Manual: pam_limits

PAM_LIMITS(8)					      Linux-PAM Manual					       PAM_LIMITS(8)

NAME
       pam_limits - PAM module to limit resources

SYNOPSIS

       pam_limits.so [conf=/path/to/limits.conf] [debug] [set_all] [utmp_early] [noaudit]

DESCRIPTION
       The pam_limits PAM module sets limits on the system resources that can be obtained in a user-session. Users of uid=0
       are affected by this limits, too.

       By default limits are taken from the /etc/security/limits.conf config file. Then individual *.conf files from the
       /etc/security/limits.d/ directory are read. The files are parsed one after another in the order of "C" locale. The
       effect of the individual files is the same as if all the files were concatenated together in the order of parsing. If
       a config file is explicitly specified with a module option then the files in the above directory are not parsed.

       The module must not be called by a multithreaded application.

       If Linux PAM is compiled with audit support the module will report when it denies access based on limit of maximum
       number of concurrent login sessions.

OPTIONS
       conf=/path/to/limits.conf
	   Indicate an alternative limits.conf style configuration file to override the default.

       debug
	   Print debug information.

       set_all
	   Set the limits for which no value is specified in the configuration file to the one from the process with the PID
	   1. Please note that if the init process is systemd these limits will not be the kernel default limits and this
	   option should not be used.

       utmp_early
	   Some broken applications actually allocate a utmp entry for the user before the user is admitted to the system.
	   If some of the services you are configuring PAM for do this, you can selectively use this module argument to
	   compensate for this behavior and at the same time maintain system-wide consistency with a single limits.conf
	   file.

       noaudit
	   Do not report exceeded maximum logins count to the audit subsystem.

MODULE TYPES PROVIDED
       Only the session module type is provided.

RETURN VALUES
       PAM_ABORT
	   Cannot get current limits.

       PAM_IGNORE
	   No limits found for this user.

       PAM_PERM_DENIED
	   New limits could not be set.

       PAM_SERVICE_ERR
	   Cannot read config file.

       PAM_SESSION_ERR
	   Error recovering account name.

       PAM_SUCCESS
	   Limits were changed.

       PAM_USER_UNKNOWN
	   The user is not known to the system.

FILES
       /etc/security/limits.conf
	   Default configuration file

EXAMPLES
       For the services you need resources limits (login for example) put a the following line in /etc/pam.d/login as the
       last line for that service (usually after the pam_unix session line):

	   #%PAM-1.0
	   #
	   # Resource limits imposed on login sessions via pam_limits
	   #
	   session  required  pam_limits.so

       Replace "login" for each service you are using this module.

SEE ALSO
       limits.conf(5), pam.d(5), pam(7).

AUTHORS
       pam_limits was initially written by Cristian Gafton 

Linux-PAM						 07/16/2026					       PAM_LIMITS(8)