pam_unix2(8) [debian man page]
pam_unix2(8) Reference Manual pam_unix2(8) NAME
pam_unix2 - Standard PAM module for traditional password authentication DESCRIPTION
The pam_unix2 PAM module is for traditional password authentication. It uses standard calls from the glibc NSS libraries to retrieve and set account information as well as authentication. Usually this is obtained from the the local files /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow or from a NIS map. The options can be added in the PAM configuration files for every single service. /etc/security/pam_unix2.default defines, which password encryption algorithm should be used in case of a password change. OPTIONS
The following options may be passed to all types of management groups except session: debug A lot of debug information is printed with syslog(3). nullok Normally the account is disabled if no password is set or if the length of the password is zero. With this option the user is allowed to change the password for such accounts. This option does not overwrite a hardcoded default by the calling process. use_first_pass The default is, that pam_unix2 tries to get the authentication token from a previous module. If no token is available, the user is asked for the old password. With this option, pam_unix2 aborts with an error if no authentication token from a previous module is available. The following additional options may be passed to the passwd rules of this modules: nisdir=<path> This options specifies a path to the source files for NIS maps on a NIS master server. If this option is given, the passwords of NIS accounts will not be changed with yppasswd(1), instead the local passwd and shadow files below <path> will be modified. In conjunc- tion with rpasswdd(8) and pam_make rpc.yppasswdd(8) can be replaced with a more secure solution on the NIS master server. use_authtok Set the new password to the one provided by the previously stacked password module. If this option is not set, pam_unix2 would ask the user for the new password. One of the following options may be passed to the session rules of this modules: debug Some messages (login time, logout time) are logged to syslog with priority LOG_DEBUG. trace Some messages (login time, logout time) are logged to syslog with priority LOG_NOTICE. none No messages are logged. This is the default. The acct management does not recognize any additional options. For root, password and login expire are ignored, only on aging warning is printed. If no shadow information exists, it always returns success. FILES
/etc/security/pam_unix2.default SEE ALSO
login(1), passwd(1), pam.conf(8), pam.d(8), pam_pwcheck(8), pam(8), rpasswd(1), rpasswdd(8), rpc.yppasswdd(8), yppasswd(1) pam_unix2 August 2006 pam_unix2(8)
Check Out this Related Man Page
pam_pwcheck(8) Reference Manual pam_pwcheck(8) NAME
pam_pwcheck - PAM module for password strength checking DESCRIPTION
The pam_pwcheck is a PAM module for password strength checking. It makes additional checks upon password changes, but does not perform the change itself. It only provides functionality for one PAM management group: password changing. This module works in the following manner: if enabled, it first calls the Cracklib routine to check the strength of the password; if crack likes the password, the module does an additional set of strength checks. These checks are: Palindrome Is the new password a palindrome of the old one? Case Change Only Is the new password the old one with only a change of case? Similar Is the new password too similar to old one? Simple Is the new password too short? Rotated Is the new password a rotated version of the old password? Already used Was the password used in the past? Previously used passwords are to be found in /etc/security/opasswd. OPTIONS
The following options may be passed to the module: cracklib=<path to dictionaries> Use cracklib library for password checks. This parameter also contains the path to the cracklib dictionaries. The default is /usr/lib/cracklib_dict. debug A lot of debug information is printed with syslog(3). maxlen=number Number of significant characters in the password for crypt(3). A value of zero suppresses this check. The default is 0. minlen=number The minimum number of characters in an acceptable password. A new password with fewer characters will be rejected. A value of zero suppresses this check. The default is 5. no_obscure_checks No additional checks will be performed before a new password is accepted. Since the checks performed are fairly simple, their usage is recommended. not_set_pass If this option is given, pam_pwcheck will not make the new password available for other modules. nullok Normally the account is disabled if no password is set or if the length of the password is zero. With this option you can allow the user to change his password for such accounts. This option does not overwrite a hardcoded default by the calling process. tries=number Maximum number of attempts to change a password if the new ones are rejected because they are too easy. use_authtok Set the new password to the one provided by the previously stacked password module. If this option is not set, pam_pwcheck will ask the user for the new password. use_first_pass By default pam_pwcheck tries to get the authentication token from a previous module. If no token is available, the user is asked for the old password. With this option, pam_pwcheck aborts with an error if no authentication token from a previous module is available. remember=XX Remember the last XX passwords and do not allow the user to reuse any of these for the next XX password changes. XX is a number between 1 and 400. enforce_for_root If this option is set, most of the password check rules are enforced for root, too. Never use this option if you don't know what you are doing, since it could be as result that root is no longer allowed to login at all. FILES
/etc/security/opasswd SEE ALSO
passwd(1), pam.conf(8), pam.d(8), pam(8), rpasswd(1), rpasswdd(8), rpc.yppasswdd(8), yppasswd(1) pam_pwcheck September 2008 pam_pwcheck(8)