Man page 8 : pam_listfile

pam_listfile - deny or allow services based on an arbitrary file

pam_listfile.so item=[tty|user|rhost|ruser|group|shell] sense=[allow|deny] file=/path/filename onerr=[succeed|fail] [apply=[user|\\fR]] [quiet]

pam_listfile is a PAM module which provides a way to deny or allow services based on an arbitrary file.

The module gets the item of the type specified -- user specifies the username, PAM_USER; tty specifies the name of the terminal over which the request has been made, PAM_TTY; rhost specifies the name of the remote host (if any) from which the request was made, PAM_RHOST; and ruser specifies the name of the remote user (if available) who made the request, PAM_RUSER -- and looks for an instance of that item in the file=\fBfilename\fR. filename contains one line per item listed. If the item is found, then if sense=\fBallow\fR, PAM_SUCCESS is returned, causing the authorization request to succeed; else if sense=\fBdeny\fR, PAM_AUTH_ERR is returned, causing the authorization request to fail.

If an error is encountered (for instance, if filename does not exist, or a poorly-constructed argument is encountered), then if onerr=succeed, PAM_SUCCESS is returned, otherwise if onerr=fail, PAM_AUTH_ERR or PAM_SERVICE_ERR (as appropriate) will be returned.

An additional argument, apply=, can be used to restrict the application of the above to a specific user (apply=\fBusername\fR) or a given group (apply=\\fR). This added restriction is only meaningful when used with the tty, rhost and shell items.

Besides this last one, all arguments should be specified; do not count on any default behavior.

No credentials are awarded by this module.

item=[tty|user|rhost|ruser|group|shell]
    What is listed in the file and should be checked for.

sense=[allow|deny]
    Action to take if found in file, if the item is NOT found in the file, then the opposite action is requested.

file=\fB/path/filename\fR
    File containing one item per line. The file needs to be a plain file and not world writable.

onerr=[succeed|fail]
    What to do if something weird happens like being unable to open the file.

apply=[\fBuser\fR|\\fR]
    Restrict the user class for which the restriction apply. Note that with item=[user|ruser|group] this does not make sense, but for item=[tty|rhost|shell] it have a meaning.

quiet
    Do not treat service refusals or missing list files as errors that need to be logged.

All module types (auth, account, password and session) are provided.

PAM_AUTH_ERR
    Authentication failure.

PAM_BUF_ERR
    Memory buffer error.

PAM_IGNORE
    The rule does not apply to the apply option.

PAM_SERVICE_ERR
    Error in service module.

PAM_SUCCESS
    Success.

Classic \'ftpusers\' authentication can be implemented with this entry in /etc/pam.d/ftpd:


    .

#
# deny ftp-access to users listed in the /etc/ftpusers file
#
auth    required       pam_listfile.so \
        onerr=succeed item=user sense=deny file=/etc/ftpusers

.

Note, users listed in /etc/ftpusers file are (counterintuitively) not allowed access to the ftp service.

To allow login access only for certain users, you can use a /etc/pam.d/login entry like this:


    .

#
# permit login to users listed in /etc/loginusers
#
auth    required       pam_listfile.so \
        onerr=fail item=user sense=allow file=/etc/loginusers

.

For this example to work, all users who are allowed to use the login service should be listed in the file /etc/loginusers. Unless you are explicitly trying to lock out root, make sure that when you do this, you leave a way for root to log in, either by listing root in /etc/loginusers, or by listing a user who is able to su to the root account.

pam.conf(5), pam.d(5), pam(7)

pam_listfile was written by Michael K. Johnson <> and Elliot Lee <>.