Password Databases (passdb)

Dovecot uses passdb and userdb as part of the authentication process.

passdb authenticates the user. It also provides any other pre-login information needed for users, such as:

• Which server user is proxied to.
• If user should be allowed to log in at all (temporarily or permanently).

Passdb Lookups	Dovecot Proxy	Dovecot Backend
IMAP & POP3 logins	YES	YES
LMTP mail delivery	YES	YES
doveadm commands	YES	YES

See also userdb.

Passwords

The password can be in any format that Dovecot supports, but you need to tell the format to Dovecot because it won't try to guess it.

The SQL and LDAP configuration files have the default_pass_scheme setting for this.

If you have passwords in multiple formats, or the passdb doesn't have such a setting, you'll need to prefix each password with {<scheme>}: {PLAIN}cleartext-password or {PLAIN-MD5}1a1dc91c907325c69271ddf0c944bc72.

Dovecot authenticates users against password databases. It can also be used to configure things like proxy passdb.

You can use multiple databases, so if the password doesn't match in the first database, Dovecot checks the next one. This can be useful if you want to easily support having both virtual users and also local system users (see multiple authentication databases).

Success/Failure Database

These databases simply verify if the given password is correct for the user. Dovecot doesn't get the correct password from the database, it only gets a success or a failure reply. This means that these databases can't be used with non-cleartext authentication mechanisms.

Databases that belong to this category are:

Database	Description
PAM	Pluggable Authentication Modules.
IMAP	Authenticate against remote IMAP server.
OAuth2	Authenticate against OAuth2 provider.
BSDAuth	BSD authentication (deprecated, unsupported).

Lookup Database

Dovecot does a lookup based on the username and possibly other information (e.g. IP address) and verifies the password validity itself.

Databases that support looking up only passwords, but no user or extra fields:

Database	Description
Passwd	System users (NSS, /etc/passwd, or similar).

INFO

Dovecot supports reading all password schemes from passwd databases (if prefix is specified), but that is of course incompatible with all other tools using/modifying the passwords.

Databases that support looking up everything:

Database	Description
Passwd-file	/etc/passwd-like file.
LDAP	Lightweight Directory Access Protocol.
SQL	SQL database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, Cassandra).
Static	Static passdb for simple configurations.
Lua	Lua script for authentication.

Fields

Fields that the lookup can return:

password

User's password. See password schemes.

password_noscheme

Like password, but if a password begins with {, assume it belongs to the password itself instead of treating it as a password schemes prefix. This is usually needed only if you use cleartext passwords.

user

Returning a user field can be used to change the username.

Typically used only for case changes (e.g. UseR -> user). See user extra field.

username

Like user, but doesn't drop existing domain name (e.g. username=foo for user@domain gives foo@domain).

domain

Updates the domain part of the username.

Extra Fields

Other special extra fields.

Settings

An example passdb passwd-file with its default settings:

dovecot.conf

passdb {
  driver = passwd-file
  args = scheme=ssha256 /usr/local/etc/passwd.replica
  default_fields =
  override_fields =

  deny = no
  master = no
  pass = no
  skip = never
  mechanisms =
  username_filter =

  result_failure = continue
  result_internalfail = continue
  result_success = return-ok

  auth_verbose = default
}

Content Settings

Settings that provide content for the passdb lookup:

driver

The passdb backend name.

args

Arguments for the passdb backend.

The format of this value depends on the passdb driver. Each one uses different args.

default_fields

Passdb fields (and extra fields) that are used, unless overwritten by the passdb backend. They are in format: key=value key2=value2 ....

The values can contain Config variables. All %variables used here reflect the state BEFORE the passdb lookup.

override_fields

Same as default_fields, but instead of providing the default values, these values override what the passdb backend returned.

All %variables used here reflect the state AFTER the passdb lookup.

auth_verbose

If this is explicitly set to yes or no, it overrides the global auth_verbose setting. However, auth_debug = yes overrides the auth_verbose setting.

Applicability Settings

Settings which specify when the specific passdb is used:

deny

If yes, used to provide "denied users database". If the user is found from the passdb, the authentication will fail.

master

If yes, used to provide master users. The users listed in the master passdb can log in as other users.

pass

This is an alias for result_success=continue as described below.

