Ubuntu Manpage: faillock.conf - pam_faillock configuration file

Provided by: libpam-modules_1.5.3-7ubuntu2.3_amd64

NAME

       faillock.conf - pam_faillock configuration file

DESCRIPTION

       faillock.conf provides a way to configure the default settings for locking the user after multiple failed
       authentication attempts. This file is read by the pam_faillock module and is the preferred method over
       configuring pam_faillock directly.

       The file has a very simple name = value format with possible comments starting with # character. The
       whitespace at the beginning of line, end of line, and around the = sign is ignored.

OPTIONS

dir=/path/to/tally-directory
The directory where the user files with the failure records are kept. The default is
/var/run/faillock.

Note: These files will disappear after reboot on systems configured with directory /var/run/faillock
mounted on virtual memory.

audit
Will log the user name into the system log if the user is not found.

silent
Don't print informative messages to the user. Please note that when this option is not used there
will be difference in the authentication behavior for users which exist on the system and
non-existing users.

no_log_info
Don't log informative messages via syslog(3).

local_users_only
Only track failed user authentications attempts for local users in /etc/passwd and ignore centralized
(AD, IdM, LDAP, etc.) users. The faillock(8) command will also no longer track user failed
authentication attempts. Enabling this option will prevent a double-lockout scenario where a user is
locked out locally and in the centralized mechanism.

nodelay
Don't enforce a delay after authentication failures.

deny=n
Deny access if the number of consecutive authentication failures for this user during the recent
interval exceeds n. The default is 3.

fail_interval=n
The length of the interval during which the consecutive authentication failures must happen for the
user account lock out is n seconds. The default is 900 (15 minutes).

unlock_time=n
The access will be re-enabled after n seconds after the lock out. The value 0 has the same meaning as
value never - the access will not be re-enabled without resetting the faillock entries by the
faillock(8) command. The default is 600 (10 minutes).

Note that the default directory that pam_faillock uses is usually cleared on system boot so the
access will be also re-enabled after system reboot. If that is undesirable a different tally
directory must be set with the dir option.

Also note that it is usually undesirable to permanently lock out users as they can become easily a
target of denial of service attack unless the usernames are random and kept secret to potential
attackers.

even_deny_root
Root account can become locked as well as regular accounts.

root_unlock_time=n
This option implies even_deny_root option. Allow access after n seconds to root account after the
account is locked. In case the option is not specified the value is the same as of the unlock_time
option.

admin_group=name
If a group name is specified with this option, members of the group will be handled by this module
the same as the root account (the options even_deny_root and root_unlock_time will apply to them. By
default the option is not set.

EXAMPLES

       /etc/security/faillock.conf file example:

           deny=4
           unlock_time=1200
           silent

FILES

       /etc/security/faillock.conf
           the config file for custom options

AUTHOR