Tales of an AIX system

[Christos Ricudis]

Hello All!

Opws kserete merikoi apo esas, tous teleytaious mhnes exw mia mania na 
syllegw palia UNIX workstations. Mia kai eimai kairo xamenos apo th lista, 
apofasisa na sas dihgh8w merikes omorfes istories orismenwn apo ta 
mhxanhmata poy exw sto dwmatio moy ayth th stigmh. 

Ektos loipon apo to latreyto moy PC, gyrw moy briskontai : 

Allo ena PC se kommatia,
Ena SUN IPX, 
Ena DECStation 5000/150,
Ena HP 9000/720,
Ena HP 9000/710,
Mia kenh 8esh poy katalambane to HP 9000/712 poy twra exei h arrabwniastikia
moy :>
Ena VAXStation 3100,
Akoma ena VAXStation 3100,
Ena IBM RT-PC,
Ena SGI Indigo,
Ena IBM RS/6000 model 370,
Ena SUN Ultra 1,
Merika termatika, terminal servers, orismena mhxanhmata akoma poy de metrane 
san unix workstations, paroti fysika trexoyn unix, apeiroi diskoi, assorted 
eksarthmata apo ta parapanw mhxanhmata, plhktrologia, pontikia, mnhmes, ktl 
ktl ktl. 

Einai fysiko, me toso eksoplismo gyrw moy, na exw sylleksei apeires 
endiaferoyses sysadmin istories, orismenes apo tis opoies nomizw pws hr8e
h wra na moirastw mazi sas. 

Shmera loipon 8a sas dihgh8w thn istoria toy proteleytaioy sth lista katoikoy
toy dwmatiou moy, enos IBM RS/6000 model 370. 

To mhxanhma eftase sto dwmatio moy se ena eymege8es kouti, paragemismeno me ta
pio plakatzidika ylika syskeyasias poy exw dei pote moy - kati plastika
maksilarakia fouskwmena me aera. Dystyxws, ektos apo ta pio plakatzidika
einai kai ta pio anapotelesmatika, gegonos poy se syndiasmo me thn parathrhsh
oti h IBM gemizei ta mhxanhmata ths plastikes proeksoxes poy exoyn san 
monadikh toys leitourgikothta na spane kata th metafora twn mhxanhmatwn, 
synetelese sto na exei orismena elafra kosmhtika problhmata to mhxanhma, 
poy dior8w8hkan me ligh dynath kolla. 

Meta apo to aparaithto inspection, ekswteriko kai eswteriko, toy mhxanhmatos, 
diapistwnoyme oti o graphics adaptor toy mhxanhmatos synergazetai apsoga 
me ena VGA monitor - exei malista DB15 connector - me ton periorismo ths 
monoxrwmias, poy mas anagkazei na blepoyme ta panta se ena teleio tono toy
prasinou (ola ta monoxrwma monitors odhgoyntai apo to prasino shma, poy 
dystyxws merikes fores perilambanei kai to shma xronismou - alla ayth einai 
mia allh tragikh sysadmin istoria poy 8a sas dihgh8w se epomeno article). 

Syndeoume diktyo, reyma, ki ena VT420 sthn seiriakh toy mhxanhmatos, kai 
shkwnoyme ton gnwsto kokkino diakopth ths IBM, poy sth sygkekrimenh periptwsh
tyxainei na einai aspros. 

Mia paren8esh edw. PANTA kanw reinstall to leitourgiko sta mhxanhmata
poy pairnw, alla POTE prin kanw boot kai inspect to mhxanhma me o,ti moy 
exei er8ei epanw, estw kai mono logw akadhmaikou endiaferontos. Einai fobero
to ti ksexnane panw sta metaxeirismena mhxanhmata poy diwxnoun. To prwto 
mhxanhma ths listas (to SUN IPX) anhke kapote se ena kybernhtiko idryma 
twn hnwmenwn politeiwn, kai perieixe diafora mails ksexasmena, home 
directories me files, ktl ktl. To DECStation 5000 anhke sto gnwsto Fraunhofer
Institute (exw kai ta sxetika licenses ths Digital), alla den perieixe 
dystyxws tipote endiaferon. 

