#+TITLE: How BSD Authentication Works
#+DATE: 2020-11-02T16:49:46-05:00
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#+DESCRIPTION:
#+TAGS[]: openbsd
#+KEYWORDS[]: openbsd
#+SLUG:
#+SUMMARY:
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[[https://web.archive.org/web/20170327150148/http://www.penzin.net/bsdauth/]]
* History
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: history
:END:
OpenBSD is quite different from many other Unix-like operating
systems in several ways. One which I find interesting is the
authentication system. Most systems from AIX, Solaris, and Linux to
other BSDs including MacOS use some form of a system called
[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluggable_authentication_module][Pluggable Authentication Module]] (PAM). The two main implementations
are [[http://www.linux-pam.org/][Linux PAM]] and [[https://www.openpam.org/][OpenPAM]]. PAM modules are created as dynamically
loaded shared objects, which communicate using a set of somewhat
standardized interfaces ([[https://linux.die.net/man/3/pam][Linux-PAM]] and [[https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pam&apropos=0&sektion=3&manpath=FreeBSD+12.1-RELEASE+and+Ports&arch=default&format=html][OpenPAM]]). It's configured
using the [[https://linux.die.net/man/5/pam.d][pam.d]] directory for Linux PAM and [[https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pam.conf&sektion=5&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+12.1-RELEASE+and+Ports][pam.conf]] for OpenPAM.
PAM can best be described as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CXp3byvI1g][unstandardized black magic]].
OpenBSD on the other hand uses a mechanism called BSD
Authentication. It was originally developed for a now-defunct
proprietary operating system called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD/OS][BSD/OS]] by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Software_Design][Berkeley Software
Design Inc.]], who later donated the system. It was adopted by OpenBSD
in release 2.9. BSD Auth is comparatively much simpler than PAM.
Modules or, authentication "styles", are instead stand alone
applications or scripts that communicate over IPC. The module has no
ability to interfere with the parent and can very easily revoke
permissions using [[https://man.openbsd.org/pledge][=pledge(2)=]] or [[https://man.openbsd.org/unveil][=unveil(2)=]]. The BSD Authentication
system of configured through [[https://man.openbsd.org/login.conf][=login.conf(5)=]].
* Why
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: why
:END:
There isn't much on the internet about how to use BSD
Authentication. I was curious about how the internals worked, and I
figured someone else might be too :-).
* Documentation
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: documentation
:END:
All of the high level authentication functions are described in
[[https://man.openbsd.org/authenticate][=authenticate(3)=]], with the lower level functions being described in
[[https://man.openbsd.org/auth_subr][=auth_subr(3)=]].
Click on any function prototype in this post to see its definition.
All code snippets from this blog post belong to the OpenBSD contributors.
* BSD Auth Modules
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: modules
:END:
These programs or scripts are located in =/usr/libexec/auth/= with the
naming convention =login_