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pam_console(8)           System Administrator's Manual          pam_console(8)
NAME
       pam_console - determine user owning the system console
SYNOPSIS
       session optional pam_console.so
       auth required pam_console.so
DESCRIPTION
       pam_console.so  is designed to give users at the physical console (vir-
       tual terminals and local xdm-managed X sessions by default, but that is
       configurable)  capabilities  that they would not otherwise have, and to
       take those capabilities away when the are no longer logged  in  at  the
       console.   It provides two main kinds of capabilities: file permissions
       and authentication.
       When a user logs in at the console  and  no  other  user  is  currently
       logged  in  at  the  console,  pam_console.so will run handler programs
       specified in the file /etc/security/console.handlers such  as  pam_con-
       sole_apply   which  changes  permissions  and  ownership  of  files  as
       described in the file /etc/security/console.perms.  That user may  then
       log  in on other terminals that are considered part of the console, and
       as long as the user is still logged in at any one of  those  terminals,
       that  user  will own those devices.  When the user logs out of the last
       terminal, the console may be taken by the next user to log  in.   Other
       users  who have logged in at the console during the time that the first
       user was logged in will not be given ownership of  the  devices  unless
       they  log  in on one of the terminals; having done so on any one termi-
       nal, the next user will own those devices until he or  she  has  logged
       out  of  every terminal that is part of the physical console.  Then the
       race can start for the next user.  In practice, this is not a  problem;
       the physical console is not generally in use by many people at the same
       time, and pam_console.so just tries to do  the  right  thing  in  weird
       cases.
       When  an application attempts to authenticate the user and this user is
       already logged in at the console, pam_console.so checks  whether  there
       is  a  file in /etc/security/console.apps/ directory with the same name
       as the application servicename, and if such a file exists,  authentica-
       tion  succeeds. This way pam_console may be utilized to run some system
       applications (reboots, config tools) without root password, or to enter
       user password on the first system login only.
ARGUMENTS
       debug  turns on debugging
       allow_nonroot_tty
              gain  console  locks  and  change  permissions even if the TTY's
              owner is not root.
       handlersfile=filename
              tells pam_console.so to get the list of the handlers from a dif-
              ferent file than /etc/security/console.handlers
EXAMPLE
       /etc/pam.d/some-system-tool:
       auth sufficient pam_rootok.so
       auth required pam_console.so
       /etc/pam.d/some-login-service:
       auth sufficient pam_console.so
       auth required pam_unix.so
       session required pam_unix.so
       session optional pam_console.so
FILES
       /var/run/console/
       /var/run/console/console.lock
       /etc/security/console.apps
       /etc/security/console.handlers
SECURITY NOTES
       When pam_console "auth" is used for login services which provide possi-
       bility of remote login, it is necessary to make  sure  the  application
       correctly sets PAM_RHOST variable, or to deny remote logins completely.
       Currently, /bin/login (invoked from telnetd) and gdm is OK, others  may
       be not.
SEE ALSO
       console.perms(5)
       console.apps(5)
       console.handlers(5)
       pam_console_apply(8)
       /usr/share/doc/pam*/html/index.html
BUGS
       Let's  hope  not,  but if you find any, please report them via the "Bug
       Track" link at http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/
AUTHORS
       Michael K. Johnson <johnsonm AT redhat.com>
       Support of  console.handlers  and  other  improvements  by  Tomas  Mraz
       <tmraz AT redhat.com>
Red Hat                            2005/10/4                    pam_console(8)