pam_pwhistory(8) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | MODULE TYPES PROVIDED | RETURN VALUES | EXAMPLES | FILES | SEE ALSO | AUTHOR | COLOPHON

PAM_PWHISTORY(8)            Linux-PAM Manual            PAM_PWHISTORY(8)

NAME         top

       pam_pwhistory - PAM module to remember last passwords

SYNOPSIS         top


       pam_pwhistory.so [debug] [use_authtok] [enforce_for_root]
                        [remember=N] [retry=N] [authtok_type=STRING]
                        [file=/path/filename]
                        [conf=/path/to/config-file]

DESCRIPTION         top

       This module saves the last passwords for each user in order to
       force password change history and keep the user from alternating
       between the same password too frequently.

       This module does not work together with kerberos. In general, it
       does not make much sense to use this module in conjunction with
       NIS or LDAP, since the old passwords are stored on the local
       machine and are not available on another machine for password
       history checking.

OPTIONS         top

       debug
           Turns on debugging via syslog(3).

       use_authtok
           When password changing enforce the module to use the new
           password provided by a previously stacked password module
           (this is used in the example of the stacking of the
           pam_passwdqc module documented below).

       enforce_for_root
           If this option is set, the check is enforced for root, too.

       remember=N
           The last N passwords for each user are saved. The default is
           10. Value of 0 makes the module to keep the existing contents
           of the opasswd file unchanged.

       retry=N
           Prompt user at most N times before returning with error. The
           default is 1.

       authtok_type=STRING
           See pam_get_authtok(3) for more details.

       file=/path/filename
           Store password history in file /path/filename rather than the
           default location. The default location is
           /etc/security/opasswd.

       conf=/path/to/config-file
           Use another configuration file instead of the default
           /etc/security/pwhistory.conf.

       The options for configuring the module behavior are described in
       the pwhistory.conf(5) manual page. The options specified on the
       module command line override the values from the configuration
       file.

MODULE TYPES PROVIDED         top

       Only the password module type is provided.

RETURN VALUES         top

       PAM_AUTHTOK_ERR
           No new password was entered, the user aborted password change
           or new password couldn't be set.

       PAM_IGNORE
           Password history was disabled.

       PAM_MAXTRIES
           Password was rejected too often.

       PAM_USER_UNKNOWN
           User is not known to system.

EXAMPLES         top

       An example password section would be:

           #%PAM-1.0
           password     required       pam_pwhistory.so
           password     required       pam_unix.so        use_authtok

       In combination with pam_passwdqc:

           #%PAM-1.0
           password     required       pam_passwdqc.so    config=/etc/passwdqc.conf
           password     required       pam_pwhistory.so   use_authtok
           password     required       pam_unix.so        use_authtok

FILES         top

       /etc/security/opasswd
           Default file with password history

SEE ALSO         top

       pwhistory.conf(5), pam.conf(5), pam.d(5), pam(8)
       pam_get_authtok(3)

AUTHOR         top

       pam_pwhistory was written by Thorsten Kukuk <[email protected]>

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the linux-pam (Pluggable Authentication
       Modules for Linux) project.  Information about the project can be
       found at ⟨http://www.linux-pam.org/⟩.  If you have a bug report
       for this manual page, see ⟨//www.linux-pam.org/⟩.  This page was
       obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/linux-pam/linux-pam.git⟩ on 2023-12-22.  (At
       that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
       the repository was 2023-12-18.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       [email protected]

Linux-PAM Manual               12/22/2023               PAM_PWHISTORY(8)

Pages that refer to this page: pwhistory.conf(5)pwhistory_helper(8)