pam_authtok_check(5)                                    Standards, Environments, and Macros                                   pam_authtok_check(5)

NAME

       pam_authtok_check - authentication and password management module

SYNOPSIS

       pam_authtok_check.so.1

DESCRIPTION

       pam_authtok_check  provides  functionality  to the Password Management stack. The implementation of pam_sm_chauthtok() performs a number of
       checks on the construction of the newly entered password. pam_sm_chauthtok() is invoked twice by the PAM framework, once with flags set  to
       PAM_PRELIM_CHECK,  and  once  with  flags set to PAM_UPDATE_AUTHTOK. This module only performs its checks during the first invocation. This
       module expects the current authentication token in the PAM_OLDAUTHTOK item, the new (to be checked) password in the PAM_AUTHTOK  item,  and
       the login name in the PAM_USER item. The checks performed by this module are:

       length          The password length should not be less that the minimum specified in /etc/default/passwd.

       circular shift  The password should not be a circular shift of the login name. This check may be disabled in /etc/default/passwd.

       complexity      The  password  should  contain at least the minimum number of characters described by the parameters MINALPHA, MINNONALPHA,
                       MINDIGIT, and MINSPECIAL. Note that MINNONALPHA describes the same character classes as MINDIGIT and  MINSPECIAL  combined;
                       therefore  the  user  cannot  specify  both MINNONALPHA and MINSPECIAL (or MINDIGIT). The user must choose which of the two
                       options to use. Furthermore, the WHITESPACE parameter determines whether whitespace characters are allowed. If  unspecified
                       MINALPHA is 2, MINNONALPHA is 1 and WHITESPACE is yes

       variation       The  old  and new passwords must differ by at least the MINDIFF value specified in /etc/default/passwd. If unspecified, the
                       default is 3. For accounts in name services which support password history checking, if prior history is defined,  the  new
                       password must not match the prior passwords.

       dictionary checkThe  password  must not be based on a dictionary word. The list of words to be used for the site's dictionary can be speci-
                       fied with DICTIONLIST. It should contain a comma-separated list of filenames, one word per line. The database that is  cre-
                       ated  from  these  files  is  stored in the directory named by DICTIONDBDIR (defaults to /var/passwd). See mkpwdict(1M) for
                       information on pre-generating the database. If neither DICTIONLIST nor DICTIONDBDIR is specified, no  dictionary  check  is
                       made.

       upper/lower caseThe password must contain at least the minimum of upper- and lower-case letters specified by the MINUPPER and MINLOWER val-
                       ues in /etc/default/passwd. If unspecified, the defaults are 0.

       maximum repeats The password must not  contain  more  consecutively  repeating  characters  than  specified  by  the  MAXREPEATS  value  in
                       /etc/default/passwd. If unspecified, no repeat character check is made.

       The following option may be passed to the module:

       debug           syslog(3C) debugging information at the LOG_DEBUG level

RETURN VALUES

       If the password in PAM_AUTHTOK passes all tests, PAM_SUCCESS is returned. If any of the tests fail, PAM_AUTHTOK_ERR is returned.

FILES

       /etc/default/passwd     See passwd(1) for a description of the contents.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE         |      ATTRIBUTE VALUE        |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability          |Evolving                     |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |MT Level                     |MT-Safe with exceptions      |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       passwd(1),  pam(3PAM),  mkpwdict(1M),  pam_chauthtok(3PAM),  syslog(3C),  libpam(3LIB),  pam.conf(4),  passwd(4), shadow(4), attributes(5),
       pam_authtok_get(5), pam_authtok_store(5), pam_dhkeys(5), pam_passwd_auth(5), pam_unix_account(5), pam_unix_auth(5), pam_unix_session(5)

NOTES

       The interfaces in libpam(3LIB) are MT-Safe only if each thread within the multi-threaded application uses its own PAM handle.

       The pam_unix(5) module is no longer supported. Similar functionality is provided  by  pam_authtok_check(5),  pam_authtok_get(5),  pam_auth-
       tok_store(5), pam_dhkeys(5), pam_passwd_auth(5), pam_unix_account(5), pam_unix_auth(5), and pam_unix_session(5).

SunOS 5.10                                                          4 Jun 2004                                                pam_authtok_check(5)