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SUDOERS_TIMESTAMP(5)        BSD File Formats Manual       SUDOERS_TIMESTAMP(5)

NAME
     sudoers_timestamp — Sudoers Time Stamp Format

DESCRIPTION
     The sudoers plugin uses per-user time stamp files for credential caching.  Once a user has been
     authenticated, they may use sudo without a password for a short period of time (15 minutes
     unless overridden by the timestamp_timeout option).  By default, sudoers uses a separate record
     for each terminal, which means that a user's login sessions are authenticated separately.  The
     timestamp_type option can be used to select the type of time stamp record sudoers will use.

     A multi-record time stamp file format was introduced in sudo 1.8.10 that uses a single file per
     user.  Previously, a separate file was used for each user and terminal combination unless tty-
     based time stamps were disabled.  The new format is extensible and records of multiple types
     and versions may coexist within the same file.

     All records, regardless of type or version, begin with a 16-bit version number and a 16-bit
     record size.

     Time stamp records have the following structure:

     /* Time stamp entry types */
     #define TS_GLOBAL               0x01    /* not restricted by tty or ppid */
     #define TS_TTY                  0x02    /* restricted by tty */
     #define TS_PPID                 0x03    /* restricted by ppid */
     #define TS_LOCKEXCL             0x04    /* special lock record */

     /* Time stamp flags */
     #define TS_DISABLED             0x01    /* entry disabled */
     #define TS_ANYUID               0x02    /* ignore uid, only valid in key */

     struct timestamp_entry {
         unsigned short version;     /* version number */
         unsigned short size;        /* entry size */
         unsigned short type;        /* TS_GLOBAL, TS_TTY, TS_PPID */
         unsigned short flags;       /* TS_DISABLED, TS_ANYUID */
         uid_t auth_uid;             /* uid to authenticate as */
         pid_t sid;                  /* session ID associated with tty/ppid */
         struct timespec start_time; /* session/ppid start time */
         struct timespec ts;         /* time stamp (CLOCK_MONOTONIC) */
         union {
             dev_t ttydev;           /* tty device number */
             pid_t ppid;             /* parent pid */
         } u;
     };

     The timestamp_entry struct fields are as follows:

     version
           The version number of the timestamp_entry struct.  New entries are created with a version
           number of 2.  Records with different version numbers may coexist in the same file but are
           not inter-operable.

     size  The size of the record in bytes.

     type  The record type, currently TS_GLOBAL, TS_TTY, or TS_PPID.

     flags
           Zero or more record flags which can be bit-wise ORed together.  Supported flags are
           TS_DISABLED, for records disabled via sudo -k and TS_ANYUID, which is used only when
           matching records.

     auth_uid
           The user-ID that was used for authentication.  Depending on the value of the rootpw,
           runaspw and targetpw options, the user-ID may be that of the invoking user, the root
           user, the default runas user or the target user.

     sid   The ID of the user's terminal session, if present.  The session ID is only used when
           matching records of type TS_TTY.

     start_time
           The start time of the session leader for records of type TS_TTY or of the parent process
           for records of type TS_PPID.  The start_time is used to help prevent re-use of a time
           stamp record after a user has logged out.  Not all systems support a method to easily re‐
           trieve a process's start time.  The start_time field was added in sudoers version 1.8.22
           for the second revision of the timestamp_entry struct.

     ts    The actual time stamp.  A monotonic time source (which does not move backward) is used if
           the system supports it.  Where possible, sudoers uses a monotonic timer that increments
           even while the system is suspended.  The value of ts is updated each time a command is
           run via sudo.  If the difference between ts and the current time is less than the value
           of the timestamp_timeout option, no password is required.

     u.ttydev
           The device number of the terminal associated with the session for records of type TS_TTY.

     u.ppid
           The ID of the parent process for records of type TS_PPID.

LOCKING
     In sudoers versions 1.8.10 through 1.8.14, the entire time stamp file was locked for exclusive
     access when reading or writing to the file.  Starting in sudoers 1.8.15, individual records are
     locked in the time stamp file instead of the entire file and the lock is held for a longer pe‐
     riod of time.  This scheme is described below.

     The first record in the time stamp file is of type TS_LOCKEXCL and is used as a lock record to
     prevent more than one sudo process from adding a new record at the same time.  Once the desired
     time stamp record has been located or created (and locked), the TS_LOCKEXCL record is unlocked.
     The lock on the individual time stamp record, however, is held until authentication is com‐
     plete.  This allows sudoers to avoid prompting for a password multiple times when it is used
     more than once in a pipeline.

     Records of type TS_GLOBAL cannot be locked for a long period of time since doing so would in‐
     terfere with other sudo processes.  Instead, a separate lock record is used to prevent multiple
     sudo processes using the same terminal (or parent process ID) from prompting for a password as
     the same time.

SEE ALSO
     sudoers(5), sudo(8)

HISTORY
     Originally, sudo used a single zero-length file per user and the file's modification time was
     used as the time stamp.  Later versions of sudo added restrictions on the ownership of the time
     stamp files and directory as well as checks on the validity of the time stamp itself.  Notable
     changes were introduced in the following sudo versions:

     1.4.0
           Support for tty-based time stamp file was added by appending the terminal name to the
           time stamp file name.

     1.6.2
           The time stamp file was replaced by a per-user directory which contained any tty-based
           time stamp files.

     1.6.3p2
           The target user name was added to the time stamp file name when the targetpw option was
           set.

     1.7.3
           Information about the terminal device was stored in tty-based time stamp files for valid‐
           ity checks.  This included the terminal device numbers, inode number and, on systems
           where it was not updated when the device was written to, the inode change time.  This
           helped prevent re-use of the time stamp file after logout.

     1.8.6p7
           The terminal session ID was added to tty-based time stamp files to prevent re-use of the
           time stamp by the same user in a different terminal session.  It also helped prevent re-
           use of the time stamp file on systems where the terminal device's inode change time was
           updated by writing.

     1.8.10
           A new, multi-record time stamp file format was introduced that uses a single file per
           user.  The terminal device's change time was not included since most systems now update
           the change time after a write is performed as required by POSIX.

     1.8.15
           Individual records are locked in the time stamp file instead of the entire file and the
           lock is held until authentication is complete.

     1.8.22
           The start time of the terminal session leader or parent process is now stored in non-
           global time stamp records.  This prevents re-use of the time stamp file after logout in
           most cases.

           Support was added for the kernel-based tty time stamps available in OpenBSD which do not
           use an on-disk time stamp file.

AUTHORS
     Many people have worked on sudo over the years; this version consists of code written primarily
     by:

           Todd C. Miller

     See the CONTRIBUTORS file in the sudo distribution (https://www.sudo.ws/contributors.html) for
     an exhaustive list of people who have contributed to sudo.

BUGS
     If you feel you have found a bug in sudo, please submit a bug report at
     https://bugzilla.sudo.ws/

SUPPORT
     Limited free support is available via the sudo-users mailing list, see
     https://www.sudo.ws/mailman/listinfo/sudo-users to subscribe or search the archives.

DISCLAIMER
     sudo is provided “AS IS” and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to,
     the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed.
     See the LICENSE file distributed with sudo or https://www.sudo.ws/license.html for complete de‐
     tails.

Sudo 1.9.9                     October 20, 2019                     Sudo 1.9.9