Refuse root logins at the graphical login screen

Description

Display managers authenticate users through PAM services in /etc/pam.d/. A line auth required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet_success at the top of the auth stack refuses root before the password is checked. Debian's GDM and SDDM packages ship that line; LightDM's lightdm service does not. The control checks the password, fingerprint and smart card services of GDM, and the login services of LightDM and SDDM, that are present.

Automatic login services (gdm-autologin, lightdm-autologin, sddm-autologin) are not checked: CB-DEB-DESK-006 forbids automatic login. The fix only adds the line to services that lack it and was tested by removing the line from gdm-password; it was not tested with LightDM or SDDM. It changes PAM, so it is disabled by default.

Rationale

A graphical session runs hundreds of processes and parses untrusted content (web pages, mail, documents). Running all of it as root turns any bug into a full compromise. Administrators should log in with their own account and elevate with sudo, which keeps their actions attributable.

Impact

root cannot log in graphically. Administrators use their own account and sudo.

Setting

Audit

For each of /etc/pam.d/gdm-password, gdm-fingerprint, gdm-smartcard, lightdm and sddm that exists, check that the auth stack contains a pam_succeed_if.so line with user != root and a required or requisite control (or default=bad).

Automated: every check must pass. Scanners report each check by its id.

pam-root

Display manager PAM services refuse root.

script: |
  re='^[[:space:]]*auth[[:space:]]+(required|requisite|\[[^]]*default=(bad|die)[^]]*\])[[:space:]]+pam_succeed_if\.so[[:space:]].*user[[:space:]]*!=[[:space:]]*root'
  found=0 rc=0
  for f in /etc/pam.d/gdm-password /etc/pam.d/gdm-fingerprint /etc/pam.d/gdm-smartcard \
    /etc/pam.d/lightdm /etc/pam.d/sddm; do
    [ -f "$f" ] || continue
    found=1
    if grep -Eq "$re" "$f"; then echo "$f refuses root"; else echo "$f allows root"; rc=1; fi
  done
  [ "$found" = 1 ] || { echo "no display manager PAM service"; exit 2; }
  exit "$rc"

Remediation

In each display manager PAM service listed by the audit that lacks it, add before the first auth line:

auth required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet_success

Rollback

Restore the changed files of /etc/pam.d/ from the backup directory.

pam-root

# Add "auth required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet_success" before the first auth line of
# each display manager PAM service that lacks a root refusal.
re='^[[:space:]]*auth[[:space:]]+(required|requisite|\[[^]]*default=(bad|die)[^]]*\])[[:space:]]+pam_succeed_if\.so[[:space:]].*user[[:space:]]*!=[[:space:]]*root'
line='auth	required	pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet_success'
for f in /etc/pam.d/gdm-password /etc/pam.d/gdm-fingerprint /etc/pam.d/gdm-smartcard \
  /etc/pam.d/lightdm /etc/pam.d/sddm; do
  [ -f "$f" ] || continue
  grep -Eq "$re" "$f" && continue
  grep -Eq '^[[:space:]]*(auth[[:space:]]|@include[[:space:]]+common-auth)' "$f" || {
    echo "$f has no auth line, left unchanged" >&2
    continue
  }
  cb_backup "$f"
  L=$line awk '!done && /^[ \t]*(auth[ \t]|@include[ \t]+common-auth)/ { print ENVIRON["L"]; done = 1 } { print }' \
    "$f" >"$f.cirsec-tmp" && cat "$f.cirsec-tmp" >"$f"
  rc=$?
  rm -f "$f.cirsec-tmp"
  [ "$rc" -eq 0 ] || exit 1
  echo "added root refusal to $f"
done

Handwritten code reads parameters from CB_<NAME> environment variables. Each release turns these fixes into remediate.sh and an Ansible role per profile: dry run by default, a fix runs only when its check fails.

References

• pam_succeed_if(8), Debian manual pages Debian, vendor-doc, accessed 2026-10-18
• ANSSI-BP-028 v2.0 - Recommandations de configuration d'un système GNU/Linux (R33) ANSSI, guide, accessed 2026-10-18

Mappings

How this control relates to the other framework's: equivalent, stricter, looser, partial or related.

Threats mitigated

Related controls

• related CB-DEB-DESK-006 Require a password at the graphical login, without automatic login or guest session

People and lifecycle