NAME

       pam_matrix - A PAM test module to retrieve module-specific PAM items

SYNOPSIS

       pam_matrix.so [...]

DESCRIPTION

       Testing PAM application often requires to set up an authentication backend with as little
       effort as possible. The pam_matrix module allows to authenticate against a key-value text
       file, provided by an option or with an environment variable.

IMPORTANT

       pam_matrix is a test tool. It should be considered completely insecure and never used
       outside test environments! As you’ll see when reading description of the options and
       actions, many of them don’t make any sense in the real world and were added just to make
       tests possible.

PASSWORD DATABASE

       The pam_matrix module authenticates user against a plain-text CSV file. The format of the
       file is as follows:

           username:password:allowed_service

       Example: User bob allowed to authenticate with the service sshd

           bob:secret:sshd

OPTIONS

       •   passdb=/path/to/file - the patch to the password database. If the database is not
           provided with this module option, pam_matrix.so reads the PAM_MATRIX_PASSWD
           environment variable and tries to load the file from there. If that fails as well,
           PAM_AUTHINFO_UNAVAIL is returned.

       •   echo - if this option is provided, pam_matrix.so will ask for password using
           PAM_PROMPT_ECHO_ON, that is, the password will be echoed back to user. This option was
           added to make it possible to test conversation functions better.

       •   verbose - if this option is provided, pam_matrix.so will display a PAM_TEXT_INFO
           message when authentication succeeds and a PAM_ERROR_MSG when authentication fails.
           This option was added to make it possible to test conversation functions better.

MODULE TYPES PROVIDED

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

       The auth module searches for the user in the passdb file and compares the provided
       password with the one in the passdb file.

       The password module is able to update the password in the passdb file.

       The access module compares the service name the PAM conversation was invoked with the
       allowed service for the user as set in the passdb file.

       The session module sets the HOMEDIR PAM environment variable to "/home/%u" where %u stands
       for the user who opens the session. The variable is unset on session close.

EXAMPLE

           auth        required    pam_matrix.so passdb=/tmp/passdb verbose
           account     required    pam_matrix.so passdb=/tmp/passdb verbose
           password    required    pam_matrix.so passdb=/tmp/passdb verbose
           session     required    pam_matrix.so passdb=/tmp/passdb verbose

                                            2015-11-04                              PAM_MATRIX(8)