auth ... pam_faillock.so {
preauth|authfail|authsucc
} [
conf=/path/to/config-file
] [
dir=/path/to/tally-directory
] [
even_deny_root
] [
deny=n
] [
fail_interval=n
] [
unlock_time=n
] [
root_unlock_time=n
] [
admin_group=name
] [
audit
] [
silent
] [
no_log_info
]
account ... pam_faillock.so [
dir=/path/to/tally-directory
] [
no_log_info
]
This module maintains a list of failed authentication attempts per
user during a specified interval and locks the account in case
there were more than deny consecutive
failed authentications.
Normally, failed attempts to authenticate 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.
This argument must be set accordingly to the position of this module instance in the PAM stack.
The preauth argument must be used when the module is called before the modules which ask for the user credentials such as the password. The module just examines whether the user should be blocked from accessing the service in case there were anomalous number of failed consecutive authentication attempts recently. This call is optional if authsucc is used.
The authfail argument must be used when the module is called after the modules which determine the authentication outcome, failed. Unless the user is already blocked due to previous authentication failures, the module will record the failure into the appropriate user tally file.
The authsucc argument must be used when the module is called after the modules which determine the authentication outcome, succeeded. Unless the user is already blocked due to previous authentication failures, the module will then clear the record of the failures in the respective user tally file. Otherwise it will return authentication error. If this call is not done, the pam_faillock will not distinguish between consecutive and non-consecutive failed authentication attempts. The preauth call must be used in such case. Due to complications in the way the PAM stack can be configured it is also possible to call pam_faillock as an account module. In such configuration the module must be also called in the preauth stage.
Use another configuration file instead of the default
/etc/security/faillock.conf.
Use another configuration file instead of the default
which is to use the file
/etc/security/faillock.conf or,
if that one is not present, the file
%vendordir%/security/faillock.conf.
The options for configuring the module behavior are described in the faillock.conf(5) manual page. The options specified on the module command line override the values from the configuration file.
An invalid option was given, the module was not able to retrieve the user name, no valid counter file was found, or too many failed logins.
Memory buffer error.
The conversation method supplied by the application failed to obtain the username.
The conversation method supplied by the application returned PAM_CONV_AGAIN.
Everything was successful.
User not present in passwd database.
Here are two possible configuration examples for /etc/pam.d/login.
They make pam_faillock to lock the account after 4 consecutive
failed logins during the default interval of 15 minutes. Root account will be locked
as well. The accounts will be automatically unlocked after 20 minutes.
In the first example the module is called only in the auth phase and the module does not print any information about the account being blocked by pam_faillock. The preauth call can be added to tell users that their logins are blocked by the module and also to abort the authentication without even asking for password in such case.
/etc/security/faillock.conf file example:
deny=4
unlock_time=1200
silent
/etc/pam.d/config file example:
auth required pam_securetty.so
auth required pam_env.so
auth required pam_nologin.so
# optionally call: auth requisite pam_faillock.so preauth
# to display the message about account being locked
auth [success=1 default=bad] pam_unix.so
auth [default=die] pam_faillock.so authfail
auth sufficient pam_faillock.so authsucc
auth required pam_deny.so
account required pam_unix.so
password required pam_unix.so shadow
session required pam_selinux.so close
session required pam_loginuid.so
session required pam_unix.so
session required pam_selinux.so open
In the second example the module is called both in the auth
and account phases and the module informs the authenticating
user when the account is locked if silent option is not
specified in the faillock.conf.
auth required pam_securetty.so
auth required pam_env.so
auth required pam_nologin.so
auth required pam_faillock.so preauth
# optionally use requisite above if you do not want to prompt for the password
# on locked accounts
auth sufficient pam_unix.so
auth [default=die] pam_faillock.so authfail
auth required pam_deny.so
account required pam_faillock.so
# if you drop the above call to pam_faillock.so the lock will be done also
# on non-consecutive authentication failures
account required pam_unix.so
password required pam_unix.so shadow
session required pam_selinux.so close
session required pam_loginuid.so
session required pam_unix.so
session required pam_selinux.so open