diff --git a/source3/acconfig.h b/source3/acconfig.h
index 00c14ca97b7..eb49d436972 100644
--- a/source3/acconfig.h
+++ b/source3/acconfig.h
@@ -186,6 +186,8 @@
 #undef STAT_ST_BLOCKSIZE
 #undef HAVE_DEVICE_MAJOR_FN
 #undef HAVE_DEVICE_MINOR_FN
+#undef HAVE_PASSWD_PW_COMMENT
+#undef HAVE_PASSWD_PW_AGE
 /*
  * Add these definitions to allow VFS modules to
  * see the CPPFLAGS defines.
diff --git a/source3/configure.in b/source3/configure.in
index bbfdc2e382a..98065944490 100644
--- a/source3/configure.in
+++ b/source3/configure.in
@@ -2665,6 +2665,33 @@ AC_SUBST(WINBIND_PAM_TARGETS)
 AC_SUBST(WINBIND_NSS_EXTRA_OBJS)
 AC_SUBST(WINBIND_NSS_EXTRA_LIBS)
 
+# Solaris has some extra fields in struct passwd that need to be
+# initialised otherwise nscd crashes.  Unfortunately autoconf < 2.50
+# doesn't have the AC_CHECK_MEMBER macro which would be handy for checking
+# this. 
+
+#AC_CHECK_MEMBER(struct passwd.pw_comment,
+#		AC_DEFINE(HAVE_PASSWD_PW_COMMENT, 1, [Defined if struct passwd has pw_comment field]),
+#		[#include <pwd.h>])
+
+AC_CACHE_CHECK([whether struct passwd has pw_comment],samba_cv_passwd_pw_comment, [
+    AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <pwd.h>],[struct passwd p; p.pw_comment;],
+	samba_cv_passwd_pw_comment=yes,samba_cv_passwd_pw_comment=no)])
+if test x"$samba_cv_passwd_pw_comment" = x"yes"; then
+   AC_DEFINE(HAVE_PASSWD_PW_COMMENT)
+fi
+
+#AC_CHECK_MEMBER(struct passwd.pw_age,
+#		AC_DEFINE(HAVE_PASSWD_PW_AGE, 1, [Defined if struct passwd has pw_age field]),
+#		[#include <pwd.h>])
+
+AC_CACHE_CHECK([whether struct passwd has pw_age],samba_cv_passwd_pw_age, [
+    AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <pwd.h>],[struct passwd p; p.pw_age;],
+	samba_cv_passwd_pw_age=yes,samba_cv_passwd_pw_age=no)])
+if test x"$samba_cv_passwd_pw_age" = x"yes"; then
+   AC_DEFINE(HAVE_PASSWD_PW_AGE)
+fi
+
 #################################################
 # Check to see if we should use the included popt 
 
diff --git a/source3/include/config.h.in b/source3/include/config.h.in
index 7328d022c1a..8dc7dd6cf88 100644
--- a/source3/include/config.h.in
+++ b/source3/include/config.h.in
@@ -252,6 +252,8 @@
 #undef STAT_ST_BLOCKSIZE
 #undef HAVE_DEVICE_MAJOR_FN
 #undef HAVE_DEVICE_MINOR_FN
+#undef HAVE_PASSWD_PW_COMMENT
+#undef HAVE_PASSWD_PW_AGE
 /*
  * Add these definitions to allow VFS modules to
  * see the CPPFLAGS defines.
diff --git a/source3/nsswitch/winbind_nss.c b/source3/nsswitch/winbind_nss.c
index 0a49f5ec968..a396e5551bc 100644
--- a/source3/nsswitch/winbind_nss.c
+++ b/source3/nsswitch/winbind_nss.c
@@ -659,6 +659,17 @@ static NSS_STATUS fill_pwent(struct passwd *result,
 
 	strcpy(result->pw_shell, pw->pw_shell);
 
+	/* The struct passwd for Solaris has some extra fields which must
+	   be initialised or nscd crashes. */
+
+#if HAVE_PASSWD_PW_COMMENT
+	result->pw_comment = "";
+#endif
+
+#if HAVE_PASSWD_PW_AGE
+	result->pw_age = "";
+#endif
+
 	return NSS_STATUS_SUCCESS;
 }