XK0-005 Question #169: Real Exam Question with Answer & Explanation

The correct answer is A: pam_tally2 --user=user --reset. To unlock a user account that has been locked due to too many failed password attempts on a Linux system, the administrator needs to reset the PAM authentication failure counter.

Security

Question

A user has been locked out of an account due to too many failed password attempts. Which of the following commands will unlock the user's account?

Options

Apam_tally2 --user=user --reset
Bpasswd -u user -G root
Cusermod -u user -G root
Dchage -1 user=user --reset

Explanation

To unlock a user account that has been locked due to too many failed password attempts on a Linux system, the administrator needs to reset the PAM authentication failure counter.

Common mistakes.

B. passwd -u is used to unlock a password, not an account locked by PAM due to failed attempts, and -G root is for adding a user to a group, which is irrelevant here.
C. usermod -u changes a user's UID, and -G root changes their primary group, neither of which unlocks an account.
D. chage is used to modify password expiry information; the options provided are not valid for unlocking an account.

Concept tested. Linux user account lockout management with PAM

Reference. https://linux.die.net/man/8/pam_tally2

Topics

#User account management#PAM#Security administration#Linux commands

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