The Sheer Terror of PAM
summary
Shows how Rust code actually hooks into PAM by building a Tailscale PAM module, debugs it with gdb by breaking on dlopen/dlsym instead of the module, and fixes Ubuntu quirks like stripped debug symbols and SSH’s ChallengeResponseAuthentication default off so the module can run. Demonstrates the module working, warns about leaking memory if handwritten FFI and recommends use bindgen, measures latency risk from slow auth, and gives concrete distro-specific pitfalls and fixes.
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chapters (5)
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