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    04 Manage Local Users and Groups

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    AbdelhalimBoujemaa

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    04 Manage Local Users and Groups

    Uploaded by

    AbdelhalimBoujemaa
    4 views40 pages

    Original Title

    04_Manage_Local_Users_and_Groups

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    4 views40 pages

    04 Manage Local Users and Groups

    Uploaded by

    AbdelhalimBoujemaa

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 40

    Manage Local Users and Groups

    Root User System User Regular User

    Run specific system


    Purpose Full Administrative access General user activities
    services/processes

    UID Range 0 1 to 999 1000 and above

    Typically none or service


    Home Dir /root /home/username
    specific

    Usually /usr/sbin/nologin or /bin/bash or other login


    Login Shell /bin/bash or other
    /bin/false shells

    Unlimited, Full system Limited to user specific


    Permissions Limited to specific services
    access actions

    Default user created Created and managed by Created and managed by


    Creation &
    during installation and system or package system admin for general
    Management
    managed by system admin installation scripts use

    Example root ‘Chrony’, ‘systemd-oom’ ‘User1’ , ‘coder’


    User Account Management
    ○ Managing Users (Creating, modifying, and deleting)

    ○ Managing passwords

    ○ Group memberships

    ○ Setting file/directories permissions

    ○ Granting Elevated privileges

    ○ User Login
    List all Users
    lists all known users on the system with detailed information
    ● Command: lslogins

    Machine Name (Hostname)


    List System Users
    -s option is used with lslogins to display system accounts(UID < 1000 by default).
    ● Command: lslogins -s

    Machine Name (Hostname)


    List Root & Regular Users
    -u option is used with lslogins to list all user accounts including root
    (UID >= 1000 by default).
    ● Command: lslogins -u

    Machine Name (Hostname)


    Managing Users
    To display the username of the current user
    ● Command: whoami

    Machine
    Add a new User (or Regular UserName (Hostname)
    account)
    ● Command: useradd -c ‘<user_info’ <user_name> OR
    adduser <user_name> [works in Debian based dist.]
    Checking Current Users
    ● Command: cat /etc/passwd
    /etc/passwd : User account info file

    Note : "x" placeholder denotes that the encrypted password is stored in the
    /etc/shadow file for security.
    Display user and their group information
    ● Command: id <user_name>
    Modify user account properties (-s is to change the user's login shell)
    ● Command: usermod -s <new_shell> <user_name>

    Machine Name (Hostname)


    Use -d with usermod command to change the user's home directory
    ● Command: usermod -d <new_dir> <user_name>
    Add a user to a secondary group (-aG is used to append a user
    to additional groups without removing them from their existing
    groups)
    ● Command: usermod -aG <group_name> <user_name>
    Delete user(-r is used for deleting user along with its home
    directory and mail spool)
    ● Command: userdel -r <user_name>
    Add user with all parameters set
    ● Command: useradd -g testers -s /bin/bash -c 'John Doe' -m
    -d /home/john john

    ● -g testers: Assigns the user to the "testers" group.


    ● -s /bin/bash: Sets the default shell to Bash.
    ● -c 'John Doe': Adds a comment (full name) for the user.
    ● -m: Creates a home directory for the user.
    ● -d /home/john: Specifies the home directory.
    ● john: Username of the new user.
    Managing Password
    Set or change user password
    ● Command: passwd <user_name>

    OR
    ● Command : echo ‘<user_name>:<password>’ | chpasswd
    ● Checking Users password
    ○ Command: cat /etc/shadow

    ● Placeholder '!' for No Password

    ● Stores hashed passwords with salt

    ● Salt adds randomness to hashed


    passwords
    After setting password
    List or change user password expiry information (-l to list the info)
    ● Command: chage [options] <user_name>

    Machine Name (Hostname)


    User Groups
    ● Users Sharing Common Permissions
    List all groups
    lists all groups on the system
    ● Command: getent group

    Machine Name (Hostname)


    ● Primary Group: For ‘student’ and ‘user1’ primary
    groups are there with same name

    ● Secondary Group: ‘student_group’ is another


    group which has two users ‘student’ and ‘user1’
    Create a new group
    ● Command: groupadd <group_name>

    Verify group creation by retrieving group information


    ● Command: getent group <group_name>
    Machine Name (Hostname)
    Modify group properties (add user1,student using -U in student_group)
    ● Command: groupmod [options] <group_name>

    Verify by getent group command whether


    Machine Name users added or not
    (Hostname)
    ● Command: getent group <group_name>
    ● /etc/group file : Stores group information like group names and IDs
    Delete a group & verify by getent group command
    ● Command: groupdel <group_name>

    Machine Name (Hostname)


    File/Directory Permission
    ● Access controls:
    ○ Who can access a file or directory.
    ○ What actions they can perform on them.
    Change group ownership of files
    ● Command: chgrp <user_name>

    Machine Name (Hostname)


    Granting Elevated privileges
    ● Authorizing users to perform administrative tasks or run all
    commands

    Verify whether user have sudo access or not


    ● Command: sudo -l -U <user_name>
    ● Sudoers file in Linux specifies who can run commands with
    elevated privileges.

    ● Edit sudoers file using vi editor


    ○ Command: vi /etc/sudoers
    ● Find this section

    ● Add your user in same format and save the file


    ● student : Specifies the user granted sudo privileges

    ● ALL: Allows sudo on any host

    ● ALL : Permits running commands as any user

    ● ALL: Authorizes execution of any command.


    ● Verify whether user got sudo access or not
    User Login
    ● /etc/login.defs : used for configuring global user
    authentication settings, such as password aging, login
    restrictions, and default user environment settings.
    User Login
    Switch user
    ● Command : su - <user_name>
    Logs
    ● /var/log/secure: Logs authentication-related events, including
    login attempts and authentication activities.
    ● All login , logout and authentication failures events are logged.

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