xref: /freebsd/contrib/openpam/doc/man/pam.3 (revision cc16dea626cf2fc80cde667ac4798065108e596c)
1.\"-
2.\" Copyright (c) 2001-2003 Networks Associates Technology, Inc.
3.\" Copyright (c) 2004-2011 Dag-Erling Smørgrav
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6.\" This software was developed for the FreeBSD Project by ThinkSec AS and
7.\" Network Associates Laboratories, the Security Research Division of
8.\" Network Associates, Inc. under DARPA/SPAWAR contract N66001-01-C-8035
9.\" ("CBOSS"), as part of the DARPA CHATS research program.
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35.\" $Id$
36.\"
37.Dd May 26, 2012
38.Dt PAM 3
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm pam_acct_mgmt ,
42.Nm pam_authenticate ,
43.Nm pam_chauthtok ,
44.Nm pam_close_session ,
45.Nm pam_end ,
46.Nm pam_get_data ,
47.Nm pam_get_item ,
48.Nm pam_get_user ,
49.Nm pam_getenv ,
50.Nm pam_getenvlist ,
51.Nm pam_open_session ,
52.Nm pam_putenv ,
53.Nm pam_set_data ,
54.Nm pam_set_item ,
55.Nm pam_setcred ,
56.Nm pam_start ,
57.Nm pam_strerror
58.Nd Pluggable Authentication Modules Library
59.Sh LIBRARY
60.Lb libpam
61.Sh SYNOPSIS
62.In security/pam_appl.h
63.Ft "int"
64.Fn pam_acct_mgmt "pam_handle_t *pamh" "int flags"
65.Ft "int"
66.Fn pam_authenticate "pam_handle_t *pamh" "int flags"
67.Ft "int"
68.Fn pam_chauthtok "pam_handle_t *pamh" "int flags"
69.Ft "int"
70.Fn pam_close_session "pam_handle_t *pamh" "int flags"
71.Ft "int"
72.Fn pam_end "pam_handle_t *pamh" "int status"
73.Ft "int"
74.Fn pam_get_data "const pam_handle_t *pamh" "const char *module_data_name" "const void **data"
75.Ft "int"
76.Fn pam_get_item "const pam_handle_t *pamh" "int item_type" "const void **item"
77.Ft "int"
78.Fn pam_get_user "pam_handle_t *pamh" "const char **user" "const char *prompt"
79.Ft "const char *"
80.Fn pam_getenv "pam_handle_t *pamh" "const char *name"
81.Ft "char **"
82.Fn pam_getenvlist "pam_handle_t *pamh"
83.Ft "int"
84.Fn pam_open_session "pam_handle_t *pamh" "int flags"
85.Ft "int"
86.Fn pam_putenv "pam_handle_t *pamh" "const char *namevalue"
87.Ft "int"
88.Fn pam_set_data "pam_handle_t *pamh" "const char *module_data_name" "void *data" "void (*cleanup)(pam_handle_t *pamh, void *data, int pam_end_status)"
89.Ft "int"
90.Fn pam_set_item "pam_handle_t *pamh" "int item_type" "const void *item"
91.Ft "int"
92.Fn pam_setcred "pam_handle_t *pamh" "int flags"
93.Ft "int"
94.Fn pam_start "const char *service" "const char *user" "const struct pam_conv *pam_conv" "pam_handle_t **pamh"
95.Ft "const char *"
96.Fn pam_strerror "const pam_handle_t *pamh" "int error_number"
97.\"
98.\" $Id: pam.man 320 2006-02-16 20:33:19Z des $
99.\"
100.Sh DESCRIPTION
101The Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) library abstracts a number
102of common authentication-related operations and provides a framework
103for dynamically loaded modules that implement these operations in
104various ways.
105.Ss Terminology
106In PAM parlance, the application that uses PAM to authenticate a user
107is the server, and is identified for configuration purposes by a
108service name, which is often (but not necessarily) the program name.
109.Pp
110The user requesting authentication is called the applicant, while the
111user (usually, root) charged with verifying his identity and granting
112him the requested credentials is called the arbitrator.
113.Pp
114The sequence of operations the server goes through to authenticate a
115user and perform whatever task he requested is a PAM transaction; the
116context within which the server performs the requested task is called
117a session.
118.Pp
119The functionality embodied by PAM is divided into six primitives
120grouped into four facilities: authentication, account management,
121session management and password management.
122.Ss Conversation
123The PAM library expects the application to provide a conversation
124callback which it can use to communicate with the user.
125Some modules may use specialized conversation functions to communicate
126with special hardware such as cryptographic dongles or biometric
127devices.
128See
129.Xr pam_conv 3
130for details.
131.Ss Initialization and Cleanup
132The
133.Fn pam_start
134function initializes the PAM library and returns a handle which must
135be provided in all subsequent function calls.
136The transaction state is contained entirely within the structure
137identified by this handle, so it is possible to conduct multiple
138transactions in parallel.
139.Pp
140The
141.Fn pam_end
142function releases all resources associated with the specified context,
143and can be called at any time to terminate a PAM transaction.
144.Ss Storage
145The
146.Fn pam_set_item
147and
148.Fn pam_get_item
149functions set and retrieve a number of predefined items, including the
150service name, the names of the requesting and target users, the
151conversation function, and prompts.
