pam_ldap(5)pam_ldap(5)NAMEpam_ldap - LDAP pluggable authentication module
DESCRIPTION
The pam_ldap module is a Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) which
provides for authentication, authorization and password changing
against LDAP servers.
Features of the PADL pam_ldap module include support for transport
layer security, SASL authentication, directory server-enforced password
policy, and host- and group- based logon authorization.
The present version of pam_ldap supports AIX 5L, FreeBSD 3.x and above,
HP-UX 11i, IRIX 6.x, Linux, Mac OS X 10.2 and above, and Solaris 2.6
and above. Many vendors provide their own LDAP authentication
providers, often also called pam_ldap. This manual page applies to the
PADL pam_ldap module only. If you are using a vendor provided module,
consult the relevant documentation instead.
When authenticating or authorizing a user, pam_ldap first maps the
user's login name to a distinguished name by searching the directory
server. This must be possible using the local system's identity, speci‐
fied in pam_ldap.conf. (Note that presently only simple authentication
is supported for authenticating in this initial step.)
To authenticate a user, pam_ldap attempts to bind to the directory
server using the distinguished name of the user (retrieved previously).
Both simple and SASL authentication mechanisms are supported; in the
former case, one should take care to use transport security to prevent
the user's password being transmitted in the clear.
A variety of authorization primitives are supported by pam_ldap, dis‐
cussed in the configuration section below.
Finally, pam_ldap supports a number of password change protocols used
by directory servers from various vendors. (Some directory servers sup‐
port more than one password change protocol.)
Whilst pam_ldap is generally configured in the system LDAP naming con‐
figuration file (pam_ldap.conf), some options can be configured in the
PAM configuration file, to allow for per-service granularity. These
options include the path to the LDAP naming configuration file to use,
so in effect all options can be configured on a per-service basis.
Options are listed below under PAM Configuration.
CONFIGURATIONpam_ldap stores its configuration in the pam_ldap.conf file. (It should
be noted that some LDAP client libraries, such as OpenLDAP, also use a
configuration file of the same name. pam_ldap supports many of the
same configuration file options as OpenLDAP, but it adds several that
are specific to the functionality it provides. It is not guaranteed
that pam_ldap will continue to match the configuration file semantics
of OpenLDAP. You may wish to use different files.)
Configuration file options consist of a keyword followed by a space and
any arguments. The following options are supported by both pam_ldap and
the PADL nss_ldap module:
host <name:port ...>
Specifies the name(s) or IP address(es) of the LDAP server(s) to
connect to. In the case that nss_ldap is used for host name res‐
olution, each server should be specified as an IP address or
name that can be resolved without using LDAP. Multiple servers
may be specified, each separated by a space. The failover time
depends on whether the LDAP client library supports configurable
network or connect timeouts (see bind_timelimit below).
base <base>
Specifies the default base distinguished name (DN) to use for
searches.
uri <ldap[is]://[name[:port]] ...>
For LDAP client libraries that support it, specifies the URI(s)
of the LDAP server(s) to connect to. The URI scheme may be ldap,
ldapi, or ldaps, specifying LDAP over TCP, IPC and SSL respec‐
tively. If applicable, a port number can be specified; the
default port number for the selected protocol is used if omit‐
ted. This option takes precedence over the host option; it is
not possible to combine the two.
ldap_version <version>
Specifies the version of the LDAP protocol to use. Presently
version must be 2 or 3. The default is to use the maximum ver‐
sion supported by the client library.
binddn <binddn>
Specifies the distinguished name with which to bind to the
directory server(s). This option is optional; the default is to
bind anonymously.
bindpw <bindpw>
Specifies the cleartext credentials with which to bind. This
option is only applicable when used with binddn above. The
default is no credential (anonymous bind). When binding to the
directory using SASL or other authentication mechanisms apart
from simple binds, this option is not used.
rootbinddn <binddn>
This option has the same syntax and effect as the binddn option
above, except it applies when the effective user ID is zero. If
not specified, then the identity specified in binddn is used
instead. Because the configuration file may be readable by many
users, the root bind DN credentials are stored in the
pam_ldap.secret file instead. This file is usually in the same
directory as the configuration file.
port <port>
Specifies the port to connect to; this option is used with the
host option, and is ignored with the uri option.
scope <sub|one|base>
Specifies the search scope (subtree, one level or base object).
