chpasswd

CHPASSWD(8)               System Management Commands               CHPASSWD(8)

NAME
       chpasswd - update passwords in batch mode

SYNOPSIS
       chpasswd [options]

DESCRIPTION
       The chpasswd command reads a list of user name and password pairs from
       standard input and uses this information to update a group of existing
       users. Each line is of the format:

       user_name:password

       By default the passwords must be supplied in clear-text, and are
       encrypted by chpasswd. Also the password age will be updated, if
       present.

       By default, passwords are encrypted by PAM, but (even if not
       recommended) you can select a different encryption method with the -e,
       -m, or -c options.

       Except when PAM is used to encrypt the passwords, chpasswd first
       updates all the passwords in memory, and then commits all the changes
       to disk if no errors occurred for any user.

       When PAM is used to encrypt the passwords (and update the passwords in
       the system database) then if a password cannot be updated chpasswd
       continues updating the passwords of the next users, and will return an
       error code on exit.

       This command is intended to be used in a large system environment where
       many accounts are created at a single time.

OPTIONS
       The options which apply to the chpasswd command are:

       -c, --crypt-method METHOD
           Use the specified method to encrypt the passwords.

           The available methods are DES, MD5, NONE, and SHA256 or SHA512 if
           your libc support these methods.

           By default, PAM is used to encrypt the passwords.

       -e, --encrypted
           Supplied passwords are in encrypted form.

       -h, --help
           Display help message and exit.

       -m, --md5
           Use MD5 encryption instead of DES when the supplied passwords are
           not encrypted.

       -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
           Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
           files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.

       -s, --sha-rounds ROUNDS
           Use the specified number of rounds to encrypt the passwords.

           The value 0 means that the system will choose the default number of
           rounds for the crypt method (5000).

           A minimal value of 1000 and a maximal value of 999,999,999 will be
           enforced.

           You can only use this option with the SHA256 or SHA512 crypt
           method.

           By default, the number of rounds is defined by the
           SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS and SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS variables in
           /etc/login.defs.

CAVEATS
       Remember to set permissions or umask to prevent readability of
       unencrypted files by other users.

CONFIGURATION
       The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
       behavior of this tool:

       SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS (number), SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS (number)
           When ENCRYPT_METHOD is set to SHA256 or SHA512, this defines the
           number of SHA rounds used by the encryption algorithm by default
           (when the number of rounds is not specified on the command line).

           With a lot of rounds, it is more difficult to brute forcing the
           password. But note also that more CPU resources will be needed to
           authenticate users.

           If not specified, the libc will choose the default number of rounds
           (5000).

           The values must be inside the 1000-999,999,999 range.

           If only one of the SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS or SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS
           values is set, then this value will be used.

           If SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS > SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS, the highest value
           will be used.

           Note: This only affect the generation of group passwords. The
           generation of user passwords is done by PAM and subject to the PAM
           configuration. It is recommended to set this variable consistently
           with the PAM configuration.

FILES
       /etc/passwd
           User account information.

       /etc/shadow
           Secure user account information.

       /etc/login.defs
           Shadow password suite configuration.

       /etc/pam.d/chpasswd
           PAM configuration for chpasswd.

SEE ALSO
       passwd(1), newusers(8), login.defs(5), useradd(8).

shadow-utils 4.8.1                11/29/2022                       CHPASSWD(8)