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gentoo_weazle
n00b
Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 1:13 pm Post subject: HOWTO: pam_usb login with USB memory stick |
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HOWTO: pam_usb login with USB memory stick
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Introduction
This relates to a project of mine, a Single Sign On solution using a usb-memory stick. An advantage is when you have too many passwords to remember, SSO brings this back to one password and one point where you have to login and then use these credentials to access all your applications and resources. For example your webmail, forums etc.
Goals:
- Login locally with your usb memory stick on the console (this howto)
- Login locally with your usb memory stick on XDM,GDM,KDM
- The possibility to remotely login (via ssh) with the the usb memory stick
- A layer build on top of the linux login process (locally/remote) which handles the authenication between the the usb memory stick and the keyserver/ Certificate Authority
Comments are welcome 
PAM_USB
1. emerge pam_usb
2. Read the Quickstart and Options files on http://www.pamusb.org/
5. Make the keys on the usb memory stick, as described in the Quickstart. I made one for root and one for my normal user account. I used a DSA keypair of 4096 bits 
| Code: |
usbadm keygen [/path/to/mounted/usbmemorystick] [username] [bits]
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Check if the keys are made correctly. They are in the .auth directory on the usb memory stick.
Simply by issueing a command like
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more .auth/[username].[hostname]
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If it spits out all kind of DSA code gibberish, the key is ok.
6. BACKUP all the /etc/pam.d files somewhere, in case something goes wrong.
7. Configuration:
- Make the logfile (for debugging purposes)
make a empty file:
| Code: |
vi /var/log/pam_usb.log
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save & exit.
- Edit /etc/pam.d/login. Check whether your filesystem is vfat, otherwise replace fs= with your filesystem on the usb memory stick, e.g reiserfs or ext3 or whatever.
example:
| Code: |
auth required pam_usb.so force_device=/dev/sda fs=vfat check_if_mounted=1 debug=1 log_file=/var/log/pam_usb.log
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My /etc/pam.d/login file:
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#
# The PAM configuration file for the Shadow `login' service
#
# NOTE: If you use a session module (such as kerberos or NIS+)
# that retains persistent credentials (like key caches, etc), you
# need to enable the `CLOSE_SESSIONS' option in /etc/login.defs
# in order for login to stay around until after logout to call
# pam_close_session() and cleanup.
#
# Outputs an issue file prior to each login prompt (Replaces the
# ISSUE_FILE option from login.defs). Uncomment for use
# auth required pam_issue.so issue=/etc/issue
# Disallows root logins except on tty's listed in /etc/securetty
# (Replaces the `CONSOLE' setting from login.defs)
#auth requisite pam_securetty.so
# Disallows other than root logins when /etc/nologin exists
# (Replaces the `NOLOGINS_FILE' option from login.defs)
#auth requisite pam_nologin.so
# This module parses /etc/environment (the standard for setting
# environ vars) and also allows you to use an extended config
# file /etc/security/pam_env.conf.
# (Replaces the `ENVIRON_FILE' setting from login.defs)
auth required pam_env.so
auth required pam_usb.so force_device=/dev/sda fs=vfat check_if_mounted=1 debug=1 log_file=/var/log/pam_usb.log
