K5LOGIN(5) MIT Kerberos K5LOGIN(5)
NAME
k5login - Kerberos V5 acl file for host access
DESCRIPTION
The .k5login file, which resides in a user's home directory, contains a list of the Kerberos principals. Anyone with valid tickets for a
principal in the file is allowed host access with the UID of the user in whose home directory the file resides. One common use is to place
a .k5login file in root's home directory, thereby granting system administrators remote root access to the host via Kerberos.
EXAMPLES
Suppose the user alice had a .k5login file in her home directory containing the following line:
bob@FOOBAR.ORG
This would allow bob to use Kerberos network applications, such as ssh(1), to access alice's account, using bob's Kerberos tickets.
Let us further suppose that alice is a system administrator. Alice and the other system administrators would have their principals in
root's .k5login file on each host:
alice@BLEEP.COM
joeadmin/root@BLEEP.COM
This would allow either system administrator to log in to these hosts using their Kerberos tickets instead of having to type the root pass-
word. Note that because bob retains the Kerberos tickets for his own principal, bob@FOOBAR.ORG, he would not have any of the privileges
that require alice's tickets, such as root access to any of the site's hosts, or the ability to change alice's password.
SEE ALSO
kerberos(1)
AUTHOR
MIT
COPYRIGHT
1985-2013, MIT
1.11.3 K5LOGIN(5)