[LAB IDEA] Lost Root Password

[HimanM]

Scenario Description

The user is locked out of the root account and sudo access is misconfigured. They must regain root access to the machine.

Root Cause

The root password was changed to an unknown value, and the sudoers file has a syntax error preventing the brokenops user from using sudo.

Setup Instructions

1. Change root password to a random string.
2. Introduce a syntax error in /etc/sudoers.

Expected Resolution Steps

1. Reboot the VM and interrupt the GRUB boot menu.
2. Edit the boot parameters to append init=/bin/bash or rd.break.
3. Boot into single-user mode/emergency shell.
4. Remount the root filesystem as read-write (mount -o remount,rw /).
5. Run visudo to fix the sudoers file, or run passwd to reset the root password.
6. Reboot normally.

[HimanM]

Implementation Proposal for Root Recovery Lab

As noted, most labs currently provision with root or full sudo access to facilitate verification and automated solutions. To support a 'Lost Root Password' scenario within the current architecture, I propose the following:

1. Metadata Addition: Add an optional field in \lab.yaml\ like \initial_access: restricted.
2. Provisioning Logic: When this flag is set, the backend could:
   • Create a standard user (e.g., \operator) without sudo privileges for the player's initial SSH session.
   • The \�erify.sh\ and \solution.sh\ would still run as root via the internal backend bypass (similar to how cloud-init runs) to ensure CI can pass.
3. The 'Break': The \cloud-init.yaml\ would set a random/unknown password for root and remove the \operator\ user from the sudoers group.
4. The Objective: The user must exploit a misconfiguration (e.g., a writable sensitive file, a setuid binary, or a sudo rule for a specific command like \�im\ or \ind) to regain root access.

This allows us to maintain the existing SSH-based verification while giving the player a true 'locked out' experience.