USERMOD(8)

NAME
usermod - verändert ein Benutzerkonto

ÜBERSICHT

usermod [options] LOGIN

BESCHREIBUNG

The usermod command modifies the system account files.

OPTIONEN

The options which apply to the usermod command are:

-a, --append
    Add the user to the supplementary group(s). Use only with the -G option.

-b, --badname
    erlaube Namen, die nicht den Standards entsprechen.

-c, --comment COMMENT
    update the comment field of the user in /etc/passwd, which is normally modified using the chfn(1) utility.

-d, --home HOME_DIR
    ändert das persönliche Verzeichnis des Benutzers

    If the -m option is given, the contents of the current home directory will be moved to the new home directory, which is created if it does not already exist. If the current home directory does not exist the new home directory will not be created.

-e, --expiredate EXPIRE_DATE
    Specifies the date on which the user account will be disabled. The value can be specified as a date in the YYYY-MM-DD format or as a number of days since 1970-01-01. The date is interpreted using the UTC timezone.

    An input of -1 or an empty string blanks the account expiration field in the shadow password file. The account will remain available with no expiration date.

    This option requires the /etc/shadow file. If no entry exists in the /etc/shadow file, the system will automatically create one.

-f, --inactive INACTIVE
    Defines the number of days after a password exceeds its maximum age during which the user can still log in by immediately changing their password. If the user does not change their password within this period of time, their account becomes inactive. This value is stored in the shadow password file.

    A value of 0 disables the account when the password expires, with no delay.

    A value of -1 empties the respective field in the shadow password file, which means that the inactivity period is not enforced.

    This option requires the /etc/shadow file. If no entry exist in the /etc/shadow file, the system will automatically create one.

-g, --gid GROUP
    The name or numerical ID of the user's new primary group. The group must exist.

    Im persönlichen Verzeichnis des Benutzers werden alle Dateien, die der alten primären Gruppe zugeordnet waren, auf diese Gruppe übertragen.

    Die Gruppenzugehörigkeit von Dateien außerhalb des persönlichen Verzeichnisses des Benutzers muss per Hand angepasst werden.

    The change of the group ownership of files inside of the user's home directory is also not done if the home dir owner uid is different from the current or new user id. This is a safety measure for special home directories such as /.

-G, --groups GROUP1[,GROUP2,...[,GROUPN]]]
    A list of supplementary groups which the user is also a member of. Each group is separated from the next by a comma, with no intervening whitespace. The groups must exist.

    If the user is currently a member of a group which is not listed, the user will be removed from the group. This behaviour can be changed via the -a option, which appends the user to the current supplementary group list.

-l, --login NEW_LOGIN
    The name of the user will be changed from LOGIN to NEW_LOGIN. Nothing else is changed. In particular, the user's home directory or mail spool should probably be renamed manually to reflect the new login name.

-L, --lock
    Lock a user's password. This puts a '!' in front of the encrypted password, effectively disabling the password. You can't use this option with -p or -U.

    Note: if you wish to lock the account (not only access with a password), you should also set the EXPIRE_DATE to 1.

-m, --move-home
    moves the content of the user's home directory to the new location. If the current home directory does not exist the new home directory will not be created.

    This option is only valid in combination with the -d (or --home) option.

    usermod will try to adapt the ownership of the files and to copy the modes, ACL and extended attributes, but manual changes might be needed afterwards.

-o, --non-unique
    allows to change the user ID to a non-unique value.

    This option is only valid in combination with the -u option. As a user identity serves as key to map between users on one hand and permissions, file ownerships and other aspects that determine the system's behavior on the other hand, more than one login name will access the account of the given UID.

-p, --password PASSWORD
    defines a new password for the user. PASSWORD is expected to be encrypted, as returned by crypt (3).

    Note: Avoid this option on the command line because the password (or encrypted password) will be visible by users listing the processes.

    The password will be written in the local /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow file. This might differ from the password database configured in your PAM configuration.

    Sie sollten sicherstellen, dass das Passwort den Passwortrichtlinien des Systems entspricht.

-r, --remove
    Remove the user from named supplementary group(s). Use only with the -G option.

-R, --root CHROOT_DIR
    Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration files from the CHROOT_DIR directory. Only absolute paths are supported. No SELINUX support.

