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<h1><a href="../../index.html">MIT Kerberos Documentation</a></h1>
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<div class="section" id="kerberos">
<span id="kerberos-7"></span><h1>kerberos<a class="headerlink" href="#kerberos" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<div class="section" id="description">
<h2>DESCRIPTION<a class="headerlink" href="#description" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The Kerberos system authenticates individual users in a network
environment. After authenticating yourself to Kerberos, you can use
Kerberos-enabled programs without having to present passwords or
certificates to those programs.</p>
<p>If you receive the following response from <a class="reference internal" href="../user_commands/kinit.html#kinit-1"><span class="std std-ref">kinit</span></a>:</p>
<p>kinit: Client not found in Kerberos database while getting initial
credentials</p>
<p>you haven’t been registered as a Kerberos user. See your system
administrator.</p>
<p>A Kerberos name usually contains three parts. The first is the
<strong>primary</strong>, which is usually a user’s or service’s name. The second
is the <strong>instance</strong>, which in the case of a user is usually null.
Some users may have privileged instances, however, such as <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">root</span></code> or
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">admin</span></code>. In the case of a service, the instance is the fully
qualified name of the machine on which it runs; i.e. there can be an
ssh service running on the machine ABC (<a class="reference external" href="mailto:ssh/ABC%40REALM">ssh/ABC<span>@</span>REALM</a>), which is
different from the ssh service running on the machine XYZ
(<a class="reference external" href="mailto:ssh/XYZ%40REALM">ssh/XYZ<span>@</span>REALM</a>). The third part of a Kerberos name is the <strong>realm</strong>.
The realm corresponds to the Kerberos service providing authentication
for the principal. Realms are conventionally all-uppercase, and often
match the end of hostnames in the realm (for instance, host01.example.com
might be in realm EXAMPLE.COM).</p>
<p>When writing a Kerberos name, the principal name is separated from the
instance (if not null) by a slash, and the realm (if not the local
realm) follows, preceded by an “@” sign. The following are examples
of valid Kerberos names:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">david</span>
<span class="n">jennifer</span><span class="o">/</span><span class="n">admin</span>
<span class="n">joeuser</span><span class="nd">@BLEEP</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">COM</span>
<span class="n">cbrown</span><span class="o">/</span><span class="n">root</span><span class="nd">@FUBAR</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ORG</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>When you authenticate yourself with Kerberos you get an initial
Kerberos <strong>ticket</strong>. (A Kerberos ticket is an encrypted protocol
message that provides authentication.) Kerberos uses this ticket for
network utilities such as ssh. The ticket transactions are done
transparently, so you don’t have to worry about their management.</p>
<p>Note, however, that tickets expire. Administrators may configure more
privileged tickets, such as those with service or instance of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">root</span></code>
or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">admin</span></code>, to expire in a few minutes, while tickets that carry
more ordinary privileges may be good for several hours or a day. If
your login session extends beyond the time limit, you will have to
re-authenticate yourself to Kerberos to get new tickets using the
<a class="reference internal" href="../user_commands/kinit.html#kinit-1"><span class="std std-ref">kinit</span></a> command.</p>
<p>Some tickets are <strong>renewable</strong> beyond their initial lifetime. This
means that <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">kinit</span> <span class="pre">-R</span></code> can extend their lifetime without requiring
you to re-authenticate.</p>
<p>If you wish to delete your local tickets, use the <a class="reference internal" href="../user_commands/kdestroy.html#kdestroy-1"><span class="std std-ref">kdestroy</span></a>
command.</p>
<p>Kerberos tickets can be forwarded. In order to forward tickets, you
must request <strong>forwardable</strong> tickets when you kinit. Once you have
forwardable tickets, most Kerberos programs have a command line option
to forward them to the remote host. This can be useful for, e.g.,
running kinit on your local machine and then sshing into another to do
work. Note that this should not be done on untrusted machines since
they will then have your tickets.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="environment-variables">
<h2>ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES<a class="headerlink" href="#environment-variables" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Several environment variables affect the operation of Kerberos-enabled
programs. These include:</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><strong>KRB5CCNAME</strong></dt>
<dd><p class="first">Default name for the credentials cache file, in the form
<em>TYPE</em>:<em>residual</em>. The type of the default cache may determine
the availability of a cache collection. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">FILE</span></code> is not a
collection type; <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">KEYRING</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">DIR</span></code>, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">KCM</span></code> are.</p>
<p class="last">If not set, the value of <strong>default_ccache_name</strong> from
configuration files (see <strong>KRB5_CONFIG</strong>) will be used. If that
is also not set, the default <em>type</em> is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">FILE</span></code>, and the
<em>residual</em> is the path /tmp/krb5cc_*uid*, where <em>uid</em> is the
decimal user ID of the user.</p>
</dd>
<dt><strong>KRB5_KTNAME</strong></dt>
<dd>Specifies the location of the default keytab file, in the form
<em>TYPE</em>:<em>residual</em>. If no <em>type</em> is present, the <strong>FILE</strong> type is
assumed and <em>residual</em> is the pathname of the keytab file. If
unset, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">FILE:/etc/krb5.keytab</span></code> will be used.</dd>
<dt><strong>KRB5_CONFIG</strong></dt>
<dd>Specifies the location of the Kerberos configuration file. The
default is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/etc</span></code><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/krb5.conf</span></code>. Multiple filenames can
be specified, separated by a colon; all files which are present
will be read.</dd>
<dt><strong>KRB5_KDC_PROFILE</strong></dt>
<dd>Specifies the location of the KDC configuration file, which
contains additional configuration directives for the Key
Distribution Center daemon and associated programs. The default
is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/var/lib</span></code><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/krb5kdc</span></code><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/kdc.conf</span></code>.</dd>
<dt><strong>KRB5RCACHETYPE</strong></dt>
<dd>Specifies the default type of replay cache to use for servers.
