Reset Ubuntu root passwd in 10.04

After the BIOS  screen hold the SHIFT key (if Ubuntu is only OS) and you will get GRUB menu.

Select Recovery mode.

You will get a Meuu (Blue/Red), choose prompt with networking

Press enter

# passwd <user-name-here.

Photon+ on Ubuntu 10.04

Install these two packages:

# dpkg -i usb-modeswitch-data_20100826-1+squeeze0_all.deb

# dpkg -i usb-modeswitch_1.1.4-2_amd64.deb  (mine is 64-bit machine)

Check the output from # lsusb, it will show the Vendor & Product ID which is

ID 12d1:1446 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd

According to some websites you have to add ’140b’ under TargetProductList in /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/12d1:1446 but its already there, still the modem won’t connect. This command will do the trick

# usb_modeswitch -c /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/12d1:1446

in /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/12d1:1446 file the list line should read:

MessageContent=”55534243123456780000000000000011060000000000000000000000000000″

last thing the userid/pass is internet/internet.

Update VMWare tools on Backtrack 4 Final

Just installing new version on top of old won’t work. You have to:

1. Uninstall the vmware tools by command:
# vmware-uninstall-tools.pl

2. Restart comptuer by
# shutdown -r now

3. Mount the VMWare tools iso, extract it & run the installer

# mount /dev/cdrom3 /mnt/cdrom

# ./vmware-install.pl

4. Accept all the default values, choose the screen resolution which suits you. If your screen res is not in the list than select last one which has > sign.

5. Reconfigure your xserver by
# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

select no for the framebuffer

You can always reconfigure vmware tools by:
# vmware-config-tools.pl

Adjust the screen resolution from the Desktop settings.

Reset Administrator password in Mcafee Vulnerability Manager

Sometime back I installed MVA 7 on a test machine, didn’t use it for sometime and forgot the password. There is no option to reinstall, you have to remove it and install again. Nothing found on Mcafee support.  Finally reset it, here’s how:

Selected DB is faultline

1. select * from dbo.Users where Name=’administrator’

2. update dbo.Users set Password=’put encrypted hash here’ where name=’Administrator’

3. you may have to unlock the account: update dbo.Users set lockout=0 where name=’Administrator’

Password hash is SHA512.

Running WYD on Ubuntu 10.10

When you run wyd.pl you may get error:
Can’t locate object method “init” via package “wlgmod::doc” (perhaps you forgot to load “wlgmod::doc”?) at /root/tools/wyd/wyd.pl line 284.

wyd.pl is perl script and it needs some perl modules to parse the files. Here’s how to resolve:

1. Get OpenOffice::OOD
# perl -MCPAN -e shell
# install OpenOffice::OOD

2. Get catdoc from: http://mirror.amdmi3.ru/distfiles/
# tar xzvf catdoc-0.94.tar.gz
# ./configure
# make
# make install

3. Get jhead from: www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead
# tar xzvf jhead-latest.tar.gz
# cd jhead-2.90
# make

4. Get mp3info from: www.ibiblio.org/mp3info
# cd mp3info-0.8.5a
# make mp3info
# make install-mp3info

5. apt-get install libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev

pfSense-Some lifesaving tips

Today I was changing the pfSense webGUI port to https but it didn’t work and I was not able open the webGUI. Now this box is sitting hundreds of miles away with no remote support. Oh boy I thought wtf! why I did that. But now how to get it back, another problem which I forgot while changing to https is one instance of openVPN is also running on 443! Yeah I know TCP over TCP is bad choice but … So, then I started the troubleshooting:

I tried to disable the firewall:

# pfctl -d    —>                disable firewall rules
# pfctl -e    —>                turn the firewall back on
# pfctl -f /tmp/rules.debug  —> loaded ruleset

No luck

I thought of if I can somehow delete the instance of openVPN running on 443? Found the configuration files in /var/etc/ but no luck.

Than sometime back I read that pfSense stores its configuration in XML. Found it in /conf/config.xml. In /conf/backup/ there are old version of backup files. Opened it in vi and yes there it is in <webgui>, changed to http from https but still no GUI.

# sockstat  says no lighthttpd running

Tried reloading the webconfigurator option 11 in the menu still no port 80. How to reload the config.xml, I didn’t wanted to reload the machine. Instruction on reloading config.xml which is available here didn’t work.

