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

# pam\_self(8)

Self PAM module

## NAME

**pam\_self** – Self PAM module

## SYNOPSIS

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

## DESCRIPTION

The Self authentication service module for PAM, **pam\_self** provides functionality for only one PAM category: authentication. In terms of the *module-type* parameter, this is the “auth” feature.

### Self Authentication Module

The Self authentication component (**pam\_sm\_authenticate**()), returns success if and only if the target user's user ID is identical with the current real user ID. If the current real user ID is zero, authentication will fail, unless the **allow\_root** option was specified.

The following options may be passed to the authentication module:

- **debug**

  [syslog(3)](/syslog/3.md) debugging information at LOG\_DEBUG level.

- **no\_warn**

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

- **allow\_root**

  do not automatically fail if the current real user ID is 0.

## SEE ALSO

[getuid(2)](/getuid/2.md), [pam(3)](/pam/3.md), [pam.conf(5)](/pam.conf/5.md)

## AUTHORS

The **pam\_self** module and this manual page were developed for the FreeBSD Project by ThinkSec AS and NAI Labs, the Security Research Division of Network Associates, Inc. under DARPA/SPAWAR contract N66001-01-C-8035 (“CBOSS”), as part of the DARPA CHATS research program.