Root user cannot ssh into FreeNAS / change passwd after upgrade

Upgraded FreeNAS in quick succession: 9.3 => 11.1 => 11.2 => 11.3

Had the following issues:

1. root user cannot ssh into FreeNAS using password (password denied, web UI was fine)
2. error changing root password using passwd from console (entry inconsistent / pam_chauthtok(): Error in service module)

Took the advise of verifying master.passwd using vipw, couldn’t save with error on line 34, which was:

media:*:8675309:8675309::0:0:Media User:/var/empty:/usr/sbin/nologin+:::::::::

Upgrade process somehow broke the master.passwd, split this line back into 2:

media:*:8675309:8675309::0:0:Media User:/var/empty:/usr/sbin/nologin

+:::::::::

And things go back to normal.

That line’s meaning according to man page:

The ‘+’ token may also be alone in the name field, which causes all users from either the Hesiod domain passwd (with ‘passwd_compat: dns’) or ‘passwd.byname’ and ‘passwd.byuid’ NIS maps (with ‘passwd_compat: nis’) to be included.