> Source: [sk184017](https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk184017)

# sk184017 - Administrator account cloning fails on Spark Firewall 1800

| Property | Value |
|----------|-------|
| Solution ID | sk184017 |
| Date Created | 2025-10-13 |
| Last Modified | 2025-10-23 |
| Technical Level | Advanced |
| Products | Security Gateway |
| Versions | R82.10, R82, R81.20 |
| OS | Gaia |
| Platform | 1900, 1800 |

## Symptoms

- * When attempting to clone administrator accounts from one Quantum Spark 1800 appliance to another using the `add administrator` CLI command, the process fails with this error message: "*illegal characters in administrator password hash.*"

  Example command:

  ```
  clish> add administrator adminname password-hash 
  "$6$rounds=10000$hOPIPs7ktk5eK4HB$oP6L7oe5iZ/6s8PQrOLD5sX/cf.XaU3kA4wnAszUT.q93hEQ6QktOUyNpXwA5wYwLRqjEOvck83Z3Ze5MdNmv1"
  ```

* This error occurs even when using hashes generated by the target appliance. No relevant log entries are generated in */var/log/messages* when the error occurs.

* The issue is reproducible across Quantum Spark 1800 and 1900 appliances running firmware version R81.10.17 - Build 508.

## Cause

The show configuration output includes SHA-512 password hashes with added security features such as salt and rounds=1000.

However, the add administrator CLI command only supports basic SHA-512 hashes without these enhancements.

As a result, hashes containing salt or rounds parameters are rejected.

## Solution

This solution requires authentication. Please log in to view the full solution.

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