Apache Module mod_authz_owner

Summary

This module authorizes access to files by comparing the userid used for HTTP authentication (the web userid) with the file-system owner or group of the requested file. The supplied username and password must be already properly verified by an authentication module, such asmod_auth_basic ormod_auth_digest.mod_authz_owner recognizes two arguments for theRequire directive,file-owner andfile-group, as follows:

file-owner

The supplied web-username must match the system's name for the owner of the file being requested. That is, if the operating system says the requested file is owned byjones, then the username used to access it through the web must bejones as well.

file-group

The name of the system group that owns the file must be present in a group database, which is provided, for example, bymod_authz_groupfile ormod_authz_dbm, and the web-username must be a member of that group. For example, if the operating system says the requested file is owned by (system) groupaccounts, the groupaccounts must appear in the group database and the web-username used in the request must be a member of that group.

Topics

• Configuration Examples

Directives

This module provides no directives.

Bugfix checklist

• httpd changelog
• Known issues
• Report a bug

See also

• Require
• Comments

Configuration Examples

Require file-owner

Consider a multi-user system running the Apache Web server, with each user having his or her own files in~/public_html/private. Assuming that there is a singleAuthDBMUserFile database that lists all of their web-usernames, and that these usernames match the system's usernames that actually own the files on the server, then the following stanza would allow only the user himself access to his own files. Userjones would not be allowed to access files in/home/smith/public_html/private unless they were owned byjones instead ofsmith.

<Directory "/home/*/public_html/private">    AuthType Basic    AuthName MyPrivateFiles    AuthBasicProvider dbm    AuthDBMUserFile "/usr/local/apache2/etc/.htdbm-all"    Require file-owner</Directory>

Require file-group

Consider a system similar to the one described above, but with some users that share their project files in~/public_html/project-foo. The files are owned by the system groupfoo and there is a singleAuthDBMGroupFile database that contains all of the web-usernames and their group membership,i.e. they must be at least member of a group namedfoo. So ifjones andsmith are both member of the groupfoo, then both will be authorized to access theproject-foo directories of each other.

<Directory "/home/*/public_html/project-foo">    AuthType Basic    AuthName "Project Foo Files"    AuthBasicProvider dbm        # combined user/group database    AuthDBMUserFile  "/usr/local/apache2/etc/.htdbm-all"    AuthDBMGroupFile "/usr/local/apache2/etc/.htdbm-all"        Satisfy All    Require file-group</Directory>