up vote 10 down vote favorite

I am logged in on a server via sshkey (ssh -i /home/me/.ssh/ssh-key me@server).

I got sudo rights on that server from the admin, but I can't exercise them, since I forgot my actual Unix password (or I was never told it). I am already logged on - can I reset my password via passwd, without knowing my old password?

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1  
Sorry, but I doubt it. Ask the admin to reset it for you and change it. – Kevin Nov 30 '11 at 15:12
    
Yes, I figured - thanks. – nhoening Nov 30 '11 at 15:37
1  
Gah! I even tried passwd --sysadmin-is-a-new-dad and it still didn't work! – Michael Scheper Dec 18 '14 at 3:56
    
I was looking for to do the same thing,... easiest is to reboot in single user mode if you have physical access to the machine. I followed this doc vultr.com/docs/boot-into-single-user-mode-reset-root-passwor‌​d – shigazaru Sep 11 '16 at 21:42
up vote 7 down vote accepted

I'm afraid you're going to have to ask your sysadmin to supply you with a new password. RSA key authentication is accepted by SSH, but not by the passwd command.

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up vote 1 down vote

password cannot be changed with passwd command unless authentication service is from local files (refer /etc/nsswitch.conf). If your login is network based, admin is for rescue and since sudo is generally used in network'd environments, its better you get it reset as you are solely accountable & responsible for your own account's security.

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up vote -3 down vote

Absolutely. Presuming, that is, that you have permission to change your own password in the first place.

Are you experiencing difficulty when attempting to make the change?

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The difficulty is that I'm being asked for the old password and I don't know it. – nhoening Nov 30 '11 at 15:37
    
@nhoening - Ah yes, well that will be tricky. I had forgotten that you do not have your current password. It may still be possible to leverage sudo if the configuration allows passwordless use of the passwd command, although this is unlikely to be the case. – Tok Nov 30 '11 at 16:49

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