# Standard Un*x authentication. The "nullok" line allows passwordless
# accounts.
@include common-auth
# This allows certain extra groups to be granted to a user
# based on things like time of day, tty, service, and user.
# Please uncomment and edit /etc/security/group.conf if you
# wish to use this.
# (Replaces the `CONSOLE_GROUPS' option in login.defs)
# auth optional pam_group.so
# Uncomment and edit /etc/security/time.conf if you need to set
# time restrainst on logins.
# (Replaces the `PORTTIME_CHECKS_ENAB' option from login.defs
# as well as /etc/porttime)
account requisite pam_time.so
# Uncomment and edit /etc/security/access.conf if you need to
# set access limits.
# (Replaces /etc/login.access file)
account required pam_access.so
# Standard Un*x account and session
#@include common-account
@include common-session
# Sets up user limits, please uncomment and read /etc/security/limits.conf
# to enable this functionality.
# (Replaces the use of /etc/limits in old login)
# session required pam_limits.so
# Prints the last login info upon succesful login
# (Replaces the `LASTLOG_ENAB' option from login.defs)
#session optional pam_lastlog.so
# Prints the motd upon succesful login
# (Replaces the `MOTD_FILE' option in login.defs)
#session optional pam_motd.so
# Prints the status of the user's mailbox upon succesful login
# (Replaces the `MAIL_CHECK_ENAB' option from login.defs). You
# can also enable a MAIL environment variable from here, but it
# is better handled by /etc/login.defs, since userdel also uses
# it to make sure that removing a user, also removes their mail
# spool file.
#session optional pam_mail.so standard noenv
@include common-password
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9. Test stuff
Depending on how you set the mode on pam_usb, play a little around with it. There are 3 modes according to the Quickstart:
1. Unique
auth required pam_usb.so
2. Alternative
auth sufficient pam_usb.so
3. Additional
auth required pam_usb.so
I found out that in Additional mode you cannot login if the usb memory stick isn't there (doh') and that you _can_ login if the stick is present.
8. If things go wrong
Well, I if you stare at the screen at errors like this:
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Authentication token is no longer valid; new one required.
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and you locked yourself out because you didn't leave a root terminal open 
*don't panic*
There are a couple of things you can do:
1. blame someone else
2. reboot into single user mode.I have GRUB installed as bootmanager so in the GRUB menu upon boot I edited the line starting the kernel and added the word "single" to it. Now your system will boot in single-user mode and you can login and repair the damage.[/list]
// end |
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latz-twn
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 08 Nov 2003
Posts: 95
Location: Luxembourg
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 1:58 pm Post subject: |
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sounds like fun! I will try this!
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gentoo_weazle
n00b
Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 9:30 am Post subject: Cool |
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Lemme know if it works and share your experience
// weazle |
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frilled
Retired Dev
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Posts: 386
Location: Atlantis, inner city ring
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| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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Did you try this with gdm/kdm? There's an xdm file in /etc/pam.d, but I don't know whether anything besides xdm will use it ... that'd be interesting 
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"Sir, we are out of further options." |
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coolsnowmen
Veteran
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 1479
Location: No.VA
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| Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 6:17 am Post subject: Passwordless kdm login |
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With:
/etc/pam.d/system-auth
| Code: | auth required pam_env.so
auth sufficient pam_usb.so fs=vfat debug=0 check_device=-1 check_if_mounted=-1 force_device=/dev/sda
auth sufficient pam_unix.so likeauth nullok
auth required pam_deny.so
account required pam_unix.so
password required pam_cracklib.so difok=2 minlen=8 dcredit=2 ocredit=2 retry=3
password sufficient pam_unix.so nullok md5 shadow use_authtok
password required pam_deny.so
session required pam_limits.so
session required pam_unix.so
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I have passwordless kdm and shell logins. I do not know the difference between putting it here or the login file. This is simply what I tried first, and I love it. |
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salam
Apprentice
Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 191
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| Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:41 am Post subject: |
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i keep getting these messages:
[pam.c:203] Cannot authenticate user "root"
though i want not root to be authenticated, but common user
in /etc/pam_usb/hotplug.conf i have AUTH=username and USER=username, but it is still trying root
how can i fix this? |
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scottevil
n00b
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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this is trivial but
| Code: | vi /var/log/pam_usb.log
:wq
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could be changed to:
| Code: | | touch /var/log/pam_usb.log |
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Allochtoon
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 22 Jan 2004
Posts: 123
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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| Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:49 am Post subject: |
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I have to say i love this howto.
But since today i use rxvt-unicode and it wont let me 'su' without a password anymore. Where should i look? |
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glowworm
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 85
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| Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 5:52 am Post subject: Re: Passwordless kdm login |
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Great howto and simple as anything to implement.
| coolsnowmen wrote: | With:
/etc/pam.d/system-auth |
This is the mode I ended choosing too, it looks like the /etc/pam.d/login file structure has changed somewhat and the suggested file contents in the OP are no longer valid (so it seems) the trivial change to system-auth works nicely though.
This is great... it allows quite a complex backup password for emergency/remote access with the physical key to allow simple quick passwordless login when at the console.
Hmmm, I wonder if a dead mans switch can be added so the session is force logged out if the key is removed.
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beatryder
Veteran
Joined: 08 Apr 2005
Posts: 1138
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| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I managed to get this working... I found that the version of pam_usb in portage is old. Once I upgraded to the newest version everything worked great!
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