Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 14:32:08 -0400 (EDT) From: "Ean Kingston" <ean@hedron.org> To: "Jason Stewart" <jstewart@rtl.org> Cc: Ean Kingston <ean@hedron.org> Subject: Re: suspending login Message-ID: <1318.216.220.59.169.1112812328.squirrel@216.220.59.169> In-Reply-To: <1112789082.28348.5.camel@mis3c.rtl.lan> References: <42531440.30103@adelphia.net> <200504051850.33281.ean@hedron.org> <1112789082.28348.5.camel@mis3c.rtl.lan>
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> On Tue, 2005-04-05 at 18:50 -0400, Ean Kingston wrote: >> On April 5, 2005 06:42 pm, Bob Ababurko wrote: >> > Hello all- >> > >> > I am trying to figure out how to suspend a login for a user. Do I >> have >> > to do this with password aging or is there an easier(read brute force) >> > way to disallow a user from logging in? >> >> the safest way is to set the shell to /sbin/nologin and the home >> directory >> to /nonexistant in your auth system. The latter is especially needed if >> you >> allow ssh for remote login since the public-key authentication >> mechanisms >> sometimes bypass the normal login restrictions. >> > > Am I mistaken here, or will doing that only deny the user a shell and > home directory? The user will still be able to authenticate against the > password database right? > > To the best of my knowledge the "correct" way of doing this is either > the asterisk method in the password field using vipw or the more user > friendly way of using pw(8) with the lock command. Yes, that will allow the user to authenticate against the password database but the user has no home directory and a shell that kicks the user out right away. If you change the password entry then, when you want to enable the user again, the user has to enter a new password. This way, the user keeps his/her old password. Note, the question asked for suspend, not remove. I read suspend as implying that the account may be used again. If what is wanted is a permanent removal of the user then the entire home-directory and it's contents should be removed as well. Also, a search for all files owned by that user needs to be done and those files need to be cleaned up. -- Ean Kingston E-Mail: ean_AT_hedron_DOT_org PGP KeyID: 1024D/CBC5D6BB URL: http://www.hedron.org/
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