Etsi loipon, dokimazoume na kanoume boot to RS/6000 poy molis apokthsame kai
diapistwnoyme oti : 

1) Epeidh h IBM ws gnwston exei mia ba8ia apex8eia pros otidhpote to an8rwpinws
katanohto, kanena RS/6000 (oute to RT-PC poy apotelei progono toy) den 
parousiazei ta klassika startup diagnostic messages sthn konsola toy 
systhmatos. An 8eleis na katalabeis ti kanei to mhxanhma prin ftasei sto 
shmeio na fortwsei to leitoyrgiko systhma (h ta diagnwstika, analogws me th 
8esh sthn opoia brisketai to key), aplws parakoloy8eis ena 3-digit display 
me noumera poy enallasontai se mia akoloy8ia, kai me to manual sto xeri 
prospa8eis na breis ti shmainei to ka8e tripshfio noumero prin to systhma
prolabei na metaphdhsei sto epomeno state - kati poy oso dyskolo ki an
fainetai, sthn pragmatikothta einai arketa eykolo, mia poy to gamhdi to 
model 370 kanei toulaxiston gia 10 lepta ayth th diadikasia prin arxisei 
na fortwnei to leitourgiko. 

2) To AIX den exei single user mode, me thn paradosiakh ennoia toylaxiston. 
Bebaia, se polla systhmata den einai eykolo na mpeis mesa ama kleidw8eis 
apeksw, alla toylaxiston yparei kapoio single user mode available xwris 
thn anagkh na exeis proxeiro ena media kit. E, edw den yparxei. Xreiazesai 
opwsdhpote ena media kit, to opoio den hr8e mazi me to mhxanhma. 

Pws, loipon, mpainoume se ena systhma toy opoioy den exoume oute root password,

oute media kits, oute dynatothta na kanoume mount to JFS allou? 

Kata to booting, parathroume oti to systhma prospa8ei na kanei mount diafora 
remote filesystems, kai kollaei se ena atermono loop prospa8wntas na brei ton 
NIS server toy. Einai eygenestato wstoso, kai mas plhroforei gia to NIS
domain toy. Afou 8elei enan NIS server loipon, den exoume para na to 
promh8eysoume me enan. To IP toy to pairnoyme eygenika me to tcpdump, 
bazoume ena alias sto eth0 mas kai trexoyme ton yp server mas me dika mas 
fysika maps. 

To diaskedastiko s'ayto to shmeio einai oti to mhxanhma exei ena real IP to 
opoio ginetai resolve sto DNS kai etsi ma8ainoume oti sto grafeio mas ka8etai 
ayto poy kapote htan to ares.Physik.Uni-Mainz.DE. Koitwntas malista ta
geitonika
IP's diapistwnoyme oti to ares proerxetai apo ton 8eo Arh, kai oxi opws 8a 
ypopsiazomastan apo to 'ares mares kukunares'. 

Voila, to systhma bgainei apo to atermono loop, kai synexizei to boot, gia na 
pesei pali se kapoio atermono loop pou den kanei ton kopo oyte na mas 
plhroforhsei gia to poio einai. 

Eytyxws, s'ayto to shmeio exei hdh shkwsei ton inetd, opote proseyxomaste na
einai uncommented to telnet line, kai dokimazoume. Wpa, petyxame diana kai 
blepoyme to ekneyristikotato banner toy AIX (nai, ekeino poy sou ka8arizei 
olo to monitor prin soy bgalei to login prompt).

Merikes dokimes akoma mexri na petyxoyme sto NIS ena shell kai ena home
directory poy yparxei, kai eimaste mesa sto systhma, fysika san aplos
unpriviledged user. 

Apo ekei, mexri to # prompt, einai aplws merika clicks sto www.rootshell.com, 
kai h epilogh toy exploit poy 8a doulepsei sto sygkekrimeno systhma :>. (sthn 
periptwsh moy htan to lquerylv.c, leitourgei apsoga sto AIX 3.2.5, albeit 
designed for AIX 4.2).

Kai ta ypoloipa, einai aplws sapoynofouskes......

--
Christos Ricudis

Stolise ki esy ena dentro gia tis giortes.
Kremase twra ena papa. Mporeis.