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How can I reset the rsaadmin password on a vm server if I don't know the current password?

Question asked by Carla Bradley on Sep 5, 2017
Latest reply on May 31, 2019 by Jay Guillette

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The passwords for our test primary and replica box was changed. The replica box logs in fine, but the primary says the password is incorrect. I know how to reset it on a physical box, but these are VMs and I cannot log into it using single user mode. Is there a way to accomplish resetting the rsaadmin password without reloading the box with the ova file? This is test, so it's not as big of a deal if I need to do that, but I'd like to know in case this ever happens in production.

AM 8.2 SP1 Patch 3

Jay Guillette

Sep 5, 2017 10:32 AM

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Carla,

You have to break into Linux by interrupting the normal boot process on either the VM or Physical console, then booting a CD or DVD with a Linux distribution [you may need to add the DVD to the VM and use an .iso image],this will get you into Linux as root but on the DVD Linux not the Suse Linux from the primary disk.

You then can mount the RSA Linux disk and edit /etc/passwd with vi to blank out or erase the encrypted and unknown password for the rsaadmin Linux account.

Next time you boot the appliance normally there will be your rsaadmin account but it won't have a password, so you can get into Linux and change it.

There used to be a couple of KBs on this, but it was archived.

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Jay Guillette Sep 5, 2017 10:32 AM
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Carla,
You have to break into Linux by interrupting the normal boot process on either the VM or Physical console, then booting a CD or DVD with a Linux distribution [you may need to add the DVD to the VM and use an .iso image],this will get you into Linux as root but on the DVD Linux not the Suse Linux from the primary disk.
You then can mount the RSA Linux disk and edit /etc/passwd with vi to blank out or erase the encrypted and unknown password for the rsaadmin Linux account.
Next time you boot the appliance normally there will be your rsaadmin account but it won't have a password, so you can get into Linux and change it.
There used to be a couple of KBs on this, but it was archived.
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- Anthony Fualdes @ Jay Guillette on Nov 3, 2017 11:55 AM
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  Hi Jay,
  
  I'm interrested by KBs but I don't find them. Following an issue with a keepass software, I forget rsaadmin pasword and i need a solution without reinstalling.
  Thanks in advance.
  
  Anthony
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Charles Moran May 29, 2019 7:21 PM
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Has anyone tested the following rsaadmin password reset steps on AM 8.1.1.0
NOTE: If you have a virtual appliance you need to have VM console access to the system. If you have a hardware appliance you need to plug a keyboard and monitor directly into the hardware appliance.

1. Log into the Operations Console of the system you need to edit.

2. Select Maintenance -> Reboot Appliance. Be sure to watch the reboot.

3. Go to the VM console or monitor view and wait for the system to reboot. Pay close attention here because the screen will turn green. It will default to the selection of Start RSA Authentication Manager [VMX]. Start typing to add boot options at the bottom of the screen.

4. Key in the following then press Enter to boot: init=/bin/sh

5. You will now be logged into the system as root.

Set the rsaadmin password

6. At the prompt, enter the following command: passwd rsaadmin

7. When prompted, enter the new password twice to confirm the password change.

8. When finished, reboot the system. Enter the following command: reboot

9. If the reboot command does not work, type quick_reboot instead. Enter the following command: quick_reboot
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- Jay Guillette @ Charles Moran on May 31, 2019 1:31 AM
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  I don't think AM 8.1 SP1 had that green screen, which is the Grub boot manager. So back in AM 8.1 you had to boot from a Linux installation .iso file, which might be something like the below modification to the commands you listed
  
  1. Log into the Operations Console of the system you need to edit.
  2. Select Maintenance -> Reboot Appliance. Be sure to watch the reboot.
  3. Go to the VM console or monitor view and wait for the system to reboot. Pay close attention here because the screen does not turn green, instead When you see the screen appear use the arrow keys to toggle between the options to startup and Power Off:
  It will default to the selection of Start RSA Authentication Manager [VMX]. Start typing to add boot options at the bottom of the screen.
  4. Add a CD/DVD Driver to the virtual SecurID Appliance using the Edit Settings of the image in the vSphere Client.
  Set the CD/DVD driver to boot from a bootable Linux ISO (e.g. Red Hat, CentOS, Ubuntu, SuSE). Under the Options tab, change the Boot Options and set a Power On Boot Delay of 10,000 (10 secs).
  Click OK when finished.
  Power on the SecurID Appliance and you have a 10 second delay to press the ESC key to enter the Boot Menu
  Select option 3 for the CD-ROM drive
  DO NOT Install this Linux, interrupt to Boot before Install starts so that ...
  If you used a RHEL 5.0 boot CD, Press F5 to perform a Rescue or Enter linux rescue
  - Choose a Language, Keyboard Type
  5. You will now be logged into the system as root.
  You may need to ‘chroot /mnt/sysimage’
  cp /etc/passwd /etc/passwd.OLD
  6. At the prompt, enter the following command: passwd rsaadmin
  7. When prompted, enter the new password twice to confirm the password change.
  8. When finished, reboot the system. Enter the following command: reboot
  9. reboot should work, if not try
  shutdown -r now
  Test new password
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How can I reset the rsaadmin password on a vm server if I don't know the current password?

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