# pam_exec - PAM module which calls an external command - man(8) - [phpMan]

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

## NAME
       pam_exec - PAM module which calls an external command

## SYNOPSIS


       **pam_exec.so **[debug] [expose_authtok] [seteuid] [quiet] [quiet_log] [stdout] [log=_file_]
                   [type=_type_] _command_ [_..._]

## DESCRIPTION
       pam_exec is a PAM module that can be used to run an external command.

       The child's environment is set to the current PAM environment list, as returned by
       [**pam_getenvlist**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pamgetenvlist/3/markdown) In addition, the following PAM items are exported as environment variables:
       _PAM_RHOST_, _PAM_RUSER_, _PAM_SERVICE_, _PAM_TTY_, _PAM_USER_ and _PAM_TYPE_, which contains one of the
       module types: **account**, **auth**, **password**, **open_session **and **close_session**.

       Commands called by pam_exec need to be aware of that the user can have control over the
       environment.

## OPTIONS
       debug
           Print debug information.

       expose_authtok
           During authentication the calling command can read the password from [**stdin**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/stdin/3/markdown). Only first
           _PAM_MAX_RESP_SIZE_ bytes of a password are provided to the command.

       log=file
           The output of the command is appended to file

       type=type
           Only run the command if the module type matches the given type.

       stdout
           Per default the output of the executed command is written to /dev/null. With this option,
           the stdout output of the executed command is redirected to the calling application. It's
           in the responsibility of this application what happens with the output. The **log **option is
           ignored.

       quiet
           Per default pam_exec.so will echo the exit status of the external command if it fails.
           Specifying this option will suppress the message.

       quiet_log
           Per default pam_exec.so will log the exit status of the external command if it fails.
           Specifying this option will suppress the log message.

       seteuid
           Per default pam_exec.so will execute the external command with the real user ID of the
           calling process. Specifying this option means the command is run with the effective user
           ID.

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

## RETURN VALUES
       PAM_SUCCESS
           The external command was run successfully.

       PAM_BUF_ERR
           Memory buffer error.

       PAM_CONV_ERR
           The conversation method supplied by the application failed to obtain the username.

       PAM_INCOMPLETE
           The conversation method supplied by the application returned PAM_CONV_AGAIN.

       PAM_SERVICE_ERR
           No argument or a wrong number of arguments were given.

       PAM_SYSTEM_ERR
           A system error occurred or the command to execute failed.

       PAM_IGNORE
           **pam_setcred **was called, which does not execute the command. Or, the value given for the
           type= parameter did not match the module type.

## EXAMPLES
       Add the following line to /etc/pam.d/passwd to rebuild the NIS database after each local
       password change:

                   password optional pam_exec.so seteuid /usr/bin/make -C /var/yp


       This will execute the command

           make -C /var/yp

       with effective user ID.

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

## AUTHOR
       pam_exec was written by Thorsten Kukuk <<kukuk@thkukuk.de>> and Josh Triplett
       <<josh@joshtriplett.org>>.

Linux-PAM                                    05/07/2023                                  [_PAM_EXEC_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAMEXEC/8/markdown)