-P, --prefix PREFIX_DIR
    Apply changes within the directory tree starting with PREFIX_DIR and use as well the configuration files located there. This option does not chroot and is intended for preparing a cross-compilation target. Some limitations: NIS and LDAP users/groups are not verified. PAM authentication is using the host files. No SELINUX support.

-s, --shell SHELL
    changes the user's login shell. An empty string for SHELL empties the field in /etc/passwd and logs the user into the system's default shell.

-u, --uid UID
    The new value of the user's ID.

    This value must be unique, unless the -o option is used. The value must be non-negative.

    Für das Postfach des Benutzers und alle Dateien, die ihm gehören und sich in seinem persönlichen Verzeichnis befinden, wird die Eigentümerkennung automatisch angepasst.

    Der Eigentümer von Dateien außerhalb des persönlichen Verzeichnisses des Benutzers muss per Hand angepasst werden.

    The change of the user ownership of files inside of the user's home directory is also not done if the home dir owner uid is different from the current or new user id. This is a safety measure for special home directories such as /.

    No checks will be performed with regard to the UID_MIN, UID_MAX, SYS_UID_MIN, or SYS_UID_MAX from /etc/login.defs.

-U, --unlock
    Unlock a user's password. This removes the '!' in front of the encrypted password. You can't use this option with -p or -L.

    Note: if you wish to unlock the account (not only access with a password), you should also set the EXPIRE_DATE (for example to 99999, or to the EXPIRE value from /etc/default/useradd).

-v, --add-subuids FIRST-LAST
    fügt dem Konto des Benutzers einen Bereich untergeordneter Benutzerkennungen zu.

    This option may be specified multiple times to add multiple ranges to a user's account.

    No checks will be performed with regard to SUB_UID_MIN, SUB_UID_MAX, or SUB_UID_COUNT from /etc/login.defs.

-V, --del-subuids FIRST-LAST
    entfernt aus dem Benutzerkonto einen Bereich untergeordneter Benutzerkennungen.

    This option may be specified multiple times to remove multiple ranges to a user's account. When both --del-subuids and --add-subuids are specified, the removal of all subordinate uid ranges happens before any subordinate uid range is added.

    No checks will be performed with regard to SUB_UID_MIN, SUB_UID_MAX, or SUB_UID_COUNT from /etc/login.defs.

-w, --add-subgids FIRST-LAST
    fügt dem Benutzerkonto einen Bereich untergeordneter Gruppenkennungen zu.

    This option may be specified multiple times to add multiple ranges to a user's account.

    No checks will be performed with regard to SUB_GID_MIN, SUB_GID_MAX, or SUB_GID_COUNT from /etc/login.defs.

-W, --del-subgids FIRST-LAST
    entfernt einen Bereich untergeordneter Gruppenkennungen aus dem Benutzerkonto.

    This option may be specified multiple times to remove multiple ranges to a user's account. When both --del-subgids and --add-subgids are specified, the removal of all subordinate gid ranges happens before any subordinate gid range is added.

    No checks will be performed with regard to SUB_GID_MIN, SUB_GID_MAX, or SUB_GID_COUNT from /etc/login.defs.

-S, --add-subids
    Add subordinate uids and gids to the user's account.

    An appropriate uid and gid range is automatically selected from /etc/login.defs defaults.

-Z, --selinux-user SEUSER
    defines the SELinux user to be mapped with LOGIN. An empty string ("") will remove the respective entry (if any). Note that the shadow system doesn't store the selinux-user, it uses semanage(8) for that.

--selinux-range SERANGE
    defines the SELinux MLS range for the new account. Note that the shadow system doesn't store the selinux-range, it uses semanage(8) for that.

    This option is only valid if the -Z (or --selinux-user) option is specified.

WARNUNGEN

You must make certain that the named user is not executing any processes when this command is being executed if the user's numerical user ID, the user's name, or the user's home directory is being changed. usermod checks this on Linux. On other operating systems it only uses utmp to check if the user is logged in.

You must change the owner of any crontab files or at jobs manually.

Sie müssen alle Änderungen, an welchen NIS beteiligt ist, auf dem NIS-Server vornehmen.

KONFIGURATION

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

LASTLOG_UID_MAX (number)
    Die höchste Benutzerkennung, die lastlog bei den Aufzeichnungen berücksichtigen soll. Da gewöhnlich spezielle Dienste die Identität und Authentizität von Benutzern an entfernten Systemen protokollieren, gibt es keinen Grund, ihretwegen eine riesige Sparse-Datei lastlog anzulegen.

