IBM AIX 7.3 – Common Problem 87 – Diagnosis and Fix

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

SSH logins return account locked even after passwd reset.

Environment & Reproduction

Triggered by unsuccessful_login_count exceeding loginretries.

Root Cause Analysis

AIX user attributes block login while PAM still reports auth ok.

Quick Triage

Run lsuser -a account_locked unsuccessful_login_count user.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Check /etc/security/user stanza and recent /var/adm/sulog entries.

Solution – Primary Fix

Unlock with chuser account_locked=false unsuccessful_login_count=0 user.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Alternative: pwdadm -c user to clear the ADMCHG flag after reset.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Verify with lsuser user and a fresh ssh login that access works.

Rollback Plan

Document the change in /etc/security/audit/events for compliance.

Prevention & Hardening

Set loginretries reasonably (5) and pair with fail_delay tuning.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related: AUDIT failures and 3004-501 messages in syslog.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for aix-7.3.

View all aix-7.3 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

IBM Docs: chuser, lsuser, and AIX login control attributes.