Passwd file

[T. William Wells]

In article <3474 at altos86.Altos.COM> uunet!ncar.UCAR.EDU!boulder!fred!bobk (Bob Kinne) writes:
: What is the purpose of the following /etc/passwd entry?
:
: ::0:0:::    (null login, password, and shell)

There is no purpose to it, unless some hacker put it in to allow
anyone root access.

Generally, it is created by a bug in the software. Here is a way that
is reputed to create such a line: edit the /etc/passwd file and put a
blank line in it. Then run passwd to change a password.

Your milage may vary.

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Bill                    { uunet | novavax | ankh | sunvice } !twwells!bill
bill at twwells.com