--- name: "usermod" section: "8" platform: "linux" package: "shadow" version: "4.20.0.arch1-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/usermod" --- # usermod(8) modify a user account ## NAME usermod - modify a user account ## SYNOPSIS **usermod** \[*options*\] *LOGIN* ## DESCRIPTION The **usermod** command modifies the system account files. ## OPTIONS The options which apply to the **usermod** command are: - **-a**, **--append** Add the user to the supplementary group(s). Use only with the **-G** option. - **-b**, **--badname** Allow names that do not conform to standards. - **-c**, **--comment** *COMMENT* update the comment field of the user in /etc/passwd, which is normally modified using the [**chfn**(1)](/chfn/1.md) utility. - **-d**, **--home** *HOME\_DIR* The user's new login directory. If the **-m** option is given, the contents of the current home directory will be moved to the new home directory, which is created if it does not already exist. If the current home directory does not exist the new home directory will not be created. - **-e**, **--expiredate** *EXPIRE\_DATE* Specifies the date on which the user account will be disabled. The value can be specified as a date in the YYYY-MM-DD format or as a number of days since 1970-01-01. The date is interpreted using the UTC timezone. An input of -1 or an empty string blanks the account expiration field in the shadow password file. The account will remain available with no expiration date. This option requires the /etc/shadow file. If no entry exists in the /etc/shadow file, the system will automatically create one. - **-f**, **--inactive** *INACTIVE* Defines the number of days after a password exceeds its maximum age during which the user can still log in by immediately changing their password. If the user does not change their password within this period of time, their account becomes inactive. This value is stored in the shadow password file. A value of 0 disables the account when the password expires, with no delay. A value of -1 empties the respective field in the shadow password file, which means that the inactivity period is not enforced. This option requires the /etc/shadow file. If no entry exist in the /etc/shadow file, the system will automatically create one. - **-g**, **--gid** *GROUP* The name or numerical ID of the user's new primary group. The group must exist. Any file from the user's home directory owned by the previous primary group of the user will be owned by this new group. The group ownership of files outside of the user's home directory must be fixed manually. The change of the group ownership of files inside of the user's home directory is also not done if the home dir owner uid is different from the current or new user id. This is a safety measure for special home directories such as /. - **-G**, **--groups** *GROUP1*\[*,GROUP2,...*\[*,GROUPN*\]\]\] A list of supplementary groups which the user is also a member of. Each group is separated from the next by a comma, with no intervening whitespace. The groups must exist. If the user is currently a member of a group which is not listed, the user will be removed from the group. This behaviour can be changed via the **-a** option, which appends the user to the current supplementary group list. - **-l**, **--login** *NEW\_LOGIN* The name of the user will be changed from *LOGIN* to *NEW\_LOGIN*. Nothing else is changed. In particular, the user's home directory or mail spool should probably be renamed manually to reflect the new login name. - **-L**, **--lock** Lock a user's password. This puts a '!' in front of the encrypted password, effectively disabling the password. You can't use this option with **-p** or **-U**. Note: if you wish to lock the account (not only access with a password), you should also set the *EXPIRE\_DATE* to *1*. - **-m**, **--move-home** moves the content of the user's home directory to the new location. If the current home directory does not exist the new home directory will not be created. This option is only valid in combination with the **-d** (or **--home**) option. **usermod** will try to adapt the ownership of the files and to copy the modes, ACL and extended attributes, but manual changes might be needed afterwards. - **-o**, **--non-unique** allows to change the user ID to a non-unique value. This option is only valid in combination with the **-u** option. As a user identity serves as key to map between users on one hand and permissions, file ownerships and other aspects that determine the system's behavior on the other hand, more than one login name will access the account of the given UID. - **-p**, **--password** *PASSWORD* defines a new password for the user. PASSWORD is expected to be encrypted, as returned by **crypt** (3). **Note:** Avoid this option on the command line because the password (or encrypted password) will be visible by users listing the processes. The password will be written