Valid types include <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dfl</span></code> for the normal file type and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">none</span></code>
for no replay cache. The default is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dfl</span></code>.</dd>
<dt><strong>KRB5RCACHEDIR</strong></dt>
<dd>Specifies the default directory for replay caches used by servers.
The default is the value of the <strong>TMPDIR</strong> environment variable,
or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/var/tmp</span></code> if <strong>TMPDIR</strong> is not set.</dd>
<dt><strong>KRB5_TRACE</strong></dt>
<dd>Specifies a filename to write trace log output to. Trace logs can
help illuminate decisions made internally by the Kerberos
libraries. For example, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">env</span> <span class="pre">KRB5_TRACE=/dev/stderr</span> <span class="pre">kinit</span></code>
would send tracing information for <a class="reference internal" href="../user_commands/kinit.html#kinit-1"><span class="std std-ref">kinit</span></a> to
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/dev/stderr</span></code>. The default is not to write trace log output
anywhere.</dd>
<dt><strong>KRB5_CLIENT_KTNAME</strong></dt>
<dd>Default client keytab file name. If unset, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">FILE:/var/lib/krb5/user/%{euid}/client.keytab</span></code> will be
used).</dd>
<dt><strong>KPROP_PORT</strong></dt>
<dd><a class="reference internal" href="../../admin/admin_commands/kprop.html#kprop-8"><span class="std std-ref">kprop</span></a> port to use. Defaults to 754.</dd>
</dl>
<p>Most environment variables are disabled for certain programs, such as
login system programs and setuid programs, which are designed to be
secure when run within an untrusted process environment.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="see-also">
<h2>SEE ALSO<a class="headerlink" href="#see-also" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="../user_commands/kdestroy.html#kdestroy-1"><span class="std std-ref">kdestroy</span></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../user_commands/kinit.html#kinit-1"><span class="std std-ref">kinit</span></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../user_commands/klist.html#klist-1"><span class="std std-ref">klist</span></a>,
<a class="reference internal" href="../user_commands/kswitch.html#kswitch-1"><span class="std std-ref">kswitch</span></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../user_commands/kpasswd.html#kpasswd-1"><span class="std std-ref">kpasswd</span></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../user_commands/ksu.html#ksu-1"><span class="std std-ref">ksu</span></a>,
<a class="reference internal" href="../../admin/conf_files/krb5_conf.html#krb5-conf-5"><span class="std std-ref">krb5.conf</span></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../../admin/conf_files/kdc_conf.html#kdc-conf-5"><span class="std std-ref">kdc.conf</span></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../../admin/admin_commands/kadmin_local.html#kadmin-1"><span class="std std-ref">kadmin</span></a>,
<a class="reference internal" href="../../admin/admin_commands/kadmind.html#kadmind-8"><span class="std std-ref">kadmind</span></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../../admin/admin_commands/kdb5_util.html#kdb5-util-8"><span class="std std-ref">kdb5_util</span></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../../admin/admin_commands/krb5kdc.html#krb5kdc-8"><span class="std std-ref">krb5kdc</span></a></p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="bugs">
<h2>BUGS<a class="headerlink" href="#bugs" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="authors">
<h2>AUTHORS<a class="headerlink" href="#authors" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<div class="line-block">
<div class="line">Steve Miller, MIT Project Athena/Digital Equipment Corporation</div>
<div class="line">Clifford Neuman, MIT Project Athena</div>
<div class="line">Greg Hudson, MIT Kerberos Consortium</div>
<div class="line">Robbie Harwood, Red Hat, Inc.</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="history">
<h2>HISTORY<a class="headerlink" href="#history" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The MIT Kerberos 5 implementation was developed at MIT, with
contributions from many outside parties. It is currently maintained
by the MIT Kerberos Consortium.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="restrictions">
<h2>RESTRICTIONS<a class="headerlink" href="#restrictions" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Copyright 1985, 1986, 1989-1996, 2002, 2011, 2018 Masachusetts
Institute of Technology</p>
</div>
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<h2>On this page</h2>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">kerberos</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#description">DESCRIPTION</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#environment-variables">ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#see-also">SEE ALSO</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#bugs">BUGS</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#authors">AUTHORS</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#history">HISTORY</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#restrictions">RESTRICTIONS</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<br/>
<h2>Table of contents</h2>
<ul class="current">
<li class="toctree-l1 current"><a class="reference internal" href="../index.html">For users</a><ul class="current">
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="../pwd_mgmt.html">Password management</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="../tkt_mgmt.html">Ticket management</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2 current"><a class="reference internal" href="index.html">User config files</a><ul class="current">
<li class="toctree-l3 current"><a class="current reference internal" href="#">kerberos</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="k5login.html">.k5login</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="k5identity.html">.k5identity</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../../plugindev/index.html">For plugin module developers</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../../build/index.html">Building Kerberos V5</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../../basic/index.html">Kerberos V5 concepts</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../../formats/index.html">Protocols and file formats</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../../mitK5features.html">MIT Kerberos features</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../../build_this.html">How to build this documentation from the source</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../../about.html">Contributing to the MIT Kerberos Documentation</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../../resources.html">Resources</a></li>
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