Ubuntu Manpage: pam_unix - Module for traditional password authentication

Provided by: libpam-modules_1.1.8-3.6ubuntu2.18.04.6_amd64

NAME

       pam_unix - Module for traditional password authentication

SYNOPSIS

       pam_unix.so [...]

DESCRIPTION

This is the standard Unix authentication module. It uses standard calls from the system's
libraries to retrieve and set account information as well as authentication. Usually this
is obtained from the /etc/passwd and the /etc/shadow file as well if shadow is enabled.

The account component performs the task of establishing the status of the user's account
and password based on the following shadow elements: expire, last_change, max_change,
min_change, warn_change. In the case of the latter, it may offer advice to the user on
changing their password or, through the PAM_AUTHTOKEN_REQD return, delay giving service to
the user until they have established a new password. The entries listed above are
documented in the shadow(5) manual page. Should the user's record not contain one or more
of these entries, the corresponding shadow check is not performed.

The authentication component performs the task of checking the users credentials
(password). The default action of this module is to not permit the user access to a
service if their official password is blank.

A helper binary, unix_chkpwd(8), is provided to check the user's password when it is
stored in a read protected database. This binary is very simple and will only check the
password of the user invoking it. It is called transparently on behalf of the user by the
authenticating component of this module. In this way it is possible for applications like
xlock(1) to work without being setuid-root. The module, by default, will temporarily turn
off SIGCHLD handling for the duration of execution of the helper binary. This is generally
the right thing to do, as many applications are not prepared to handle this signal from a
child they didn't know was fork()d. The noreap module argument can be used to suppress
this temporary shielding and may be needed for use with certain applications.

The maximum length of a password supported by the pam_unix module via the helper binary is
PAM_MAX_RESP_SIZE - currently 512 bytes. The rest of the password provided by the
conversation function to the module will be ignored.

The password component of this module performs the task of updating the user's password.
The default encryption hash is taken from the ENCRYPT_METHOD variable from /etc/login.defs

The session component of this module logs when a user logins or leave the system.

Remaining arguments, supported by others functions of this module, are silently ignored.
Other arguments are logged as errors through syslog(3).

OPTIONS

debug
Turns on debugging via syslog(3).

audit
A little more extreme than debug.

nullok
The default action of this module is to not permit the user access to a service if
their official password is blank. The nullok argument overrides this default and
allows any user with a blank password to access the service.

nullok_secure
The default action of this module is to not permit the user access to a service if
their official password is blank. The nullok_secure argument overrides this default
and allows any user with a blank password to access the service as long as the value
of PAM_TTY is set to one of the values found in /etc/securetty.

try_first_pass
Before prompting the user for their password, the module first tries the previous
stacked module's password in case that satisfies this module as well.

use_first_pass
The argument use_first_pass forces the module to use a previous stacked modules
password and will never prompt the user - if no password is available or the password
is not appropriate, the user will be denied access.

nodelay
This argument can be used to discourage the authentication component from requesting a
delay should the authentication as a whole fail. The default action is for the module
to request a delay-on-failure of the order of two second.

use_authtok
When password changing enforce the module to set the new password to the one provided
by a previously stacked password module (this is used in the example of the stacking
of the pam_cracklib module documented below).

not_set_pass
This argument is used to inform the module that it is not to pay attention to/make
available the old or new passwords from/to other (stacked) password modules.

nis
NIS RPC is used for setting new passwords.

remember=n
The last n passwords for each user are saved in /etc/security/opasswd in order to
force password change history and keep the user from alternating between the same
password too frequently. Instead of this option the pam_pwhistory module should be
used.

shadow
Try to maintain a shadow based system.

md5
When a user changes their password next, encrypt it with the MD5 algorithm.

bigcrypt
When a user changes their password next, encrypt it with the DEC C2 algorithm.

sha256
When a user changes their password next, encrypt it with the SHA256 algorithm. If the
SHA256 algorithm is not known to the crypt(3) function, fall back to MD5.

sha512
When a user changes their password next, encrypt it with the SHA512 algorithm. If the
SHA512 algorithm is not known to the crypt(3) function, fall back to MD5.

blowfish
When a user changes their password next, encrypt it with the blowfish algorithm. If
the blowfish algorithm is not known to the crypt(3) function, fall back to MD5.

rounds=n
Set the optional number of rounds of the SHA256, SHA512 and blowfish password hashing
algorithms to n.

broken_shadow
Ignore errors reading shadow information for users in the account management module.

minlen=n
Set a minimum password length of n characters. The default value is 6. The maximum for
DES crypt-based passwords is 8 characters.

obscure
Enable some extra checks on password strength. These checks are based on the "obscure"
checks in the original shadow package. The behavior is similar to the pam_cracklib
module, but for non-dictionary-based checks. The following checks are implemented:

Palindrome
Verifies that the new password is not a palindrome of (i.e., the reverse of) the
previous one.

Case Change Only
Verifies that the new password isn't the same as the old one with a change of
case.

Similar
Verifies that the new password isn't too much like the previous one.

Simple
Is the new password too simple? This is based on the length of the password and
the number of different types of characters (alpha, numeric, etc.) used.

Rotated
Is the new password a rotated version of the old password? (E.g., "billy" and
"illyb")

Invalid arguments are logged with syslog(3).

MODULE TYPES PROVIDED

       All module types (account, auth, password and session) are provided.

RETURN VALUES

       PAM_IGNORE
           Ignore this module.

EXAMPLES

       An example usage for /etc/pam.d/login would be:

           # Authenticate the user
           auth       required   pam_unix.so
           # Ensure users account and password are still active
           account    required   pam_unix.so
           # Change the users password, but at first check the strength
           # with pam_cracklib(8)
           password   required   pam_cracklib.so retry=3 minlen=6 difok=3
           password   required   pam_unix.so use_authtok nullok md5
           session    required   pam_unix.so

AUTHOR

       pam_unix was written by various people.