intecel

I remember a while back that there was a security hole in windows where you could get the admin password very easily by somehow pulling out the hash code, and then running a software piece that decrypted it.

A friend of mine owns a company and their network admin left, nobody knows the password to get into the server. They are basically screwed without being able to get into it.

Does anyone know how to do this? And if so, is this possible to do across the network or by booting the computer into dos with ntfs4dos?

Any help / ideas on this are appreciated.

Slavakion

Sure that's what happened...

But, um, there are a lot of tools for this. Knoppix std can do it, and there's a few that insert a blank pass for the admin account. I can't remember any off of the top of my head. Check out the third video at www.thebroken.org for pretty much a walkthrough.

neekap

Wingless

Whats great is when the computer help desk admin at your school forgets the admin password for your laptop and has to use one of those programs just happened to me afew days ago

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Tommy
Nibs is a funny word.
So here I am, above palm trees, so straight and tall...
You are, smaller getting smaller, but I still see... you.
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Hardknock

Nice tool. Thanks!

Pragma

This is the start - and finish - of NT/2K/XP/2K3 password issues. You boot off the disk, reset the password, and you're done.

The other alternative is you can boot off a disk, grab the SAM file, and devote a ton of time running L0pht Crack on it - but that's not really worth it.

Slavakion

Unless the NTFS system is encrypted, meaning that if you reset the password, everything goes to shit.

Is there a way to protect a computer from this (disc)? I don't expect people to break into my house, but if someone stole my laptop (once I get it this summer), he could just break in with this program. I don't know the whole mechanics of it, but I assume that once into the computer as admin, somebody could get into my user account despite a long password.

j8ear

Any other users configured as local admins on the server? If so they could reset the admin user's password.

I've always had great luck with ERD commander and a little utility it has called locksmith.

One issue I did run into is that if a policy exists on the server requiring strong passwords, the one you change too with locksmith must also satisfy that policy.

Good luck,

-bear

__________________
It's alot easier to ask for forgiveness then it is to ask for permission.

Pragma

Honestly, there's no way to secure a computer that an attacker has physical access to. If you tell it not to boot off removeable drives and secure the BIOS with a password, they can reset the BIOS by way of motherboard jumper. If you cut off the motherboard jumper, they can transfer the harddrive to a machine with duplicate hardware (with a functional jumper) and do it there.

If someone's determined to get into your machine, and they have physical access, they pretty much own it.

Slavakion

That's pretty much what I thought.

Note to self, buy laser-alarm cage for office