fscom switch shell

fs.com s5850 and s8050 series type switches have a secret mode which lets you enter a regular shell from the switch cli, like so:

hostname # start shell
Password:

The command and password are not documented by the manufacturer, i wondered wether if its possible to extract that password from the firmware. After all: its my device, and i want to have access to all the features!

Download the latest firmware image for those switch types and let binwalk do its magic:

$ wget https://img-en.fs.com/file/user_manual/s5850-and-s8050-series-switches-fsos-v7-2-5r-software.zip
binwalk FSOS-S5850-v7.2.5.r.bin  -e

This will extract an regular cpio archive, including the switch root FS:

$ file 2344D4 
2344D4: ASCII cpio archive (SVR4 with no CRC)
$ cpio --no-absolute-filenames -idv < 2344D4

The extracted files include the passwd file with hashes:

cat etc/passwd
root:$1$ZrdxfwMZ$1xAj.S6emtA7gWD7iwmmm/:0:0:root:/root:/bin/sh
nms:$1$nUbsGtA7$5omXOHPNK.ZzNd5KeekUq/:0:0:root:/ftp:/bin/sh

Let john do its job:

$ wget https://github.com/brannondorsey/naive-hashcat/releases/download/data/rockyou.txt
$ sudo john etc/passwd  --wordlist=rockyou.txt
<the_password>   (nms)
<the_password>   (root)
2g 0:00:04:03 100% 0.008220g/s 58931p/s 58935c/s 58935C/s nancy..!*!hahaha!*!

Thats it (wont reveal the password here, but well: its an easy one ;))

Now have fun poking around on your switches firmware:

hostname # start shell
Password: <the_password>
[root@hostname /mnt/flash]$ ps axw
  PID TTY      STAT   TIME COMMAND
    1 ?        Ss     0:29 init
    2 ?        S      0:06 [kthreadd]
 [..]
[root@hostname /mnt/flash]$ uname -a
Linux hostname 2.6.35-svn37723 #1 Thu Aug 22 20:43:19 CST 2019 ppc unknow

even tho the good things wont work, but i guess its time to update the firmware anyways:

[root@hostname /mnt/flash]$ tcpdump -pni vlan250
tcpdump: can't get TPACKET_V3 header len on packet socket: Invalid argument

Written on March 10, 2022