1FAILLOCK.CONF(5) Linux-PAM Manual FAILLOCK.CONF(5)
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6 faillock.conf - pam_faillock configuration file
7
9 faillock.conf provides a way to configure the default settings for
10 locking the user after multiple failed authentication attempts. This
11 file is read by the pam_faillock module and is the preferred method
12 over configuring pam_faillock directly.
13 The file has a very simple name = value format with possible comments
15 starting with # character. The whitespace at the beginning of line, end
16 of line, and around the = sign is ignored.
17
19 dir=/path/to/tally-directory
20 The directory where the user files with the failure records are
21 kept. The default is /var/run/faillock.
22 audit
24 Will log the user name into the system log if the user is not
25 found.
26 silent
28 Don't print informative messages to the user. Please note that when
29 this option is not used there will be difference in the
30 authentication behavior for users which exist on the system and
31 non-existing users.
32 no_log_info
34 Don't log informative messages via syslog(3).
35 local_users_only
37 Only track failed user authentications attempts for local users in
38 /etc/passwd and ignore centralized (AD, IdM, LDAP, etc.) users. The
39 faillock(8) command will also no longer track user failed
40 authentication attempts. Enabling this option will prevent a
41 double-lockout scenario where a user is locked out locally and in
42 the centralized mechanism.
43 nodelay
45 Don't enforce a delay after authentication failures.
46 deny=n
48 Deny access if the number of consecutive authentication failures
49 for this user during the recent interval exceeds n. The default is
50 3.
51 fail_interval=n
53 The length of the interval during which the consecutive
54 authentication failures must happen for the user account lock out
55 is n seconds. The default is 900 (15 minutes).
56 unlock_time=n
58 The access will be re-enabled after n seconds after the lock out.
59 The value 0 has the same meaning as value never - the access will
60 not be re-enabled without resetting the faillock entries by the
61 faillock(8) command. The default is 600 (10 minutes).
62 Note that the default directory that pam_faillock uses is usually
64 cleared on system boot so the access will be also re-enabled after
65 system reboot. If that is undesirable a different tally directory
66 must be set with the dir option.
67 Also note that it is usually undesirable to permanently lock out
69 users as they can become easily a target of denial of service
70 attack unless the usernames are random and kept secret to potential
71 attackers.
72 even_deny_root
74 Root account can become locked as well as regular accounts.
75 root_unlock_time=n
77 This option implies even_deny_root option. Allow access after n
78 seconds to root account after the account is locked. In case the
79 option is not specified the value is the same as of the unlock_time
80 option.
81 admin_group=name
83 If a group name is specified with this option, members of the group
84 will be handled by this module the same as the root account (the
85 options even_deny_root and root_unlock_time will apply to them. By
86 default the option is not set.
87
89 /etc/security/faillock.conf file example:
90 deny=4
92 unlock_time=1200
93 silent
94
97 /etc/security/faillock.conf
98 the config file for custom options
99
101 faillock(8), pam_faillock(8), pam.conf(5), pam.d(5), pam(8)
102
104 pam_faillock was written by Tomas Mraz. The support for faillock.conf
105 was written by Brian Ward.
106Linux-PAM Manual 09/03/2021 FAILLOCK.CONF(5)