Why are the pam_tally and pam_tally2 failed attempts count wrong, with sudo?

Solution Unverified - Updated -

Issue

  • When activating pam_tally.so or pam_tally2.so in system-auth-ac, and the following command is excecuted, the faillog counter is increased before any password is given by user:
$ sudo -k su -
  • After one wrong password is typed in, the faillog counter is again increased (to 2)

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Subscriber exclusive content

A Red Hat subscription provides unlimited access to our knowledgebase of over 48,000 articles and solutions.

Current Customers and Partners

Log in for full access

Log In
Close

Welcome! Check out the Getting Started with Red Hat page for quick tours and guides for common tasks.