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Diffstat (limited to 'modules/pam_tally/README')
| -rw-r--r-- | modules/pam_tally/README | 95 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 95 deletions
diff --git a/modules/pam_tally/README b/modules/pam_tally/README deleted file mode 100644 index 4c421648..00000000 --- a/modules/pam_tally/README +++ /dev/null @@ -1,95 +0,0 @@ -SUMMARY: - pam_tally: - - Maintains a count of attempted accesses, can reset count on success, - can deny access if too many attempts fail. - - Options: - - * onerr=[succeed|fail] (if something weird happens - such as unable to open the file, what to do?) - * file=/where/to/keep/counts (default /var/log/faillog) - - (auth) - Authentication phase increments attempted login counter. - * no_magic_root (root DOES increment counter. Use for - daemon-based stuff, like telnet/rsh/login) - - (account) - Account phase can deny access and/or reset attempts counter. - * deny=n (deny access if tally for this user exceeds n; - The presence of deny=n changes the default for - reset/no_reset to reset, unless the user trying to - gain access is root and the no_magic_root option - has NOT been specified.) - - * no_magic_root (access attempts by root DON'T ignore deny. - Use this for daemon-based stuff, like telnet/rsh/login) - * even_deny_root_account (Root can become unavailable. BEWARE. - Note that magic root trying to gain root bypasses this, - but normal users can be locked out.) - - * reset (reset count to 0 on successful entry, even for - magic root) - * no_reset (don't reset count on successful entry) - This is the default unless deny exists and the - user attempting access is NOT magic root. - - * per_user (If /var/log/faillog contains a non-zero - .fail_max field for this user then use it - instead of deny=n parameter) - - * no_lock_time (Don't use .fail_locktime filed in - /var/log/faillog for this user) - - Also checks to make sure that the counts file is a plain - file and not world writable. - - - Tim Baverstock <warwick@sable.demon.co.uk>, v0.1 5 March 1997 - -LONGER: - -pam_tally comes in two parts: pam_tally.so and pam_tally. - -pam_tally.so sits in a pam config file, in the auth and account sections. - -In the auth section, it increments a per-uid counter for each attempted -login, in the account section, it denies access if attempted logins -exceed some threashold and/or resets that counter to zero on successful -login. - -Root is treated specially: - -1. When a process already running as root tries to access some service, the -access is `magic', and bypasses pam_tally's checks: handy for `su'ing from -root into an account otherwise blocked. However, for services like telnet or -login which always effectively run from the root account, root (ie everyone) -shouldn't be granted this magic status, and the flag `no_magic_root' should -be set in this situation, as noted in the summary above. [This option may -be obsolete, with `sufficient root' processing.] - -2. Normally, failed attempts to access root will NOT 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 `su' or at the machine -console (not telnet/rsh, etc), this is safe. If you really want root to be -blocked for some given service, use even_deny_root_account. - -pam_tally 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. I found it useful to -clear all counts every midnight from a cron.. - -The counts file is organised as a binary-word array, indexed by uid. You -can probably make sense of it with `od', if you don't want to use the -supplied application. - -BUGS: - -pam_tally is very dependant on getpw*(): a database of usernames -would be much more flexible. - -The (4.0 Redhat) utilities seem to do funny things with uid, and I'm -not wholly sure I understood what I should have been doing anyway so -the `keep a count of current logins' bit has been #ifdef'd out and you -can only reset the counter on successful authentication, for now. |