# phpman > man > PAM_GROUP(8)

[PAM_GROUP(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAMGROUP/8/markdown)                              Linux-PAM Manual                              [PAM_GROUP(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAMGROUP/8/markdown)



## NAME
       pam_group - PAM module for group access

## SYNOPSIS
       **pam**___**group.so**

## DESCRIPTION
       The pam_group PAM module does not authenticate the user, but instead it grants group
       memberships (in the credential setting phase of the authentication module) to the user. Such
       memberships are based on the service they are applying for.

       By default rules for group memberships are taken from config file /etc/security/group.conf.

       This module's usefulness relies on the file-systems accessible to the user. The point being
       that once granted the membership of a group, the user may attempt to create a **setgid** binary
       with a restricted group ownership. Later, when the user is not given membership to this
       group, they can recover group membership with the precompiled binary. The reason that the
       file-systems that the user has access to are so significant, is the fact that when a system
       is mounted _nosuid_ the user is unable to create or execute such a binary file. For this module
       to provide any level of security, all file-systems that the user has write access to should
       be mounted _nosuid_.

       The pam_group module functions in parallel with the /etc/group file. If the user is granted
       any groups based on the behavior of this module, they are granted _in_ _addition_ to those
       entries /etc/group (or equivalent).

## OPTIONS
       This module does not recognise any options.

## MODULE TYPES PROVIDED
       Only the **auth** module type is provided.

## RETURN VALUES
       PAM_SUCCESS
           group membership was granted.

       PAM_ABORT
           Not all relevant data could be gotten.

       PAM_BUF_ERR
           Memory buffer error.

       PAM_CRED_ERR
           Group membership was not granted.

       PAM_IGNORE
           **pam**___**sm**___**authenticate** was called which does nothing.

       PAM_USER_UNKNOWN
           The user is not known to the system.

## FILES
       /etc/security/group.conf
           Default configuration file

## SEE ALSO
       [**group.conf**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/group.conf/5/markdown), [**pam.d**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pam.d/5/markdown), [**pam**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pam/7/markdown).

## AUTHORS
       pam_group was written by Andrew G. Morgan <<morgan@kernel.org>>.



Linux-PAM Manual                             06/08/2020                                 [PAM_GROUP(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAMGROUP/8/markdown)