This repository contains three modules that are typically used to perform requests to a TACACS+ server:
libtac- core TACACS+ client librarypam_tacplus- PAM module for authenticating users against TACACS+tacc- a simple command-line TACACS+ client
The following core TACACS+ functions are supported:
- authentication
- authorization (account management)
- accounting (session management)
The TACACS+ protocol was designed by Cisco Systems back in 90's and was intended to provide simple means of validating users connecting to simple network routers (e.g. over PPP) against a central authentication server. The router can send queries about authentication (validate user credentials), authorization (entitlement for requested service) and accounting (marking the start and end of user's session). The server can respond with either simple yes/no response, or send back attributes, such as text of a password prompt, effectively instructing the router to present it to the user and send back the obtained password.
Unlike RADIUS, which was designed for similar purposes, the TACACS+ protocol offers basic packet encryption but, as with most crypto designed back then, it's not secure and definitely should not be used over untrusted networks.
This package has been successfully used with free [tac_plus][] TACACS+ server on variety of operating systems.
| Option | Management group | Description |
|---|---|---|
debug |
ALL | output debugging information via syslog(3); note, that the debugging is heavy, including passwords! |
secret |
ALL | string can be specified more than once; secret key used to encrypt/decrypt packets sent/received from the server |
server |
auth, session | string hostname, IP or hostname:port, can be specified more than once |
timeout |
ALL | integer connection timeout in seconds; default is 5 seconds |
login |
auth | TACACS+ authentication service, this can be pap, chap or login; default is pap |
prompt |
auth | string custom password prompt; use _ instead of spaces |
acct_all |
session | if multiple servers are supplied, pam_tacplus will send accounting start/stop packets to all servers on the list |
service |
account, session | string TACACS+ service for authorization and accounting |
protocol |
account, session | string TACACS+ protocol for authorization and accounting |
Semantics of these options only makes sense in the context of the TACACS+ specification - for example, a dial-up router might request ppp service with protocol ip for their users, authenticating them with pap protocol which reflects the typical usage of TACACS+ back in 90's. These values however do not really need to match the actual service offered by your server as the TACACS+ server only cares about the service and protocol fields matching what it has in its configuration.
The code uses standard GNU autotools:
$ ./auto.sh
$ ./configure && make && sudo make install
### Example configuration:
#%PAM-1.0 auth required /lib/security/pam_tacplus.so debug server=1.1.1.1 secret=SECRET-1 account required /lib/security/pam_tacplus.so debug secret=SECRET-1 service=ppp protocol=lcp account sufficient /lib/security/pam_exec.so /usr/local/bin/showenv.sh password required /lib/security/pam_cracklib.so password required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so shadow use_authtok session required /lib/security/pam_tacplus.so debug server=1.1.1.1 server=2.2.2.2 secret=SECRET-1 secret=SECRET-2 service=ppp protocol=lcp
### More on server lists:
1. Having more that one TACACS+ server defined for given management group
has following effects on authentication:
* if the first server on the list is unreachable or failing
pam\_tacplus will try to authenticate the user against the other
servers until it succeeds
* the `first_hit' option has been deprecated
* when the authentication function gets a positive reply from
a server, it saves its address for future use by account
management function (see below)
2. The account management (authorization) function asks *only one*
TACACS+ server and it ignores the whole server list passed from command
line. It uses server saved by authentication function after successful
authenticating user on that server. We assume that the server is
authoriative for queries about that user.
3. The session management (accounting) functions obtain their server lists
independently from the other functions. This allows you to account user
sessions on different servers than those used for authentication and
authorization.
* normally, without the `acct_all' modifier, the extra servers
on the list will be considered as backup servers, mostly like
in point 1. i.e. they will be used only if the first server
on the list will fail to accept our accounting packets
* with `acct_all' pam_tacplus will try to deliver the accounting
packets to all servers on the list; failure of one of the servers
will make it try another one
this is useful when your have several accounting, billing or
logging hosts and want to have the accounting information appear
on all of them at the same time
### Short introduction to PAM via TACACS+:
This diagram should show general idea of how the whole process looks:
+-----+
Authen -user/pass valid?----------> | T S |
/ | A e |
PAM- Author -service allowed?----------> | C r |
^ \ | A v |
| Acct ,-----start session----------> | C e |
| `----stop session-----------> | S r |
Application +-----+
Client Host Network Server Host
Consider `login' application:
1. Login accepts username and password from the user.
2. Login calls PAM function pam\_authenticate() to verify if the
supplied username/password pair is valid.
3. PAM loads pam\_tacplus module (as defined in /etc/pam.d/login)
and calls pam\_sm\_authenticate() function supplied by this module.
4. This function sends an encrypted packet to the TACACS+ server.
The packet contains username and password to verify. TACACS+ server
replied with either positive or negative response. If the reponse
is negative, the whole thing is over
5. PAM calls another function from pam\_tacplus - pam\_sm\_acct\_mgmt().
This function is expected to verify whether the user is allowed
to get the service he's requesting (in this case: unix shell).
The function again verifies the permission on TACACS+ server. Assume
the server granted the user with requested service.
6. Before user gets the shell, PAM calls one another function from
pam\_tacplus - pam\_sm\_open\_session(). This results in sending an
accounting START packet to the server. Among other things it contains
the terminal user loggen in on and the time session started.
7. When user logs out, pam\_sm\_close\_session() sends STOP packet to the
server. The whole session is closed.
### TACACS+ client program
The library comes with a simple TACACS+ client program `tacc` which can be used for testing as well as simple scripting. Sample usage:
tacc --authenticate --authorize --account --username user1 --password pass1 --server localhost --remote 1.1.1.1 --secret enckey1 --service ppp --protocol ip --login pap
This configuration runs full AAA round (authentication, authorization and accounting). The `server` and `secret` option specify server connection parameters and all remaining options supply data specific to TACACS+ protocol. The `tac_plus` daemon (found in `tacacs+` package in Debian and Ubuntu) can be used for testing with the following example configuration:
key = enckey1 user = user1 { global = cleartext "pass1" service = ppp protocol = ip { addr=8.8.8.8 } }
For debugging run the `tac_plus` server with the following options - the `-d 512` will debug encryption, for other values see `man 8 tac_plus`:
tac_plus -C /etc/tacacs+/tac_plus.conf -G -g -d 512
### Limitations:
* only subset of TACACS+ protocol is supported; it's enough for most need, though
* `tacc` does not support password prompts and other interactive protocol features
### Authors:
Pawel Krawczyk <pawel.krawczyk@hush.com>
https://ipsec.pl/
Jeroen Nijhof <jeroen@jeroennijhof.nl>