[comp.unix.aix] Invalidating Users

james@engrss2.unl.edu (James Nau) (06/21/91)

Does anyone know of a way to invalidate a user so that a message is
displayed, and the user is logged off, and ftp access is disabled?
I've tried replacing the shell with a program that prints out a
message.  Worked great.  But that still allowed FTP access to the account.

The only alternative that I can see is to either a) change the password
on the account, or b) mark that password in /etc/passwd to be a "*".
Both of these will disable the account, but won't allow a message to be
printed.

Also, I'm running NIS, but that hasn't mattered (that I know of) for
what I've tried.

Thanks
James

james@engrs.unl.edu

jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F Haugh II) (06/24/91)

In article <1991Jun21.163259.6777@unlinfo.unl.edu> james@engrss2.unl.edu (James Nau) writes:
>Does anyone know of a way to invalidate a user so that a message is
>displayed, and the user is logged off, and ftp access is disabled?
>I've tried replacing the shell with a program that prints out a
>message.  Worked great.  But that still allowed FTP access to the account.

There is a file, /etc/shells, which lists the shells which a user may
have and be granted FTP access.  The /etc/shells file was replaced by
the "shells" attribute in /etc/security/login.cfg and I suspect the
people in TCP/IP didn't get the message.

>The only alternative that I can see is to either a) change the password
>on the account, or b) mark that password in /etc/passwd to be a "*".
>Both of these will disable the account, but won't allow a message to be
>printed.

Create the file /etc/shells and add the names of the valid login shells
on separate lines.  Your program shouldn't be listed, nor should the UUCP
and other "special" commands.
-- 
John F. Haugh II        | Distribution to  | UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
Ma Bell: (512) 255-8251 | GEnie PROHIBITED :-) |  Domain: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org
"UNIX signals are not interrupts.  Worse, SIGCHLD/SIGCLD is not even a UNIX
 signal, it's an abomination."  -- Doug Gwyn

james@engrs.unl.edu (James Nau) (06/25/91)

In article <19397@rpp386.cactus.org> jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F Haugh II) writes:
>In article <1991Jun21.163259.6777@unlinfo.unl.edu> james@engrss2.unl.edu (James Nau) writes:
>>Does anyone know of a way to invalidate a user so that a message is
>>displayed, and the user is logged off, and ftp access is disabled?
>
>There is a file, /etc/shells, which lists the shells which a user may
>have and be granted FTP access.  The /etc/shells file was replaced by
>the "shells" attribute in /etc/security/login.cfg and I suspect the
>people in TCP/IP didn't get the message.
>-- 
>John F. Haugh II  | Distribution to  | UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh

This is just what I was looking for.  Thanks!  As it turns out, /etc/shells
is NOT needed.  It is indeed the shells attribute in /etc/security/login.cfg.
My problem was that I had the shell in there (mkuser requires it).  Then,
I'd try testing against the same machine...  But, removing my shell from
the shells= attribute, then ftp'ing, did indeed as I wanted.  ie, no ftp
access, a message printed out at login, and the user logged off.

James