PAM_MATRIX(8)                                                    PAM_MATRIX(8)

NAME
       pam_matrix - A PAM test module to retrieve module-specific PAM items

SYNOPSIS
       pam_matrix.so [...]

DESCRIPTION
       Testing PAM application often requires to set up an authentication
       backend with as little effort as possible. The pam_matrix module allows
       one to authenticate against a key-value text file, provided by an
       option or with an environment variable.

IMPORTANT
       pam_matrix is a test tool. It should be considered completely insecure
       and never used outside test environments! As you'll see when reading
       description of the options and actions, many of them don't make any
       sense in the real world and were added just to make tests possible.

PASSWORD DATABASE
       The pam_matrix module authenticates user against a plain-text CSV file.
       The format of the file is as follows:

           username:password:allowed_service

       Example: User bob allowed to authenticate with the service sshd

           bob:secret:sshd

OPTIONS
       o   passdb=/path/to/file - the patch to the password database. If the
           database is not provided with this module option, pam_matrix.so
           reads the PAM_MATRIX_PASSWD environment variable and tries to load
           the file from there. If that fails as well, PAM_AUTHINFO_UNAVAIL is
           returned.

       o   echo - if this option is provided, pam_matrix.so will ask for
           password using PAM_PROMPT_ECHO_ON, that is, the password will be
           echoed back to user. This option was added to make it possible to
           test conversation functions better.

       o   verbose - if this option is provided, pam_matrix.so will display a
           PAM_TEXT_INFO message when authentication succeeds and a
           PAM_ERROR_MSG when authentication fails. This option was added to
           make it possible to test conversation functions better.

MODULE TYPES PROVIDED
       All module types (account, auth, password and session) are supported.

       The auth module searches for the user in the passdb file and compares
       the provided password with the one in the passdb file.

       The password module is able to update the password in the passdb file.

       The access module compares the service name the PAM conversation was
       invoked with the allowed service for the user as set in the passdb
       file.

       The session module sets the HOMEDIR PAM environment variable to
       "/home/%u" where %u stands for the user who opens the session. The
       variable is unset on session close.

EXAMPLE
           auth        required    pam_matrix.so passdb=/tmp/passdb verbose
           account     required    pam_matrix.so passdb=/tmp/passdb verbose
           password    required    pam_matrix.so passdb=/tmp/passdb verbose
           session     required    pam_matrix.so passdb=/tmp/passdb verbose

                                  2015-11-04                     PAM_MATRIX(8)