Provided by: nfs-common_2.6.2-4ubuntu1_amd64 bug

NAME

       rpc.gssd - RPCSEC_GSS daemon

SYNOPSIS

       rpc.gssd  [-DfMnlvrHC] [-k keytab] [-p pipefsdir] [-d ccachedir] [-t timeout] [-T timeout]
       [-U timeout] [-R realm]

INTRODUCTION

       The RPCSEC_GSS protocol, defined in RFC 5403, is used to provide strong security for  RPC-
       based protocols such as NFS.

       Before  exchanging  RPC  requests  using  RPCSEC_GSS,  an  RPC client must establish a GSS
       security context.  A security context is shared state on each end of a  network  transport
       that enables GSS-API security services.

       Security  contexts  are  established  using  security  credentials.   A  credential grants
       temporary access to a secure network service, much as a railway  ticket  grants  temporary
       access to use a rail service.

       A  user typically obtains a credential by providing a password to the kinit(1) command, or
       via a PAM library at login time.  A credential acquired with a user principal is known  as
       a user credential (see kerberos(1) for more on principals).

       Certain  operations  require a credential that represents no particular user or represents
       the host itself.  This kind of credential is called a machine credential.

       A host establishes its machine  credential  using  a  service  principal  whose  encrypted
       password  is  stored  in  a  local  file  known as a keytab.  A machine credential remains
       effective without user intervention as long as the host can renew it.

       Once obtained, credentials are typically stored in local temporary files  with  well-known
       pathnames.

DESCRIPTION

       To  establish  GSS  security  contexts  using these credential files, the Linux kernel RPC
       client depends on a userspace daemon  called  rpc.gssd.   The  rpc.gssd  daemon  uses  the
       rpc_pipefs filesystem to communicate with the kernel.

   User Credentials
       When  a  user  authenticates using a command such as kinit(1), the resulting credential is
       stored in a file with a well-known name constructed using the user's UID.

       To interact with an NFS server on behalf of a particular Kerberos-authenticated user,  the
       Linux  kernel  RPC  client  requests  that rpc.gssd initialize a security context with the
       credential in that user's credential file.

       Typically, credential files  are  placed  in  /tmp.   However,  rpc.gssd  can  search  for
       credential  files  in  more  than one directory.  See the description of the -d option for
       details.

   Machine Credentials
       rpc.gssd searches the default keytab, /etc/krb5.keytab,  in  the  following  order  for  a
       principal  and  password to use when establishing the machine credential.  For the search,
       rpc.gssd replaces <hostname> and <REALM> with the local  system's  hostname  and  Kerberos
       realm.

          <HOSTNAME>$@<REALM>
          root/<hostname>@<REALM>
          nfs/<hostname>@<REALM>
          host/<hostname>@<REALM>
          root/<anyname>@<REALM>
          nfs/<anyname>@<REALM>
          host/<anyname>@<REALM>

       rpc.gssd  selects  one  of  the  <anyname> entries if it does not find a service principal
       matching the local hostname, e.g. if DHCP assigns the  local  hostname  dynamically.   The
       <anyname> facility enables the use of the same keytab on multiple systems.  However, using
       the same service principal to establish a machine credential on multiple hosts can  create
       unwanted security exposures and is therefore not recommended.

       Note  that  <HOSTNAME>$@<REALM>  is  a user principal that enables Kerberized NFS when the
       local system is joined to an Active Directory domain using Samba.  The keytab provides the
       password for this principal.

       You  can  specify  a  different keytab by using the -k option if /etc/krb5.keytab does not
       exist or does not provide one of these principals.

   Credentials for UID 0
       UID 0 is a special case.  By default rpc.gssd uses the system's  machine  credentials  for
       UID  0  accesses  that require GSS authentication.  This limits the privileges of the root
       user when accessing network resources that require authentication.

       Specify the -n option when starting rpc.gssd if you'd like  to  force  the  root  user  to
       obtain a user credential rather than use the local system's machine credential.

       When  -n  is  specified,  the kernel continues to request a GSS context established with a
       machine credential for NFSv4 operations, such as SETCLIENTID or RENEW, that manage  state.
       If  rpc.gssd  cannot  obtain  a  machine credential (say, the local system has no keytab),
       NFSv4 operations that require machine credentials will fail.

   Encryption types
       A realm administrator can choose to add keys encoded in a number of  different  encryption
       types  to  the local system's keytab.  For instance, a host/ principal might have keys for
       the  aes256-cts-hmac-sha1-96,  aes128-cts-hmac-sha1-96,  des3-cbc-sha1,  and  arcfour-hmac
       encryption types.  This permits rpc.gssd to choose an appropriate encryption type that the
       target NFS server supports.

       These  encryption  types  are  stronger  than  legacy  single-DES  encryption  types.   To
       interoperate  in  environments  where  servers support only weak encryption types, you can
       restrict your client to use only single-DES encryption types by specifying the  -l  option
       when starting rpc.gssd.

OPTIONS

       -D     The server name passed to GSSAPI for authentication is normally the name exactly as
              requested.  e.g. for NFS it is the server  name  in  the  "servername:/path"  mount
              request.   Only if this servername appears to be an IP address (IPv4 or IPv6) or an
              unqualified name (no dots) will a reverse DNS lookup will be performed to  get  the
              canoncial server name.

