---
name: "pam_radius"
section: "8"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pam_radius"
---

# pam\_radius(8)

RADIUS authentication PAM module

## NAME

**pam\_radius** – RADIUS authentication PAM module

## SYNOPSIS

\[*service-name*\] *module-type* *control-flag* *pam\_radius* \[*options*\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **pam\_radius** module provides authentication services based upon the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) protocol for the PAM (Pluggable Authentication Module) framework.

The **pam\_radius** module accepts these optional parameters:

- **use\_first\_pass**

  causes **pam\_radius** to use a previously entered password instead of prompting for a new one. If no password has been entered then authentication fails.

- **try\_first\_pass**

  causes **pam\_radius** to use a previously entered password, if one is available. If no password has been entered, **pam\_radius** prompts for one as usual.

- **echo\_pass**

  causes echoing to be left on if **pam\_radius** prompts for a password.

- **conf**=*pathname*

  specifies a non-standard location for the RADIUS client configuration file (normally located in */etc/radius.conf*).

- **nas\_id**=*identifier*

  specifies a NAS identifier to send instead of the hostname.

- **nas\_ipaddr**\[=*address*\]

  specifies a NAS IP address to be sent. If option is present, but there is no value provided then IP address corresponding to the current hostname will be used.

- **template\_user**=*username*

  specifies a user whose [passwd(5)](/passwd/5.md) entry will be used as a template to create the session environment if the supplied username does not exist in local password database. The user will be authenticated with the supplied username and password, but his credentials to the system will be presented as the ones for *username*, i.e., his login class, home directory, resource limits, etc. will be set to ones defined for *username*.

  If this option is omitted, and there is no username in the system databases equal to the supplied one (as determined by call to [getpwnam(3)](/getpwnam/3.md)), the authentication will fail.

- **no\_reply\_message**

  suppress printing of the contents of any **Reply-Message** attributes found in **Access-Accept** and **Access-Reject** responses. These are normally conveyed to the user as either informational or error messages, depending on whether the access request was accepted or rejected.

- **no\_warn**

  suppress warning messages to the user. These messages include reasons why the user's authentication attempt was declined.

## FILES

- */etc/radius.conf*

  The standard RADIUS client configuration file for **pam\_radius**

## SEE ALSO

[pam(3)](/pam/3.md), [passwd(5)](/passwd/5.md), [radius.conf(5)](/radius.conf/5.md)

## HISTORY

The **pam\_radius** module first appeared in FreeBSD 3.1. The **pam\_radius** manual page first appeared in FreeBSD 3.3.

## AUTHORS

The **pam\_radius** manual page was written by Andrzej Bialecki ⟨*abial@FreeBSD.org*⟩.

The **pam\_radius** module was written by John D. Polstra ⟨*jdp@FreeBSD.org*⟩.