So, in my attempt to prevent the default ubuntu
user from logging in, and to prevent the default sudo user me
from logging in with a password, and thus enforcing to use the private key, I managed to lock me
out, unable to perform any sudo commands.
Here's what happened.
I ran these commands to prevent ubuntu
from logging in, and to lock me
's password.
sudo usermod -s /usr/sbin/nologin ubuntu
sudo passwd -l me
However, I forgot to add me ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
to the /etc/sudoers.d/me
beforehand. And now, even though I can still login as me
with the private key, I can't execute any sudo
, because it prompts for a password, and the previous password no longer works. I can't login as ubuntu
, the other sudoer, and so I am basically stuck.
Executing passwd
as me
prompts for the current password, which does not exist.
How do I get myself out of this situation? Do I have terminate this box and reinstall? This is not happening on my personal box. This is running on AWS. It's not quite a big of an issue to spin new instances, but I'd like to see if there's an alternative.