This is commonly used together with master passdb to specify that even after a successful master user authentication, the authentication should continue to the actual non-master passdb to lookup the user.

skip

Do we sometimes want to skip over this passdb? Options:

• never
• authenticated: Skip if an earlier passdb already authenticated the user successfully.
• unauthenticated: Skip if user hasn't yet been successfully authenticated by the previous passdbs.

mechanisms

Skip, if non-empty and the current auth mechanism is not listed here.

Space or comma-separated list of auth mechanisms (e.g. PLAIN LOGIN).

Also none can be used to match for a non-authenticating passdb lookup.

username_filter

Skip, if non-empty and the username doesn't match the filter.

This is mainly used to assign specific passdbs to specific domains.

Space or comma-separated list of username filters that can have * or ? wildcards. If any of the filters matches, the filter succeeds. However, there can also be negative matches preceded by !. If any of the negative filters matches, the filter won't succeed.

Example: if the filter is *@example.com *@example2.com !user@example.com, any@example.com or user@example2.com matches but user@example.com won't match.

Success Settings

Settings that control what happens when finished with this passdb:

result_success

What to do if the authentication succeeded.

Default: return-ok

result_failure

What to do if the authentication failed.

Default: continue

result_internalfail

What to do if the passdb lookup had an internal failure.

Default: continue

If any of the passdbs had an internal failure, and the final passdb also returns continue, the lookup will fail with internal error.

WARNING

If multiple passdbs are required (results are merged), it's important to set result_internalfail=return-fail to them, otherwise the authentication could still succeed but not all the intended extra fields are set.

Success Values

The success result values:

return-ok

Return success, don't continue to the next passdb.

return-fail

Return failure, don't continue to the next passdb.

return

Return earlier passdb's success or failure, don't continue to the next passdb. If this was the first passdb, return failure.

continue-ok

Set the current authentication state to "success", and continue to the next passdb.

The following passdbs will skip password verification.

INFO

When using this value on a master passdb (master = yes), execution will jump to the first non-master passdb instead of continuing with the next master passdb.

continue-fail

Set the current authentication state to "failure", and continue to the next passdb.

The following passdbs will still verify the password.

INFO

When using this value on a master passdb (master = yes), execution will jump to the first non-master passdb instead of continuing with the next master passdb.

continue

Continue to the next passdb without changing the authentication state. The initial state is "failure found". If this was set in result_success, the following passdbs will skip password verification.

INFO

When using this value on a master passdb (master = yes), execution will jump to the first non-master passdb instead of continuing with the next master passdb.

Extra Fields

The primary purpose of a password database lookup is to return the password for a given user. It may however also return other fields which are treated specially.

How to return these extra fields depends on the password database you use. Some passdbs don't support returning them at all, such as PAM authentication database.

Boolean fields are true always if the field exists. So nodelay, nodelay=yes, nodelay=no and nodelay=0 all mean that the "nodelay" field is true. With SQL the field is considered to be nonexistent if its value is NULL.

Changed: 3.0.0

Extra fields can now also be set to empty string, while previously they were changed to yes. Extra fields without value (without =) will default to yes.

userdb_<field>

The password database may also return fields prefixed with userdb_. These fields are only saved and used later as if they came from the userdb extra fields.

Typically this is used only when using prefetch authentication database.

Suffixes

The following suffixes added to a field name are handled specially:

:protected

Set this field only if it hasn't been set before.

:remove

Remove this field entirely.

Fields

user

Change the username (eg. lowercase it).

This is mostly useful in case-insensitive username lookups to get the username returned back using the same casing always. Otherwise depending on your configuration it may cause problems, such as /var/mail/user and /var/mail/User mailboxes created for the same user.

SQL Example

An example password_query in dovecot-sql.conf.ext would be:

password_query = \
    SELECT concat(user, '@', domain) AS user, password \
    FROM users \
    WHERE user = '%n' and domain = '%d'

You can also update "username" and "domain" fields separately:

password_query = \
    SELECT user AS username, domain, password \
    FROM users \
    WHERE user = '%n' and domain = '%d'

login_user

Master passdb can use this to change the username.

allow_nets

Allow user to log in from only specified IPs (checks against remote client IP).

This field is a comma separated list of IP addresses and/or networks where the user is allowed to log in from. If the user tries to log in from elsewhere, the authentication will fail the same way as if a wrong password was given.

