About rw init=/bin/bash

Posted by triedtoomuck on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by triedtoomuck
Published on 2012-03-18T16:52:10Z Indexed on 2012/03/18 18:01 UTC
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Filed under:

bash

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kernel

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grub

I am a linux newbie so excuse me if I ask silly things.

I recently find out that if I edit GRUB before booting and I add rw init=/bin/bash I end up with a root shell.

Being in a condition that I want to understand everything I would like to know why this happens. I mean is it a bug? is it a feature? is it there to help admins to fix things as it only works if you have physical access to a computer?

Which part are we exploiting? GRUB or the actual kernel?

Sorry for asking a lot of things.

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