How do I unlock a user account and see failed logins with the faillog command?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • pam_tally
  • faillog

Issue

How do I unlock a user account and see failed logins with the faillog command?

Resolution

To unlock the account, execute the following command:

# faillog -u <username> -r

To see all failed login attempts after being enabled issue the command:

# faillog

You can also use pam_tally commands to do the same - to display the number of failed attempts:

# pam_tally --user <username>

And to reset the count:

# pam_tally --user <username> --reset[=n]

More details can be found on the pam_tally and faillog pages.

  • Component
  • pam

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