How can I change the user's password over ssh connection (not via browser interface) on the UBNT (Ubiquity Network) device, more specifically airOS8 WA v8.x board?
I want to avoid the ridiculous restriction imposed by their web interface on the password complexity (the only thing they don't require in the password is the unicorn's blood). I don't feel comfortable with someone else telling me what my passwords should look like (for my own well being, of course), so I'd like to change it via ssh connection, where this restriction is not being imposed.
I followed the discussion on their forums, which is just a useless bike-shedding over the opinions if the developers should impose such restrictions (without the switch to turn that off) or not.
I found the way to do this and wanted to share with others, who need to do the same thing.
First, log in to your device over an ssh connection. Then, issue a passwd command to change your password. If you now just reboot your device, the new password won't be saved, so read on.
Next, you need to copy the new password hash to a file named /var/tmp/system.cfg. So, first, type cat /etc/passwd, to see the new password hash, which should look something like this:
ubnt:$1$ssssssss$hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh:0:0:Administrator:/etc/persistent:/bin/sh
where ssssssss is the Salt and hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh is the Hash of the new password. We need to copy all that to the /var/tmp/system.cfg file, so type:
vi /var/tmp/system.cfg and in there, find the line that starts with users.1.password= and change it to be like this (press 'I' for Insert operation):
users.1.password=$1$ssssssss$hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
where Salt and Hash will be something randomly generated. When you finish changing that line, press Escape key and then save/quit the file (pressing colon, 'w', 'q' and Enter key, like ':wq')
Once you're back in the shell, type save to save this configuration permanently and then type reboot to check if your password survived the reboot process.
That should be it.