              If -D is present, a reverse DNS lookup will always be used, even if the server name
              looks like a canonical name.  So it  is  needed  if  partially  qualified,  or  non
              canonical names are regularly used.

              Using  -D  can introduce a security vulnerability, so it is recommended that -D not
              be used, and that canonical names always be used when requesting services.

       -f     Runs rpc.gssd in the foreground and sends output to stderr (as opposed to syslogd)

       -n     When specified, UID 0 is forced to obtain user credentials which are  used  instead
              of the local system's machine credentials.

       -k keytab
              Tells  rpc.gssd to use the keys found in keytab to obtain machine credentials.  The
              default value is /etc/krb5.keytab.

       -l     When specified, restricts rpc.gssd to sessions to weak  encryption  types  such  as
              des-cbc-crc.   This  option  is  available  only  when  the local system's Kerberos
              library supports settable encryption types.

       -p path
              Tells rpc.gssd where to look for the rpc_pipefs filesystem.  The default  value  is
              /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs.

       -d search-path
              This  option specifies a colon separated list of directories that rpc.gssd searches
              for credential  files.   The  default  value  is  /tmp:/run/user/%U.   The  literal
              sequence  "%U"  can  be  specified  to  substitue  the  UID  of  the  user for whom
              credentials are being searched.

       -M     By default, machine credentials are stored in files in the first directory  in  the
              credential  directory  search  path  (see the -d option).  When -M is set, rpc.gssd
              stores machine credentials in memory instead.

       -v     Increases the verbosity of the output (can be specified multiple times).

       -r     If the RPCSEC_GSS library supports setting debug level, increases the verbosity  of
              the output (can be specified multiple times).

       -R realm
              Kerberos  tickets  from  this  realm  will  be  preferred  when  scanning available
              credentials cache files to be used to create a context.  By  default,  the  default
              realm, as configured in the Kerberos configuration file, is preferred.

       -t timeout
              Timeout,  in  seconds, for kernel GSS contexts. This option allows you to force new
              kernel contexts to be negotiated  after  timeout  seconds,  which  allows  changing
              Kerberos  tickets  and  identities frequently.  The default is no explicit timeout,
              which means the kernel context will live  the  lifetime  of  the  Kerberos  service
              ticket used in its creation.

       -T timeout
              Timeout,  in  seconds, to create an RPC connection with a server while establishing
              an authenticated gss context for a user.  The default timeout is set to 5  seconds.
              If you get messages like "WARNING: can't create tcp rpc_clnt to server %servername%
              for user with uid %uid%: RPC: Remote system error  -  Connection  timed  out",  you
              should consider an increase of this timeout.

       -U timeout
              Timeout,  in  seconds,  for  upcall threads.  Threads executing longer than timeout
              seconds will cause an error message to  be  logged.   The  default  timeout  is  30
              seconds.  The minimum is 5 seconds.  The maximum is 600 seconds.

       -C     In addition to logging an error message for threads that have timed out, the thread
              will be canceled and an error of -ETIMEDOUT will be reported to the kernel.

       -H     Avoids setting $HOME to "/". This allows rpc.gssd to read per user k5identity files
              versus trying to read /.k5identity for each user.

              If   -H   is   not   set,   rpc.gssd   will   use   the   first   match   found  in
              /var/kerberos/krb5/user/$EUID/client.keytab and will not use a principal  based  on
              host and/or service parameters listed in $HOME/.k5identity.

CONFIGURATION FILE

       Many  of  the  options  that can be set on the command line can also be controlled through
       values set in  the  [gssd]  section  of  the  /etc/nfs.conf  configuration  file.   Values
       recognized include:

       verbosity
              Value which is equivalent to the number of -v.

       rpc-verbosity
              Value which is equivalent to the number of -r.

       use-memcache
              A Boolean flag equivalent to -M.

       use-machine-creds
              A Boolean flag. Setting to false is equivalent to giving the -n flag.

       avoid-dns
              Setting to false is equivalent to providing the -D flag.

       limit-to-legacy-enctypes
              Equivalent to -l.

       context-timeout
              Equivalent to -t.

       rpc-timeout
              Equivalent to -T.

       keytab-file
              Equivalent to -k.

       cred-cache-directory
              Equivalent to -d.

       preferred-realm
              Equivalent to -R.

       upcall-timeout
              Equivalent to -U.

       cancel-timed-out-upcalls
              Setting to true is equivalent to providing the -C flag.

       set-home
              Setting to false is equivalent to providing the -H flag.

       In addtion, the following value is recognized from the [general] section:

       pipefs-directory
              Equivalent to -p.

SEE ALSO

       rpc.svcgssd(8), kerberos(1), kinit(1), krb5.conf(5)

AUTHORS

       Dug Song <dugsong@umich.edu>
       Andy Adamson <andros@umich.edu>
       Marius Aamodt Eriksen <marius@umich.edu>
       J. Bruce Fields <bfields@umich.edu>

                                           20 Feb 2013                                rpc.gssd(8)