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diff --git a/Linux-PAM/doc/modules/pam_tally.sgml b/Linux-PAM/doc/modules/pam_tally.sgml new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ee6fad46 --- /dev/null +++ b/Linux-PAM/doc/modules/pam_tally.sgml @@ -0,0 +1,203 @@ +<!-- + + $Id: pam_tally.sgml,v 1.3 2005/01/16 22:12:25 toady Exp $ + + This template file was written by Andrew G. Morgan <morgan@kernel.org> + adapted from text provided by Tim Baverstock. +--> + +<sect1>The login counter (tallying) module + +<sect2>Synopsis + +<p> +<descrip> + +<tag><bf>Module Name:</bf></tag> +pam_tally + +<tag><bf>Author[s]:</bf></tag> +Tim Baverstock +Tomas Mraz + +<tag><bf>Maintainer:</bf></tag> + +<tag><bf>Management groups provided:</bf></tag> +auth; account + +<tag><bf>Cryptographically sensitive:</bf></tag> + +<tag><bf>Security rating:</bf></tag> + +<tag><bf>Clean code base:</bf></tag> + +<tag><bf>System dependencies:</bf></tag> +A faillog file (default location /var/log/faillog) + +<tag><bf>Network aware:</bf></tag> + +</descrip> + +<sect2>Overview of module + +<p> +This module maintains a count of attempted accesses, can reset count +on success, can deny access if too many attempts fail. + +<p> +pam_tally comes in two parts: <tt>pam_tally.so</tt> and +<tt>pam_tally</tt>. The former is the PAM module and the latter, a +stand-alone program. <tt>pam_tally</tt> is an (optional) application +which can be used to interrogate and manipulate the counter file. It +can display users' counts, set individual counts, or clear all +counts. Setting artificially high counts may be useful for blocking +users without changing their passwords. For example, one might find it +useful to clear all counts every midnight from a cron job. + +<p> +The counts file is organized as a binary-word array, indexed by +uid. You can probably make sense of it with <tt>od</tt>, if you don't +want to use the supplied appliction. + +<p> +Note, there are some outstanding issues with this module: +<tt>pam_tally</tt> is very dependant on <tt>getpw*()</tt> - a database +of usernames would be much more flexible + +<sect3>Generic options accepted by both components +<p> +<itemize> +<item> <tt>onerr=</tt>(<tt>succeed</tt>|<tt>fail</tt>): + if something weird happens, such as unable to open the file, how + should the module react? +<item> <tt>file=</tt><em>/where/to/keep/counts</em>: + specify the file location for the counts. + The default location is <tt>/var/log/faillog</tt>. +<item> <tt>audit</tt>: + display the username typed if the user is not found. It may be + useful for scripts, but you should know users often type their + password instead making your system weaker. Activate it only if you + know what you are doing. +</itemize> + +<sect2>Authentication component + +<p> +<descrip> + +<tag><bf>Recognized arguments:</bf></tag> +<tt>onerr=</tt>(<tt>succeed</tt>|<tt>fail</tt>); +<tt>file=</tt>/where/to/keep/counts; +<tt>deny=</tt><em>n</em>; +<tt>lock_time=</tt><em>n</em>; +<tt>unlock_time=</tt><em>n</em>; +<tt>magic_root</tt>; +<tt>even_deny_root_account</tt>; +<tt>per_user</tt>; +<tt>no_lock_time</tt> +<tt>no_reset</tt>; + +<tag><bf>Description:</bf></tag> + +<p> +The authentication component first checks if the user should be denied +access and if not it increments attempted login counter. +Then on call to <tt>pam_setcred</tt> it resets the attempts counter +if the user is NOT magic root. + +<p> +<tag><bf>Examples/suggested usage:</bf></tag> + +<p> +The <tt>deny=</tt><em>n</em> option is used to deny access if tally +for this user exceeds <em>n</em>. + +<p> +The <tt>lock_time=</tt><em>n</em> option is used to always deny access +for at least <em>n</em> seconds after a failed attempt. + +<p> +The <tt>unlock_time=</tt><em>n</em> option is used to allow access after +<em>n</em> seconds after the last failed attempt with exceeded tally. +If this option is used the user will be locked out only for the specified +amount of time after he exceeded his maximum allowed attempts. Otherwise +the lock is removed only by a manual intervention of the system administrator. + +<p> +The <tt>magic_root</tt> option is used to indicate that if +the module is invoked by a user with uid=0, then the counter is not +incremented. The sys-admin should use this for user launched services, +like <tt>su</tt>, otherwise this argument should be omitted. + +<p> +By way of more explanation, when a process already running as root +tries to access some service, the access is <em>magic</em>, and +bypasses <tt>pam_tally</tt>'s checks: this is handy for <tt>su</tt>ing +from root into an account otherwise blocked. However, for services +like <tt>telnet</tt> or <tt>login</tt>, which always effectively run +from the root account, root (ie everyone) shouldn't be granted this +magic status, and the flag `magic_root' should not be set in this +situation, as noted in the summary above. + +<p> +Normally, failed attempts to access root will <bf>NOT</bf> cause the +root account to become blocked, to prevent denial-of-service: if your +users aren't given shell accounts and root may only login via +<tt>su</tt> or at the machine console (not +<tt>telnet</tt>/<tt>rsh</tt>, etc), this is safe. If you really want +root to be blocked for some given service, use +<tt>even_deny_root_account</tt>. + +<p> +If <tt>/var/log/faillog</tt> contains a non-zero <tt>.fail_max/.fail_locktime</tt> +field for this user then the <tt>per_user</tt> module argument will +ensure that the module uses this value and not the global +<tt>deny/lock_time=</tt><em>n</em> parameter. + +<p> +The <tt>no_lock_time</tt> option is for ensuring that the module does +not use the <tt>.fail_locktime</tt> field in /var/log/faillog for this +user. + +<p> +The <tt>no_reset</tt> option is used to instruct the module to not reset +the count on successful entry. + +</descrip> + +<sect2>Account component + +<p> +<descrip> + +<tag><bf>Recognized arguments:</bf></tag> +<tt>onerr=</tt>(<tt>succeed</tt>|<tt>fail</tt>); +<tt>file=</tt>/where/to/keep/counts; +<tt>magic_root</tt>; +<tt>no_reset</tt>; + +<tag><bf>Description:</bf></tag> + +<p> +The account component resets attempts counter if the user is NOT +magic root. This phase can be used optionaly for services which don't call +pam_setcred correctly or if the reset should be done regardless +of the failure of the account phase of other modules. + +<tag><bf>Examples/suggested usage:</bf></tag> + +<p> +The <tt>magic_root</tt> option is used to indicate that if +the module is invoked by a user with uid=0, then the counter is not +decremented/reset. The sys-admin should use this for user launched services, +like <tt>su</tt>, otherwise this argument should be omitted. + +<p> +The <tt>no_reset</tt> option is used to instruct the module to not reset +the count on successful entry. + +</descrip> + +<!-- +End of sgml insert for this module. +--> |