152.Pp
153The
154.Fn pam_set_data
155and
156.Fn pam_get_data
157functions manage named chunks of free-form data, generally used by
158modules to store state from one invocation to another.
159.Ss Authentication
160There are two authentication primitives:
161.Fn pam_authenticate
162and
163.Fn pam_setcred .
164The former authenticates the user, while the latter manages his
165credentials.
166.Ss Account Management
167The
168.Fn pam_acct_mgmt
169function enforces policies such as password expiry, account expiry,
170time-of-day restrictions, and so forth.
171.Ss Session Management
172The
173.Fn pam_open_session
174and
175.Fn pam_close_session
176functions handle session setup and teardown.
177.Ss Password Management
178The
179.Fn pam_chauthtok
180function allows the server to change the user's password, either at
181the user's request or because the password has expired.
182.Ss Miscellaneous
183The
184.Fn pam_putenv ,
185.Fn pam_getenv
186and
187.Fn pam_getenvlist
188functions manage a private environment list in which modules can set
189environment variables they want the server to export during the
190session.
191.Pp
192The
193.Fn pam_strerror
194function returns a pointer to a string describing the specified PAM
195error code.
196.Sh RETURN VALUES
197The following return codes are defined by
198.In security/pam_constants.h :
199.Bl -tag -width 18n
200.It Bq Er PAM_ABORT
201General failure.
202.It Bq Er PAM_ACCT_EXPIRED
203User account has expired.
204.It Bq Er PAM_AUTHINFO_UNAVAIL
205Authentication information is unavailable.
206.It Bq Er PAM_AUTHTOK_DISABLE_AGING
207Authentication token aging disabled.
208.It Bq Er PAM_AUTHTOK_ERR
209Authentication token failure.
210.It Bq Er PAM_AUTHTOK_EXPIRED
211Password has expired.
212.It Bq Er PAM_AUTHTOK_LOCK_BUSY
213Authentication token lock busy.
214.It Bq Er PAM_AUTHTOK_RECOVERY_ERR
215Failed to recover old authentication token.
216.It Bq Er PAM_AUTH_ERR
217Authentication error.
218.It Bq Er PAM_BUF_ERR
219Memory buffer error.
220.It Bq Er PAM_CONV_ERR
221Conversation failure.
222.It Bq Er PAM_CRED_ERR
223Failed to set user credentials.
224.It Bq Er PAM_CRED_EXPIRED
225User credentials have expired.
226.It Bq Er PAM_CRED_INSUFFICIENT
227Insufficient credentials.
228.It Bq Er PAM_CRED_UNAVAIL
229Failed to retrieve user credentials.
230.It Bq Er PAM_DOMAIN_UNKNOWN
231Unknown authentication domain.
232.It Bq Er PAM_IGNORE
233Ignore this module.
234.It Bq Er PAM_MAXTRIES
235Maximum number of tries exceeded.
236.It Bq Er PAM_MODULE_UNKNOWN
237Unknown module type.
238.It Bq Er PAM_NEW_AUTHTOK_REQD
239New authentication token required.
240.It Bq Er PAM_NO_MODULE_DATA
241Module data not found.
242.It Bq Er PAM_OPEN_ERR
243Failed to load module.
244.It Bq Er PAM_PERM_DENIED
245Permission denied.
246.It Bq Er PAM_SERVICE_ERR
247Error in service module.
248.It Bq Er PAM_SESSION_ERR
249Session failure.
250.It Bq Er PAM_SUCCESS
251Success.
252.It Bq Er PAM_SYMBOL_ERR
253Invalid symbol.
254.It Bq Er PAM_SYSTEM_ERR
255System error.
256.It Bq Er PAM_TRY_AGAIN
257Try again.
258.It Bq Er PAM_USER_UNKNOWN
259Unknown user.
260.El
261.Sh SEE ALSO
262.Xr openpam 3 ,
263.Xr pam_acct_mgmt 3 ,
264.Xr pam_authenticate 3 ,
265.Xr pam_chauthtok 3 ,
266.Xr pam_close_session 3 ,
267.Xr pam_conv 3 ,
268.Xr pam_end 3 ,
269.Xr pam_get_data 3 ,
270.Xr pam_getenv 3 ,
271.Xr pam_getenvlist 3 ,
272.Xr pam_get_item 3 ,
273.Xr pam_get_user 3 ,
274.Xr pam_open_session 3 ,
275.Xr pam_putenv 3 ,
276.Xr pam_setcred 3 ,
277.Xr pam_set_data 3 ,
278.Xr pam_set_item 3 ,
279.Xr pam_start 3 ,
280.Xr pam_strerror 3
281.Sh STANDARDS
282.Rs
283.%T "X/Open Single Sign-On Service (XSSO) - Pluggable Authentication Modules"
284.%D "June 1997"
285.Re
286.Sh AUTHORS
287The OpenPAM library and this manual page were developed for the
288.Fx
289Project by ThinkSec AS and Network Associates Laboratories, the
290Security Research Division of Network Associates, Inc.\& under
291DARPA/SPAWAR contract N66001-01-C-8035
292.Pq Dq CBOSS ,
293as part of the DARPA CHATS research program.
294.Pp
295The OpenPAM library is maintained by
296.An Dag-Erling Sm\(/orgrav Aq des@des.no .
297