Held my breath and pressed 5 (reboot) and webGUI is back.

phew….

PS: is there any way to restore the back via ssh?

Airtel IP TV

Sometime back I got the Airtel IP TV installed, since then I was thinking of writing a review.

Now I think I can write the review in just one line.

It really SUCKS bigtime.

Bhrigu Lake

This trek looks good and on 2nd day you reach altitude of about 4300mtrs.

This write-up on IndiaMike  has all the details. Briefly:

Day 01: Manali-Gulaba
Day 02: At Bhrighu Lake
Day 03: Bhrighu – Vashisht
Good camping sites – Pandu Ropa and Rola Kholi.

I will definitely do this if I am going to Manali.

Poles & Fabrics used in Tents

While searching the specs for a old Mountain Hardwear 3.1 Arch 4 season tent I came across many useful information about the material used in tents like poles, fabrics etc.

Poles

Main Manufactures

DAC (Dongah Aluminum Corporation): Used in TNF, Hilleberg & Seirra Design tents.

Easton: 7075-T9 Aluminum Tent Pole used in earlier Mountain Hardwear tents like Trango 3.1 Arch. Easton poles used by US army and in all expeditions on everest.

Yunan Aluminium: Atlas Tent poles used in all Mountain Hardwear tents.

More brands changed from Easton to DAC. Hilleberg changed from Easton to DAC. The specs of DAC are also slightly better than Easton. But just slightly… Scandium poles of Yunan have better specs than DAC but are a bit more heavy. Here’s a comparison chart from Mountain HW brochure:

Source for Tent Poles

Shelby for DAC, TentPoles Technologies for Easton, Quest Outfitters for Poles & other misc. items.

Now something on the Fabric used in the Tents

Nylon and Polyster are used for the fabrics. Tent Fabrics can have the following characteristics:

Denier (d): measures the weight of fabric in grams per 1000-meter length. So for instance, 60d signifies a weight of 60 grams per 1000 meter of the thread used in the fabric. Lightweight fabrics would be about 50d.

Water resistance (psi): measures the weight of water that can exert pressure on a square inch of the fabric without leaking. It is measured in pounds per square inch (psi). A good fly sheet would be 80psi.

• Denier (d): measures the weight of fabric in grams per 1000-meter length. So for instance, 60d signifies a weight of 60 grams per 1000 meter of the thread used in the fabric. Lightweight fabrics would be about 50d.
• Water resistance (psi): measures the weight of water that can exert pressure on a square inch of the fabric without leaking. It is measured in pounds per square inch (psi). A good fly sheet would be 80psi.

Tent covers/Fly sheet:

• Polyurethane Coating: This is coating applied on the tent fabric to make it more durable and waterproof. Multiple number of coatings or ‘passes’ determine the added protection but at the cost of extra weight.
• Waterproof/breathable laminates: Tent cover uses a layering system of different materials to form a strong and waterproof but breathable fabric. Common laminates are GoreTex, ToddText, Klimate, and MemBrain.
• Ripstop: This is a polyester taffeta with thicker threads weaved into the material at regular intervals. Thicker threads will prevent small rips in the Tent to get worse.
• Clear Film: This is a see through material often used for windows and skylights.

This link has some details on the tent material.

Nylon or Polyster:

Polyester fabrics perform better than nylon for moisture management because polyester is more hydrophobic. Nylon threads will absorb more water than Polyester, water requires more heat energy to warm than does air, so nylon will feel colder when wet, and stay wet longer, and when saturated impede breathability.

Mountain Hardwear uses Polyster in Fly Sheets, Seirra Designs uses Nylon more information on Fabrics at Seirra Designs

BTW: Mountain Hardwear was founded by people from Seirra Designs.

More on the trekking stuff later.

Testing a Website-Sandcat

I am doing a WebApp PenTest. I read in one post on Securitylemon about Sandcat scanner, I have worked on other commercial scanners like Appscan, Acunetix but thought of trying it.

After about ~2 hrs from starting the scanning (free edition) no vulnerabilities! What the hell! I did scanning from Appscan and Acunetix there were some vulnerabilities but none in Sandcat.

Why they make such crappy softwares?