in the local /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow file. This might differ from the password database configured in your PAM configuration. You should make sure the password respects the system's password policy. - **-r**, **--remove** Remove the user from named supplementary group(s). Use only with the **-G** option. - **-R**, **--root** *CHROOT\_DIR* Apply changes in the *CHROOT\_DIR* directory and use the configuration files from the *CHROOT\_DIR* directory. Only absolute paths are supported. No SELINUX support. - **-P**, **--prefix** *PREFIX\_DIR* Apply changes within the directory tree starting with *PREFIX\_DIR* and use as well the configuration files located there. This option does not chroot and is intended for preparing a cross-compilation target. Some limitations: NIS and LDAP users/groups are not verified. PAM authentication is using the host files. No SELINUX support. - **-s**, **--shell** *SHELL* changes the user's login shell. An empty string for SHELL empties the field in /etc/passwd and logs the user into the system's default shell. - **-u**, **--uid** *UID* The new value of the user's ID. This value must be unique, unless the **-o** option is used. The value must be non-negative. The user's mailbox, and any files which the user owns and which are located in the user's home directory will have the file user ID changed automatically. The ownership of files outside of the user's home directory must be fixed manually. The change of the user ownership of files inside of the user's home directory is also not done if the home dir owner uid is different from the current or new user id. This is a safety measure for special home directories such as /. No checks will be performed with regard to the **UID\_MIN**, **UID\_MAX**, **SYS\_UID\_MIN**, or **SYS\_UID\_MAX** from /etc/login.defs. - **-U**, **--unlock** Unlock a user's password. This removes the '!' in front of the encrypted password. You can't use this option with **-p** or **-L**. Note: if you wish to unlock the account (not only access with a password), you should also set the *EXPIRE\_DATE* (for example to *99999*, or to the **EXPIRE** value from /etc/default/useradd). - **-v**, **--add-subuids** *FIRST*-*LAST* Add a range of subordinate uids to the user's account. This option may be specified multiple times to add multiple ranges to a user's account. No checks will be performed with regard to **SUB\_UID\_MIN**, **SUB\_UID\_MAX**, or **SUB\_UID\_COUNT** from /etc/login.defs. - **-V**, **--del-subuids** *FIRST*-*LAST* Remove a range of subordinate uids from the user's account. This option may be specified multiple times to remove multiple ranges to a user's account. When both **--del-subuids** and **--add-subuids** are specified, the removal of all subordinate uid ranges happens before any subordinate uid range is added. No checks will be performed with regard to **SUB\_UID\_MIN**, **SUB\_UID\_MAX**, or **SUB\_UID\_COUNT** from /etc/login.defs. - **-w**, **--add-subgids** *FIRST*-*LAST* Add a range of subordinate gids to the user's account. This option may be specified multiple times to add multiple ranges to a user's account. No checks will be performed with regard to **SUB\_GID\_MIN**, **SUB\_GID\_MAX**, or **SUB\_GID\_COUNT** from /etc/login.defs. - **-W**, **--del-subgids** *FIRST*-*LAST* Remove a range of subordinate gids from the user's account. This option may be specified multiple times to remove multiple ranges to a user's account. When both **--del-subgids** and **--add-subgids** are specified, the removal of all subordinate gid ranges happens before any subordinate gid range is added. No checks will be performed with regard to **SUB\_GID\_MIN**, **SUB\_GID\_MAX**, or **SUB\_GID\_COUNT** from /etc/login.defs. - **-S**, **--add-subids** Add subordinate uids and gids to the user's account. An appropriate uid and gid range is automatically selected from /etc/login.defs defaults. - **-Z**, **--selinux-user** *SEUSER* defines the SELinux user to be mapped with *LOGIN*. An empty string ("") will remove the respective entry (if any). Note that the shadow system doesn't store the selinux-user, it uses [semanage(8)](/semanage/8.md) for that. - **--selinux-range** *SERANGE* defines the SELinux MLS range for the new account. Note that the shadow system doesn't store the selinux-range, it uses [**semanage**(8)](/semanage/8.md) for that. This option is only valid if the **-Z** (or **--selinux-user**) option is specified. ## CAVEATS You must make certain that the named user is not executing any processes when this command is being executed if the user's numerical user ID, the user's name, or the user's home directory is being changed. **usermod** checks this on Linux. On other operating systems it only uses utmp to check if the user is logged in. You must change the owner of any **crontab** files or **at** jobs manually. You must make any changes involving NIS on the NIS