NAME

       pam_group - PAM module for group access

SYNOPSIS

       pam_group.so

DESCRIPTION

       The pam_group PAM module does not authenticate the user, but instead it grants group
       memberships (in the credential setting phase of the authentication module) to the user.
       Such memberships are based on the service they are applying for.

       By default rules for group memberships are taken from config file
       /etc/security/group.conf.

       This module's usefulness relies on the file-systems accessible to the user. The point
       being that once granted the membership of a group, the user may attempt to create a setgid
       binary with a restricted group ownership. Later, when the user is not given membership to
       this group, they can recover group membership with the precompiled binary. The reason that
       the file-systems that the user has access to are so significant, is the fact that when a
       system is mounted nosuid the user is unable to create or execute such a binary file. For
       this module to provide any level of security, all file-systems that the user has write
       access to should be mounted nosuid.

       The pam_group module functions in parallel with the /etc/group file. If the user is
       granted any groups based on the behavior of this module, they are granted in addition to
       those entries /etc/group (or equivalent).

OPTIONS

       This module does not recognise any options.

MODULE TYPES PROVIDED

       Only the auth module type is provided.

RETURN VALUES

       PAM_SUCCESS
           group membership was granted.

       PAM_ABORT
           Not all relevant data could be gotten.

       PAM_BUF_ERR
           Memory buffer error.

       PAM_CRED_ERR
           Group membership was not granted.

       PAM_IGNORE
           pam_sm_authenticate was called which does nothing.

       PAM_USER_UNKNOWN
           The user is not known to the system.

FILES

       /etc/security/group.conf
           Default configuration file

SEE ALSO

       group.conf(5), pam.d(5), pam(7).

AUTHORS

       pam_group was written by Andrew G. Morgan <morgan@kernel.org>.