verifying a login w/ /etc/shadow

exodist · 11-16-2005, 09:19 AM

I am writing a web-interface program that needs users to logon. I want any user on the system to be able to log on if they are a member of a specific group. What I need to know is how the passwords are encrypted into /etc/shadow. I thought it was md5, but trying 'echo "thepassword" | md5sum' did not return the same encrypted form as the one I see in /etc/shadow.

MY question: what program do I pass the plaintext form of the password to to obtain the encrypted form I would use to compare w/ the one in /etc/shadow for logins.

unSpawn · 11-17-2005, 08:12 AM

Your question should be: "I understand I should not try and invent the wheel again, especially since tried and tested methods exist. So please explain how I can use the standard Linux authentication framework (PAM) to it's full advantage."

//Moderator note: this thread should go to /Programming, since it's a coding issue, not a security issue.

exodist · 11-17-2005, 08:39 AM

ok, so do I move the thread or do you? and also I am not looking for a way to code it, I am looking for a command I can run...

Krugger · 11-17-2005, 09:21 AM

check if you have a checkpassword command, if you don't. Check http://checkpasswd-pam.sourceforge.net/ for an improved version of it.

exodist · 11-17-2005, 01:20 PM

ok, I installed check-password not check-password-pam, I am not using pam. I run checkpassword and it just exits... I try --help and it just exits, I type man checkpassword and it says no entry... how do I use it?