server. ## CONFIGURATION The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool: **LASTLOG\_UID\_MAX** (number) Highest user ID number for which the lastlog entries should be updated. As higher user IDs are usually tracked by remote user identity and authentication services there is no need to create a huge sparse lastlog file for them. No **LASTLOG\_UID\_MAX** option present in the configuration means that there is no user ID limit for writing lastlog entries. **MAIL\_DIR** (string) The mail spool directory. This is needed to manipulate the mailbox when its corresponding user account is modified or deleted. If not specified, a compile-time default is used. The parameter CREATE\_MAIL\_SPOOL in /etc/default/useradd determines whether the mail spool should be created. **MAIL\_FILE** (string) Defines the location of the users mail spool files relatively to their home directory. The **MAIL\_DIR** and **MAIL\_FILE** variables are used by **useradd**, **usermod**, and **userdel** to create, move, or delete the user's mail spool. **MAX\_MEMBERS\_PER\_GROUP** (number) Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name, same password, and same GID). The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the number of members in a group. This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS groups are not larger than 1024 characters. If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25. Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless you really need it. **SUB\_GID\_MIN** (number), **SUB\_GID\_MAX** (number), **SUB\_GID\_COUNT** (number) If /etc/subuid exists, the commands **useradd** and **newusers** (unless the user already have subordinate group IDs) allocate **SUB\_GID\_COUNT** unused group IDs from the range **SUB\_GID\_MIN** to **SUB\_GID\_MAX** for each new user. The default values for **SUB\_GID\_MIN**, **SUB\_GID\_MAX**, **SUB\_GID\_COUNT** are respectively 100000, 600100000 and 65536. **SUB\_GID\_DETERMINISTIC** (boolean) If set to *yes*, the commands **useradd**, **usermod**, and **newusers** will calculate subordinate GID ranges deterministically based on the user's UID instead of searching for the next free range. The formula used is: ``` start = SUB_GID_MIN + ((UID - UID_MIN) * SUB_GID_COUNT) end = start + SUB_GID_COUNT - 1 ``` This ensures the same UID always receives the same subordinate GID range on every system, making it suitable for environments with centralized user management (LDAP, NIS, etc.) or synchronized UIDs across systems. If **SUB\_GID\_DETERMINISTIC** is enabled, you can use **usermod --add-subgids -S** to produce deterministic subgids. **WARNING**: Because **UID\_MIN** is used to calculate the ranges, any change of **UID\_MIN** will change the ranges calculated. **SUB\_GID\_COUNT** is used to calculate the ranges, any change of **SUB\_GID\_COUNT** will change the ranges calculated. Users with identities less than **UID\_MIN** are incompatible with **SUB\_GID\_DETERMINISTIC**, but can still be set manually. **WARNING**: Do not mix deterministic and linear (default) allocation on the same system or across systems sharing /etc/subgid via network storage (NFS, etc.). Mixing allocation methods **will cause subordinate ID range conflicts and overlaps** . The default value for **SUB\_GID\_DETERMINISTIC** is *no*. ### Range Calculation Examples With default configuration (**UID\_MIN**=1000, **SUB\_GID\_MIN**=100000, **SUB\_GID\_COUNT**=65536): | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | **UID** | **Calculation** | **Subordinate GID Range** | | 1000 | 100000 + ((1000-1000) \* 65536) | 100000-165535 | | 1001 | 100000 + ((1001-1000) \* 65536) | 165536-231071 | | 1002 | 100000 + ((1002-1000) \* 65536) | 231072-296607 | | 1100 | 100000 + ((1100-1000) \* 65536) | 6653600-6719135 | ### Subordinate ID Space Planning When planning subordinate ID allocation, calculate the maximum number of users the space can accommodate: ``` capacity = (SUB_GID_MAX - SUB_GID_MIN) / SUB_GID_COUNT ``` With default values: (600100000 - 100000) / 65536 ≈ 9155 users. For high-density environments with many users and smaller allocations: ``` SUB_GID_COUNT 4096 SUB_GID_MIN 100000 SUB_GID_MAX 10000000 ``` This gives: (10000000 - 100000) / 4096 ≈ 2417 users. **UNSAFE\_SUB\_GID\_DETERMINISTIC\_WRAP** (boolean) **WARNING: SECURITY RISK - MAY CAUSE RANGE OVERLAPS AND PRIVILEGE ESCALATION!