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PAM_CANONICALIZE_USE

Section: Linux-PAM Manual (8)
Updated: 02/02/2026
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NAME

pam_canonicalize_user - Get user name and canonicalize it

SYNOPSIS

pam_canonicalize_user.so

DESCRIPTION

This PAM module uses the name of the user obtained via pam_get_user(3) as a key to query the password database, and replaces PAM_USER with the pw_name value that has been returned.

OPTIONS

This module does not recognise any options.

MODULE TYPES PROVIDED

Only the auth module type is provided.

RETURN VALUES

PAM_IGNORE

: The user name was set successfully.

PAM_USER_UNKNOWN

: The user was not found.

PAM_SYSTEM_ERR

: The application did not supply neither a user name nor a conversation method.

PAM_INCOMPLETE

: The conversation method supplied by the application is waiting for an event.

PAM_CONV_ERR

: The conversation method supplied by the application failed to obtain the user name.

PAM_ABORT

: Error resuming an old conversation.

PAM_BUF_ERR

: Memory buffer error.

EXAMPLES

Prepend the PAM auth stack with the following line to canonicalize the user name before the authentication:

        auth required pam_canonicalize_user.so

AUTHOR

pam_canonicalize_user was written by Dmitry V. Levin <ldv@strace.io>.