Example: allow_nets=127.0.0.0/8,192.168.0.0/16,1.2.3.4,4.5.6.7.

IPv6 addresses are also allowed. IPv6 mapped IPv4 addresses (eg. ::ffff:1.2.3.4) are converted to standard IPv4 addresses before matching. Example: allow_nets=::1,2001:abcd:abcd::0:0/80,1.2.3.4.

Using local matches any auth connection that doesn't have an IP address. This usually means internal auth lookups from, e.g., doveadm. Example: allow_nets=127.0.0.0/8,local.

Example

passwd-file authentication database example:

user:{plain}password::::::allow_nets=192.168.0.0/24

'local' Keyword

The keyword local is accepted for Non-IP connections like Unix socket.

For example, with a Postfix/LMTP delivery setup, you must include local for Postfix to verify the email account:

passdb {
  driver = static
  args = password=test allow_nets=local,127.0.0.1/32
}

Otherwise, you will see this error in the log: "[/var/run/dovecot/lmtp] said: 550 5.1.1 test2@example.com User doesn't exist: test2@example.com (in reply to RCPT TO command))".

allow_real_nets

Allow user's network connection to log in from only specified IPs (checks against real remote IP, e.g. a Dovecot proxy).

See allow_nets for additional documentation.

proxy

Proxy the connection to another IMAP/POP3 server.

See proxy passdb.

proxy_maybe

Proxy the connection to another IMAP/POP3 server.

See proxy passdb.

host

Send login referral to client (if proxy=y field isn't set).

See login referrals.

nologin

User isn't actually allowed to log in even if the password matches, with optionally a different reason given as the authentication failure message.

Commonly used with proxy passdb and login referrals, but may also be used standalone.

One way to use this would be:

• nologin=
• reason=System is being upgraded, please try again later.

Unfortunately many clients don't show the reason to the user at all and just assume that the password was given wrong, so it might not be a good idea to use this unless the system will be down for days and you don't have a better way to notify the users.

Note

If you want to entirely block the user from logging in (i.e. account is suspended), with no IMAP referral information provided, you must ensure that neither proxy nor host are defined as one of the passdb extra fields.

The order of preference is: proxy, host, then nologin.

nodelay

Don't delay reply to client in case of an authentication failure.

If the authentication fails, Dovecot typically waits 0-2 seconds before sending back the "authentication failed" reply. If this field is set, no such delay is done.

Commonly used with proxy passdb and login referrals, but may also be used standalone.

Note

If PAM authentication database is used as the passdb, it adds an extra delay which can't be removed by this setting.

nopassword

If you want to allow all passwords, use an empty password and this field.

fail

If set, explicitly fails the passdb lookup.

k5principals

If using auth_mechanisms = gssapi, may contain Kerberos v5 principals allowed to map to the current user, bypassing the internal call to krb5_kuserok(). The database must support credentials lookup.

delay_until=<UNIX timestamp>[+<max random secs>]

Delay login until this time.

The timestamp must be less than 5 minutes into future or the login will fail with internal error. The extra random seconds can be used to avoid a load spike of everybody getting logged in at exactly the same time.

noauthenticate

Do not perform any authentication, just store extra fields if user is found.

forward_<anything>

In a proxy, pass the variable to the next hop (backend) as forward_<anything>.

See forwarding fields.

event_<name>

Import name=value to login events.

Examples

SQL

dovecot-sql.conf.ext

password_query = SELECT userid as user, password, 'Y' as proxy, host \
    FROM users WHERE userid = '%u'

LDAP

dovecot-ldap.conf

pass_attrs = \
    =user=%{ldap:user}, \
    =password=%{ldap:userPassword},
    =proxy=%{ldap:proxyEnabled}, \
    =host=%{ldap:hostName}

Note

About the proxy, proxy_maybe and any other boolean type fields: these represent an existence test. Currently this translates to will proxy (or proxy_maybe) if this attribute exists. This allows the proxy behaviour to be selectable per user.

To have it always on, use a template, e.g.:

pass_attrs = \
    =user=%{ldap:user}, \
    =password=%{ldap:userPassword},
    =proxy=y, \
    =host=%{ldap:hostName}

passwd-file

user:{plain}pass::::::proxy=y host=127.0.0.1