** Only effective when **SUB\_GID\_DETERMINISTIC** is set to *yes*. When set to *yes* (WRAP MODE), allows the deterministic range calculation to wrap around using modulo arithmetic when a UID would overflow the configured subordinate ID space. The subordinate ID space is treated as a ring buffer. **WARNING**: Range overlaps can lead to container escapes and privilege escalation. For example, with **SUB\_GID\_MIN**=100000, **SUB\_GID\_MAX**=200000, **SUB\_GID\_COUNT**=65536, User A (UID 1000) gets range \[100000, 165535\] and User B (UID 1001) wraps and overlaps with User A. User B's container can now access files from User A's containers. Use **only** in development, testing, or tightly constrained lab environments. When set to *no* (default), any arithmetic overflow or range exceeding **SUB\_GID\_MAX** is a hard error. This guarantees non-overlapping, monotonic allocation. The default value for **UNSAFE\_SUB\_GID\_DETERMINISTIC\_WRAP** is *no*. **SUB\_UID\_MIN** (number), **SUB\_UID\_MAX** (number), **SUB\_UID\_COUNT** (number) If /etc/subuid exists, the commands **useradd** and **newusers** (unless the user already have subordinate user IDs) allocate **SUB\_UID\_COUNT** unused user IDs from the range **SUB\_UID\_MIN** to **SUB\_UID\_MAX** for each new user. The default values for **SUB\_UID\_MIN**, **SUB\_UID\_MAX**, **SUB\_UID\_COUNT** are respectively 100000, 600100000 and 65536. **SUB\_UID\_DETERMINISTIC** (boolean) If set to *yes*, the commands **useradd**, **usermod**, and **newusers** will calculate subordinate UID ranges deterministically based on the user's UID instead of searching for the next free range. The formula used is: ``` start = SUB_UID_MIN + ((UID - UID_MIN) * SUB_UID_COUNT) end = start + SUB_UID_COUNT - 1 ``` This ensures the same UID always receives the same subordinate UID range on every system, making it suitable for environments with centralized user management (LDAP, NIS, etc.) or synchronized UIDs across systems. If **SUB\_UID\_DETERMINISTIC** is enabled, you can use **usermod --add-subuids -S** to produce deterministic subuids. **WARNING**: Because **UID\_MIN** is used to calculate the ranges, any change of **UID\_MIN** will change the ranges calculated. **SUB\_UID\_COUNT** is used to calculate the ranges, any change of **SUB\_UID\_COUNT** will change the ranges calculated. Users with identities less than **UID\_MIN** are incompatible with **SUB\_UID\_DETERMINISTIC**, but can still be set manually. **WARNING**: Do not mix deterministic and linear (default) allocation on the same system or across systems sharing /etc/subuid via network storage (NFS, etc.). Mixing allocation methods **will cause subordinate ID range conflicts and overlaps** . The default value for **SUB\_UID\_DETERMINISTIC** is *no*. ### Range Calculation Examples With default configuration (**UID\_MIN**=1000, **SUB\_UID\_MIN**=100000, **SUB\_UID\_COUNT**=65536): | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | **UID** | **Calculation** | **Subordinate UID Range** | | 1000 | 100000 + ((1000-1000) \* 65536) | 100000-165535 | | 1001 | 100000 + ((1001-1000) \* 65536) | 165536-231071 | | 1002 | 100000 + ((1002-1000) \* 65536) | 231072-296607 | | 1100 | 100000 + ((1100-1000) \* 65536) | 6653600-6719135 | ### Subordinate ID Space Planning When planning subordinate ID allocation, calculate the maximum number of users the space can accommodate: ``` capacity = (SUB_UID_MAX - SUB_UID_MIN) / SUB_UID_COUNT ``` With default values: (600100000 - 100000) / 65536 ≈ 9155 users. For high-density environments with many users and smaller allocations: ``` SUB_UID_COUNT 4096 SUB_UID_MIN 100000 SUB_UID_MAX 10000000 ``` This gives: (10000000 - 100000) / 4096 ≈ 2417 users. **UNSAFE\_SUB\_UID\_DETERMINISTIC\_WRAP** (boolean) **WARNING: SECURITY RISK - MAY CAUSE RANGE OVERLAPS AND PRIVILEGE ESCALATION!** Only effective when **SUB\_UID\_DETERMINISTIC** is set to *yes*. When set to *yes* (WRAP MODE), allows the deterministic range calculation to wrap around using modulo arithmetic when a UID would overflow the configured subordinate ID space. The subordinate ID space is treated as a ring buffer. **WARNING**: Range overlaps can lead to container escapes and privilege escalation. For example, with **SUB\_UID\_MIN**=100000, **SUB\_UID\_MAX**=200000, **SUB\_UID\_COUNT**=65536, User A (UID 1000) gets range \[100000, 165535\] and User B (UID 1001) wraps and overlaps with User A. User B's container can now access files from User A's containers. Use **only** in development, testing, or tightly constrained lab environments. When set to *no* (default), any arithmetic overflow or range exceeding **SUB\_UID\_MAX** is a hard error. This guarantees non-overlapping, monotonic allocation. The default value for **UNSAFE\_SUB\_UID\_DETERMINISTIC\_WRAP** is *no*. ## FILES /etc/group Group account information /etc/gshadow Secure group account information /etc/login.defs Shadow password suite configuration /etc/passwd User account information /etc/shadow Secure user account information /etc/subgid Per user subordinate group IDs /etc/subuid Per user subordinate user IDs ## SEE ALSO [**chfn**(1)](/chfn/1.md), [**chsh**(1)](/chsh/1.md), [**passwd**(1)](/passwd/1.md), [**crypt**(3)](/crypt/3.md), **gpasswd**(8), [**groupadd**(8)](/groupadd/8.md), [**groupdel**(8)](/groupdel/8.md), [**groupmod**(8)](/groupmod/8.md), [**login.defs**(5)](/login.defs/5.md), [**subgid**(5)](/subgid/5.md), [**subuid**(5)](/subuid/5.md), [**useradd**(8)](/useradd/8.md), [**userdel**(8)](/userdel/8.md).