pam_setcred 3 Linux-PAM Manual pam_setcred establish / delete user credentials #include <security/pam_appl.h> int pam_setcred pam_handle_t *pamh int flags The pam_setcred function is used to establish, maintain and delete the credentials of a user. It should be called to set the credentials after a user has been authenticated and before a session is opened for the user (with pam_open_session3 ). The credentials should be deleted after the session has been closed (with pam_close_session3 ). A credential is something that the user possesses. It is some property, such as a Kerberos ticket, or a supplementary group membership that make up the uniqueness of a given user. On a Linux system the user's UID and GID's are credentials too. However, it has been decided that these properties (along with the default supplementary groups of which the user is a member) are credentials that should be set directly by the application and not by PAM. Such credentials should be established, by the application, prior to a call to this function. For example, initgroups2 (or equivalent) should have been performed. Valid flags, any one of which, may be logically OR'd with PAM_SILENT, are: PAM_ESTABLISH_CRED Initialize the credentials for the user. PAM_DELETE_CRED Delete the user's credentials. PAM_REINITIALIZE_CRED Fully reinitialize the user's credentials. PAM_REFRESH_CRED Extend the lifetime of the existing credentials. PAM_BUF_ERR Memory buffer error. PAM_CRED_ERR Failed to set user credentials. PAM_CRED_EXPIRED User credentials are expired. PAM_CRED_UNAVAIL Failed to retrieve user credentials. PAM_SUCCESS Data was successful stored. PAM_SYSTEM_ERR A NULL pointer was submitted as PAM handle, the function was called by a module or another system error occured. PAM_USER_UNKNOWN User is not known to an authentication module. pam_authenticate3 , pam_open_session3 , pam_close_session3 , pam_strerror3