The pam_krb5.so module is designed to allow smooth integration of Kerberos 5
password-checking for applications which use PAM.
It creates session-specific credential cache files, and can obtain
Kerberos IV credentials using a krb524 service.
If the system is an AFS client, it will also attempt to obtain tokens
for the local cell, the cell which contains the user's home directory,
and any explicitly-configured cells.
When a user logs in, the module's authentication function performs a simple
password check and, if possible, obtains Kerberos 5
and Kerberos IV
credentials, caching them for later use. When the application requests
initialization of credentials (or opens a session), the usual ticket files are
created. When the application subsequently requests deletion of credentials or
closing of the session, the module deletes the ticket files. When the
application requests account management, if the module did not participate in
authenticating the user, it will signal libpam to ignore the module. If the
module did participate in authenticating the user, it will check for an expired
user password and verify the user's authorization using the .k5login file of the
user being authenticated, which is expected to be accessible to the module.
ARGUMENTS
debug
turns on debugging via syslog(3). Debugging messages are logged with
priority LOG_DEBUG.
debug_sensitive
turns on debugging of sensitive information via syslog(3). Debug
messages are logged with priority LOG_DEBUG.
addressless
tells pam_krb5.so to obtain credentials without address lists. This may be
necessary if your network uses NAT, and should otherwise not be used. This
option is deprecated in favor of the noaddresses flag in the
libdefaults section of krb5.conf(5).
hosts=host
tells pam_krb5.so to obtain credentials using the address of the given host in
addition to the addresses of interfaces on the local workstation. For example,
if your workstation is behind a masquerading firewall, specifying the
firewall's outward-facing address here should allow Kerberos authentication to
succeed. This option is deprecated in favor of the extra_addresses flag
in the libdefaults section of krb5.conf(5).
afs_cells=cell1.example.com cell2.example.com
tells pam_krb5.so to obtain tokens for cell1.example.com and
cell2.example.com, in addition to the local cell, for the user.
in addition to the local cell, for the user. The module will guess
the principal name of the AFS service for the named cells, or it can
be specified by giving cells in the form
cellname=principalname.
banner=Kerberos 5
tells pam_krb5.so how to identify itself when users attempt to change their
passwords. The default setting is "Kerberos 5".
ccache_dir=/tmp
tells pam_krb5.so which directory to use for storing credential caches. The
default setting is /tmp.
existing_ticket
tells pam_krb5.so to accept the presence of pre-existing Kerberos credentials
provided by the calling application in the default credential cache as
sufficient to authenticate the user, and to skip any account management checks.
DANGER! Unless validation is also in use, it is relatively easy to produce a
credential cache which looks "good enough" to fool pam_krb5.so.
external
external=sshd
tells pam_krb5.so to use Kerberos credentials provided by the calling
application during session setup.
This is most often useful for obtaining
AFS tokens or
a krb4 ticket.
forwardable
tells pam_krb5.so that credentials it obtains should be forwardable. This
option is deprecated in favor of the forwardable option in the
libdefaults section of krb5.conf(5).
ignore_unknown_principals
ignore_unknown_spn
ignore_unknown_upn
specifies that not pam_krb5 should return a PAM_IGNORE code to libpam
instead of PAM_USER_UNKNOWN for users for whom the determined principal
name is expired or does not exist.
keytab=FILE:/etc/krb5.keytab
tells pam_krb5.so the location of a keytab to use when validating
credentials obtained from KDCs.
krb4_convert
tells pam_krb5.so to obtain Kerberos IV credentials for users, in
addition to Kerberos 5 credentials, using either a v4-capable KDC or
This option is poorly named.
This option is automatically enabled if AFS is detected.
krb4_convert_524
tells pam_krb5.so to obtain Kerberos IV credentials for users using
the krb524 service. This option modifies the krb4_convert
option. If disabled, pam_krb5 will only attempt
to obtain Kerberos IV credentials using the KDC.
krb4_use_as_req
tells pam_krb5.so to obtain Kerberos IV credentials for users using
the KDC. This option modifies the krb4_convert
option. If disabled, pam_krb5 will only attempt
to obtain Kerberos IV credentials using the krb524 service.
minimum_uid=0
tells pam_krb5.so to ignore authentication attempts by users with
UIDs below the specified number.
no_initial_prompt
tells pam_krb5.so to not ask for a password before attempting authentication,
and to instead allow the Kerberos library to trigger a request for a password
only in cases where one is needed.
no_subsequent_prompt
tells pam_krb5.so to only provide the previously-entered password in response
to any request for a password which the Kerberos library might make.
no_user_check
tells pam_krb5.so to not check if a user exists on the local system, to skip
authorization checks using the user's .k5login file, and to create ccache files
owned by the current process's UID. This is useful for situations where a
non-privileged server process needs to use Kerberized services on behalf of
remote users who may not have local access. Note that such a server should
have an encrypted connection with its client in order to avoid allowing the
user's password to be eavesdropped.
proxiable
tells pam_krb5.so that credentials it obtains should be proxiable. This
option is deprecated in favor of the proxiable option in the
libdefaults section of krb5.conf(5).
pwhelp=
specifies the name of a text file whose contents will be displayed to
clients who attempt to change their passwords. There is no default.
realm=realm
overrides the default realm set in /etc/krb5.conf, which pam_krb5.so
will attempt to authenticate users to.
renew_lifetime=36000
sets the default renewable lifetime for credentials. This
option is deprecated in favor of the renew_lifetime option in the
libdefaults section of krb5.conf(5).
ticket_lifetime=36000
sets the default lifetime for credentials.
tokens
tokens=imap
signals that pam_krb5.so should create a new AFS PAG and obtain AFS
tokens during authentication in addition to session setup. This is
primarily useful in server applications which need to access a user's
files but which do not open PAM sessions before doing so.
try_first_pass
tells pam_krb5.so to check the previously-entered password as with
use_first_pass, but to prompt the user for another one if the
previously-entered one fails. This is the default mode of operation.
use_first_pass
tells pam_krb5.so to get the user's entered password as it was stored by a
module listed earlier in the stack, usually pam_unix or pam_pwdb,
instead of prompting the user for it.
use_authtok
tells pam_krb5.so to never prompt for new passwords when changing passwords.
This is useful if you are using pam_cracklib.so or pam_passwdqc.so to try to
enforce use of less-easy-to-guess passwords.
use_shmem
use_shmem=sshd
tells pam_krb5.so to pass credentials from the authentication service function
to the session management service function using shared memory, or to do so for
specific services.
validate
validate=sshd
tells pam_krb5.so to verify that the TGT obtained from the realm's servers has
not been spoofed. Note that the process which is performing authentication
must be able to read the keytab in order for validation to be possible.