The default scope is subtree; base scope is almost never useful
for nameservice lookups.
deref <never|searching|finding|always>
Specifies the policy for dereferencing aliases. The default pol‐
icy is to never dereference aliases.
timelimit <timelimit>
Specifies the time limit (in seconds) to use when performing
searches. A value of zero (0), which is the default, is to wait
indefinitely for searches to be completed.
bind_timelimit <timelimit>
Specifies the time limit (in seconds) to use when connecting to
the directory server. This is distinct from the time limit spec‐
ified in timelimit and affects the initial server connection
only. (Server connections are otherwise cached.) Only some LDAP
client libraries have the underlying functionality necessary to
support this option. The default bind timelimit is 30 seconds.
referrals <yes|no>
Specifies whether automatic referral chasing should be enabled.
The default behaviour is specifed by the LDAP client library.
restart <yes|no>
Specifies whether the LDAP client library should restart the
select(2) system call when interrupted. This feature is not sup‐
ported by all client libraries.
logdir <directory>
Specifies the directory used for logging by the LDAP client
library. This feature is not supported by all client libraries.
debug <level>
Specifies the debug level used for logging by the LDAP client
library. This feature is not supported by all client libraries,
and does not apply to the nss_ldap and pam_ldap modules them‐
selves (debugging, if any, is configured separately and usually
at compile time).
ssl <on|off|start_tls>
Specifies whether to use SSL/TLS or not (the default is not to).
If start_tls is specified then StartTLS is used rather than raw
LDAP over SSL. Not all LDAP client libraries support both SSL
and StartTLS, and all related configuration options.
sslpath <cert7_path>
For the Netscape and Mozilla LDAP client libraries only, this
specifies the path to the X.509 certificate database.
tls_checkpeer <yes|no>
Specifies whether to require and verify the server certificate
or not, when using SSL/TLS with the OpenLDAP client library.
The default is to use the default behaviour of the client
library; for OpenLDAP 2.0 and earlier it is "no", for OpenLDAP
2.1 and later it is "yes". At least one of tls_cacertdir and
tls_cacertfile is required if peer verification is enabled.
tls_cacertdir <certificate_dir>
Specifies the directory containing X.509 certificates for peer
authentication.
tls_cacertfile <certificate_file>
Specifies the path to the X.509 certificate for peer authentica‐
tion.
tls_randfile <entropy_file>
Specifies the path to an entropy source.
tls_ciphers <ciphers>
Specifies the ciphers to use for TLS. See your TLS implementa‐
tion's documentation for further information.
tls_cert <certificate_file>
Specifies the path to the file containing the local certificate
for client TLS authentication.
tls_key <key_file>
Specifies the path to the file containing the private key for
client TLS authentication.
The following configuration options apply to pam_ldap only:
pam_login_attribute <attribute>
Specifies the attribute to use when constructing the attribute
value assertion for retrieving a directory entry for a user's
login name. The default is "uid", for compatibility with RFC
2307.
pam_filter <filter>
Specifies a filter to use when retrieving user information. The
user entry must match the attribute value assertion of
(pam_login_attribute=login_name) as well as any filter specified
here. There is no default for this option.
pam_lookup_policy <yes|no>
Specifies whether to search the root DSE for password policy.
The default is "no".
pam_check_host_attr <yes|no>
Specifies whether the "host" attribute should be checked for
logon authorization ("account" in the PAM stack). The default is
not to. If set to "yes" and a user has no value for the "host"
attribute, then the user will be unable to login.
pam_check_service_attr <yes|no>
Specifies whether the "authorizedService" attribute should be
checked for logon authorization ("account" in the PAM stack).
