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Systems & Data Center · Advanced

Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM)

A modular Linux framework that lets applications authenticate users through configurable stacks of modules.

Definition

PAM configuration in /etc/pam.d defines auth, account, password and session stacks with control flags such as required, requisite, sufficient and optional. Modules handle tasks like password quality (pam_pwquality), lockout (pam_faillock) and home directory creation.

Example

pam_faillock configured with deny=5 locks an account after five failed logins.

Exam tip

Know the four PAM management groups and that requisite fails immediately while required continues the stack before failing.

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