[ubuntu-uk] Creating 'root' account. (sudo, recovery mode)

[Adam Funk]

On 2007-08-07, Paul Sladen wrote:

> On a default Ubuntu with the root account locked, selecting "(recovery
> mode)" will drop one straight to a root shell, without requiring a password.
>
> The idea behind this is simple;  the only time time that somebody really
> needs to do some form of recovery, is when the machine is in a very bad
> state.  Handling a really broken machine/forgotten password is a stressful
> experience---the least that can be done is to optimise the recovery
> operation by getting a user what they need, fast and efficiently.

Isn't that a bit of a security hole?  

I realize that having physical access to a machine means that
ultimately you could open it up and clear the BIOS password in order
to boot from a live CD, but that takes a lot more time than just
rebooting and picking "recovery mode" from the GRUB menu to get root
access.

Of course, the GRUB menu can be password-protected, but that goes
against the stress-reducing theory of making it easy to get into
rescue mode.