The default is not to. If set to "yes" and a user has no value
for the "authorizedService" attribute, then the user will be
unable to login.
pam_groupdn <groupdn>
Specifies the distinguished name of a group to which a user must
belong for logon authorization to succeed. pam_member_attribute
<attribute> Specifies the attribute to use when testing a user's
membership of a group specified in the pam_groupdn option.
pam_nsrole <role>
Specifies a value which the user's entry's "nsRole" attribute
must match for logon authorization to succeed.
pam_min_uid <uid>
If specified, a user must have a POSIX user ID of at least uid
in order for logon authorization to succeed.
pam_max_uid <uid>
If specified, a user must have a POSIX user ID of no greater
than uid in order for logon authorization to succeed.
pam_template_login_attribute <attribute>
When using template users (not supported by all PAM applica‐
tions), specifies the attribute containing the user's actual
login name. The pam_ldap module will set PAM_USER to the value
of this attribute if present in the user's entry, otherwise it
defaults to the user specified in the pam_template_login option.
pam_template_login <user>
When using template users (not supported by all PAM applica‐
tions), pam_ldap will set PAM_USER to the value of this option
if the user does not contain a template login attribute.
pam_password <protocol>
Specifies the password change protocol to use. The following
protocols are supported:
clear Change password using an LDAPModify request, replacing
the userPassword value with the new cleartext password.
clear_remove_old
Change password using an LDAPModify request, first remov‐
ing the userPassword value containing the old cleartext
password, and then adding the userPassword value with the
new cleartext password. This protocol is necessary for
use with Novell NDS and IBM RACF.
crypt Change password using an LDAPModify request, first gener‐
ating a one way hash of the new password using crypt(3)
and then replacing userPassword value with the new hashed
password.
md5 Change password using an LDAPModify request, first gener‐
ating a one way hash of the new password using MD5 and
then replacing userPassword value with the new hashed
password.
nds This is an alias for clear_remove_old.
racf This is an alias for clear_remove_old.
ad Change password using an LDAPModify request, using the
Active Directory Services Interface (ADSI) password
change protocol.
exop Change password using the RFC 3062 password modify
extended operation (only the new password is sent).
exop_send_old
Change password using the RFC 3062 password modify
extended operation (both the old and new passwords are
sent).
pam_password_prohibit_message <message>
Specifies a message to send to users indicating that passwords
cannot be changed. This could be used to redirect users to
another means of changing passwords.
pam_sasl_mech <mechanism>
Specifies the SASL mechanism to use for PAM authentication. This
requires SASL libraries be installed. Support for this function‐
ality presently experimental and does not support password pol‐
icy controls.
PAM CONFIGURATION
It is possible to configure some aspects of pam_ldap on a per-service
basis, in the PAM configuration file (this is usually /etc/pam.conf;
for PAM implementations based on Linux-PAM, per-service files in
/etc/pam.d are also supported).
The following options may be specified as arguments to the pam_ldap
module:
config=<path>
Specifies that pam_ldap should use the configuration file in
path instead of pam_ldap.conf to retrieve its global configura‐
tion. Configuring multiple instances of pam_ldap for the same
service with different configuration files is not supported,
because the configuration information is cached.
use_first_pass
Specifies that pam_ldap should always use the first password
provided in the authentication stack.
try_first_pass
Specifies that pam_ldap should first try the first password pro‐
vided in the authentication stack, and then prompt the user for
their LDAP password if authentication fails.
ignore_unknown_user
Specifies that pam_ldap should return PAM_IGNORE for users that
are not present in LDAP. This forces the PAM framework to
ignore the pam_ldap module. This option is useful where certain
accounts do not reside in LDAP, but one wishes to make pam_ldap
"required" for all accounts in the directory. In this case one
would make both pam_ldap and the other module (for example,
pam_unix) "required" and enable the ignore_unknown_user option.
(For this to work, the other module must behave similarly for
users in the directory; in the case of a module such as pam_unix
that uses the system accounts database, using nss_ldap(5) should
be sufficient to meet this requirement.)
ignore_authinfo_unavail
Specifies that pam_ldap should return PAM_IGNORE if it cannot
contact the LDAP server. This option forces the PAM framework to
ignore the pam_ldap module in this case.
no_warn
Specifies that warning messages should not be propagated to the
PAM application.
use_authtok
Analogous to use_first_pass for password changing only.
debug This option is recognized by pam_ldap but is presently ignored.
AUTHOR
The pam_ldap module was developed by PADL Software Pty Ltd
(www.padl.com).
FILES
/etc/pam_ldap.conf, /etc/pam_ldap.secret, /etc/pam.conf
SEE ALSOpam(8)pam_ldap(5)
