>
> [root at host ~]# passwd
> Changing password for user root.
> New UNIX password:
> Retype new UNIX password:
> passwd: Authentication failure
> [root at host ~]#
>
> Anyone ever seen that before?