Step by Step Guide for Configuration of Yubico PAM module to provide Two-factor legacy Username + password + YubiKey OTP authentication for RADIUS server.
The purpose of this document is to guide readers through the configuration steps to enable two factor authentication using YubiKey and RADIUS server on Linux platform. This document assumes that the reader has advance knowledge and experience in Linux system administration, particularly how to configure PAM authentication mechanism on a Linux platform.
Although this configuration guide focuses on configuration of radiusd daemon for local authentication using the custom database (we have used /etc/passwd), radiusd can be configured easily to use centralized LDAP database for authentication or any popular directory service by configuring appropriate PAM modules in radiusd PAM configuration file.
Successful configuration of the Yubico PAM module to support two factor authentication for RADIUS requires following prerequisites:
|
Operating System
|
Any Unix operating system which supports PAM (Pluggable Authentication Module) |
|
Complier
|
|
|
FreeRADIUS
|
Version: 1.1.7 or later |
|
Yubico PAM Module
|
Version 1.8 |
We assume that FreeRADIUS is already installed on the server.
Edit the radiusd configuration file /etc/raddb/radiusd.conf to make
following changes:
Change user and group to “root” to provide the root privileges to radiusd daemon so that it can call and use pam modules for authentication.
In “authenticate” section uncomment pam to direct radiusd daemon to use PAM module for authentication
|
Note
|
Generally, it is not a good security practice to assign root privileges to a user for a daemon. However, since use of PAM requires root privileges, this is a mandatory step here. |
Add sample client for testing in the client configuration
file /etc/raddb/clients.conf.
Edit the user configuration file /etc/raddb/users, changing
DEFAULT Auth-Type = System to DEFAULT Auth-Type = pam for using
PAM modules for user authentication.
Build instructions for pam_yubico are available in the README. (https://developers.yubico.com/yubico-pam/)
Configuration instructions for pam_yubico are also available in the README. (https://developers.yubico.com/yubico-pam/)
|
Note
|
Make sure you set your system up for either central authorization mapping, or user level mapping, as this will control which users can connect to the system using RADIUS. |
Append the following line to the beginning of /etc/pam.d/radiusd file:
auth required pam_yubico.so id=16 debug authfile=/etc/yubikey_mappings
After the above configuration changes, whenever a user connects to the server using any RADIUS client, the PAM authentication interface will pass the control to Yubico PAM module.
The Yubico PAM module first checks the presence of authfile argument in PAM configuration. If authfile argument is present, it parses the corresponding mapping file and verifies the username with corresponding YubiKey PublicID as configured in the mapping file.
If valid, the Yubico PAM module extracts the OTP string and sends it to the Yubico authentication server or else it reports failure. If authfile argument is present but the mapping file is not present at the provided path PAM module reports failure. After successful verification of OTP Yubico PAM module from the Yubico authentication server, a success code is returned.
Although, user level configuration of pam_yubico is possible, this might not be a desired configuration option in case of radisud daemon in most enterprise.
Local effective SElinux policy must be updated to provide sufficient privileges to radiusd daemon on system resources. Please follow the steps below to configure effective selinux policy for radiusd daemon:
Start the radiusd daemon
Test the RADIUS authentication with the test case provided in “Testing the configuration” section below
As radiusd daemon doesn’t have sufficient selinux privileges to access the system resources required for using pam modules, the RADIUS authentication will fail.
This will create the logs in either “/var/log/messages” or in “/var/log/audit/audit.log” depending on the selinux configuration.
We can use audit2allow utility to provide selinux privileges to radiusd by using following sequence of commands:
[root@testsrv ~]# audit2allow -m local -l -i /var/log/messages > local.te [root@testsrv ~]# checkmodule -M -m -o local.mod local.te [root@testsrv ~]# semodule_package -o local.pp -m local.mod [root@testsrv ~]# semodule -i local.pp
For more selinux policy updating information and explanation of above commands please visit the following website:
http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/selinux-faq-fc5/#id2961385
Our test environment is as follows:
|
Operating System
|
Fedora release 8 (Werewolf) |
|
FreeRADIUS Server
|
Version 1.1.7 |
|
Yubico PAM
|
Version 1.8 |
|
/etc/pam.d/radiusd file
|
auth required pam_yubico.so authfile=/etc/yubikeyid id=16 debug auth include system-auth account required pam_nologin.so account include system-auth password include system-auth session include system-auth |
We have tested the pam_yubico configuration on following Linux sever platforms:
Fedora 8:
Operating system: Fedora release 8 (Werewolf)
FreeRADIUS Server : FreeRADIUS Version 1.1.7
Yubico PAM: pam_yubico Version 1.8
Fedora 6:
Operating system: Fedora Core release 6 (Zod)
FreeRADIUS Server : FreeRADIUS Version 1.1.7
Yubico PAM: pam_yubico Version 1.8
To test the RADIUS two factor authentication with YubiKey, we can use radtest radius client. The command is as follows:
[root@testsrv ~]# radtest {username} \
{password followed by YubiKey generated OTP} \
{radius-server}:{radius server port} \
{nas-port-number} \
{secret/ppphint/nasname}
[root@testsrv ~]# radtest test test123vrkvit...bekkjc 127.0.0.1 0 testing123
NOTE: The FreeRADIUS server version 1.1.3 seems to have problems regarding memory management and it may result in Segmentation Fault if configured with Yubico PAM module. We recommend using FreeRADIUS server version 1.1.7 or above.