6.7. pam_exec - call an external command

pam_exec.so [ debug ] [ expose_authtok ] [ seteuid ] [ quiet ] [ log=file ] command [ ... ]

6.7.1. DESCRIPTION

pam_exec is a PAM module that can be used to run an external command.

The child's environment is set to the current PAM environment list, as returned by pam_getenvlist(3) In addition, the following PAM items are exported as environment variables: PAM_RHOST, PAM_RUSER, PAM_SERVICE, PAM_TTY, PAM_USER and PAM_TYPE, which contains one of the module types: account, auth, password, open_session and close_session.

Commands called by pam_exec need to be aware of that the user can have controll over the environment.

6.7.2. OPTIONS

debug

Print debug information.

expose_authtok

During authentication the calling command can read the password from stdin(3).

log=file

The output of the command is appended to file

quiet

Per default pam_exec.so will echo the exit status of the external command if it fails. Specifying this option will suppress the message.

seteuid

Per default pam_exec.so will execute the external command with the real user ID of the calling process. Specifying this option means the command is run with the effective user ID.

6.7.3. MODULE SERVICES PROVIDED

The services auth, account, password and session are supported.

6.7.4. RETURN VALUES

PAM_SUCCESS

The external command runs successfull.

PAM_SERVICE_ERR

No argument or a wrong number of arguments were given.

PAM_SYSTEM_ERR

A system error occurred or the command to execute failed.

PAM_IGNORE

pam_setcred was called, which does not execute the command.

6.7.5. EXAMPLES

Add the following line to /etc/pam.d/passwd to rebuild the NIS database after each local password change:

        password optional pam_exec.so seteuid /usr/bin/make -C /var/yp
      

6.7.6. AUTHOR

pam_exec was written by Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@thkukuk.de>.