Apache Module mod_authz_groupfile
Summary
This module provides authorization capabilities so that authenticated users can be allowed or denied access to portions of the web site by group membership. Similar functionality is provided by mod_authz_dbm
.
AuthGroupFile Directive
The AuthGroupFile
directive sets the name of a textual file containing the list of user groups for user authorization. File-path is the path to the group file. If it is not absolute, it is treated as relative to the ServerRoot
.
Each line of the group file contains a groupname followed by a colon, followed by the member usernames separated by spaces.
Example:
mygroup: bob joe anne
Note that searching large text files is very inefficient; AuthDBMGroupFile
provides a much better performance.
Security
Make sure that the AuthGroupFile
is stored outside the document tree of the web-server; do not put it in the directory that it protects. Otherwise, clients may be able to download the AuthGroupFile
.
AuthzGroupFileAuthoritative Directive
Setting the AuthzGroupFileAuthoritative
directive explicitly to Off
allows for group authorization to be passed on to lower level modules (as defined in the modules.c
files) if there is no group matching the supplied userID.
By default, control is not passed on and an unknown group will result in an Authentication Required reply. Not setting it thus keeps the system secure and forces an NCSA compliant behaviour.
Security
Do consider the implications of allowing a user to allow fall-through in his .htaccess
file; and verify that this is really what you want; Generally it is easier to just secure a single .htpasswd
file, than it is to secure a database which might have more access interfaces.