Pam_rootok (8) Linux Manual Page

pam_rootok – Gain only root access

Synopsis

pam_rootok.so [debug]

Description

pam_rootok is a PAM module that authenticates the user if their UID is 0. Applications that are created setuid-root generally retain the UID of the user but run with the authority of an enhanced effective-UID. It is the real UID that is checked.

Options

debug

Print debug information.

Module Types Provided

The auth, account and password module types are provided.

Return Values

PAM_SUCCESS

The UID is 0.

PAM_AUTH_ERR

The UID is not 0.

Examples

In the case of the su(1) application the historical usage is to permit the superuser to adopt the identity of a lesser user without the use of a password. To obtain this behavior with PAM the following pair of lines are needed for the corresponding entry in the /etc/pam.d/su configuration file:

# su authentication. Root is granted access by default.
auth sufficient pam_rootok.so
auth required pam_unix.so

Author

pam_rootok was written by Andrew G. Morgan, <morgan [at] kernel.org>.

pam_rootok (8) Linux Manual Page