pam_pwhistory — PAM module to remember last passwords

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DESCRIPTION

This module saves the last passwords for each user in order to force password
change history and keep the user from alternating between the same password too
frequently.

This module does not work together with kerberos. In general, it does not make
much sense to use this module in conjunction with NIS or LDAP, since the old
passwords are stored on the local machine and are not available on another
machine for password history checking.

OPTIONS

debug

    Turns on debugging via syslog(3).

use_authtok

    When password changing enforce the module to use the new password provided
    by a previously stacked password module (this is used in the example of the
    stacking of the pam_passwdqc module documented below).

enforce_for_root

    If this option is set, the check is enforced for root, too.

remember=N

    The last N passwords for each user are saved. The default is 10. Value of 0
    makes the module to keep the existing contents of the opasswd file
    unchanged.

retry=N

    Prompt user at most N times before returning with error. The default is 1.

authtok_type=STRING

    See pam_get_authtok(3) for more details.

file=/path/filename

    Store password history in file /path/filename rather than the default
    location. The default location is /etc/security/opasswd.

conf=/path/to/config-file

    Use another configuration file instead of the default /etc/security/
    pwhistory.conf.

The options for configuring the module behavior are described in the 
pwhistory.conf(5) manual page. The options specified on the module command line
override the values from the configuration file.

EXAMPLES

An example password section would be:

#%PAM-1.0
password     required       pam_pwhistory.so
password     required       pam_unix.so        use_authtok


In combination with pam_passwdqc:

#%PAM-1.0
password     required       pam_passwdqc.so    config=/etc/passwdqc.conf
password     required       pam_pwhistory.so   use_authtok
password     required       pam_unix.so        use_authtok


AUTHOR

pam_pwhistory was written by Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@thkukuk.de>

