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2008-08-22

Undocumented ALTER USER command to restore encrypted password

There is an undocumented ALTER USER command in Oracle database

Oracle user password is encrypted in view DBA_USERS.PASSWORD. Under many situation, administrators require to perform some task using those user. A work around is to change the password temporary and change it back after use. This apply when dropping database link.
  1. Retrieve and noted encrypted password from DBA_USERS.PASSWORD. Says its value is BE4321DD479FE6AB
  2. Change to user password using alter user iccs identified by iccsdba;
  3. Login with new password: connect iccs/iccsdba
  4. After work is done. change the password back: alter user iccs identified by values 'BE4321DD479FE6AB'

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