📖 ~1 min read
Table of contents
Symptom & Impact
User reports ‘You have not logged in for too long’ when authenticating.
Environment & Reproduction
AIX 7.2 default loginretries or maxage limits triggered for an account.
Root Cause Analysis
Failed login attempts or password age exceeded policy in /etc/security/user.
Quick Triage
Run lsuser -a unsuccessful_login_count account_locked USERNAME to see status.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis
Inspect /etc/security/lastlog and /etc/security/failedlogin for events.

Solution – Primary Fix
Reset with chsec -f /etc/security/lastlog -s USERNAME -a unsuccessful_login_count=0.
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Solution – Alternative Approaches
Unlock with chuser account_locked=false USERNAME if the lock flag is set.
Verification & Acceptance Criteria
lsuser confirms account_locked=false and the user authenticates successfully.
Rollback Plan
Re-lock the account with chuser account_locked=true USERNAME if needed.
Prevention & Hardening
Tune loginretries and maxage in /etc/security/user with the security team.
Related Errors & Cross-Refs
Often paired with audit AUTH events and pam_aix log entries.
Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for aix-7.2.
View all aix-7.2 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →
Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.
References & Further Reading
IBM Docs: chsec, chuser, /etc/security/user attributes.
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