    No LASTLOG_UID_MAX option present in the configuration means that there is no user ID limit for writing lastlog entries.

MAIL_DIR (string)
    The mail spool directory. This is needed to manipulate the mailbox when its corresponding user account is modified or deleted. If not specified, a compile-time default is used. The parameter CREATE_MAIL_SPOOL in /etc/default/useradd determines whether the mail spool should be created.

MAIL_FILE (string)
    legt fest, wo sich die Dateien der Mail-Warteschlange des Benutzers relativ zu seinem persönlichen Verzeichnis befinden.

The MAIL_DIR and MAIL_FILE variables are used by useradd, usermod, and userdel to create, move, or delete the user's mail spool.

MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
    Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name, same password, and same GID).

    Der Standardwert ist 0, was bedeutet, dass die Anzahl der Mitglieder einer Gruppe nicht begrenzt ist.

    Das Aufteilen von Gruppen ermöglicht es, Längenvorgaben für die Zeilen der Gruppendatei einzuhalten. Damit kann sichergestellt werden, dass die Zeilen für NIS-Gruppen nicht länger als 1024 Zeichen sind.

    Falls Sie eine solche Begrenzung benötigen, können Sie 25 verwenden.

    Hinweis: Mit aufgeteilten Gruppen können möglicherweise nicht alle Hilfsprogramme (nicht einmal jene der Shadow-Programmsammlung) umgehen. Sie sollten diese Variable nur setzen, wenn Sie sie wirklich benötigen.

SUB_GID_MIN (number), SUB_GID_MAX (number), SUB_GID_COUNT (number)
    If /etc/subuid exists, the commands useradd and newusers (unless the user already have subordinate group IDs) allocate SUB_GID_COUNT unused group IDs from the range SUB_GID_MIN to SUB_GID_MAX for each new user.

    The default values for SUB_GID_MIN, SUB_GID_MAX, SUB_GID_COUNT are respectively 100000, 600100000 and 65536.

SUB_GID_DETERMINISTIC (boolean)
    If set to yes, the commands useradd, usermod, and newusers will calculate subordinate GID ranges deterministically based on the user's UID instead of searching for the next free range. The formula used is:

              start = SUB_GID_MIN + ((UID - UID_MIN) * SUB_GID_COUNT)
              end   = start + SUB_GID_COUNT - 1

    This ensures the same UID always receives the same subordinate GID range on every system, making it suitable for environments with centralized user management (LDAP, NIS, etc.) or synchronized UIDs across systems.

    If SUB_GID_DETERMINISTIC is enabled, you can use usermod --add-subgids -S to produce deterministic subgids.

    WARNING: Because UID_MIN is used to calculate the ranges, any change of UID_MIN will change the ranges calculated. SUB_GID_COUNT is used to calculate the ranges, any change of SUB_GID_COUNT will change the ranges calculated. Users with identities less than UID_MIN are incompatible with SUB_GID_DETERMINISTIC, but can still be set manually.

    WARNING: Do not mix deterministic and linear (default) allocation on the same system or across systems sharing /etc/subgid via network storage (NFS, etc.). Mixing allocation methods will cause subordinate ID range conflicts and overlaps .

    The default value for SUB_GID_DETERMINISTIC is no.

  Range Calculation Examples
With default configuration (UID_MIN=1000, SUB_GID_MIN=100000, SUB_GID_COUNT=65536):
UID | Calculation | Subordinate GID Range
1000 | 100000 + ((1000-1000) * 65536) | 100000-165535
1001 | 100000 + ((1001-1000) * 65536) | 165536-231071
1002 | 100000 + ((1002-1000) * 65536) | 231072-296607
1100 | 100000 + ((1100-1000) * 65536) | 6653600-6719135

  Subordinate ID Space Planning
When planning subordinate ID allocation, calculate the maximum number of users the space can accommodate:

          capacity = (SUB_GID_MAX - SUB_GID_MIN) / SUB_GID_COUNT

With default values: (600100000 - 100000) / 65536 ≈ 9155 users.

For high-density environments with many users and smaller allocations:

            SUB_GID_COUNT  4096
            SUB_GID_MIN    100000
            SUB_GID_MAX    10000000

This gives: (10000000 - 100000) / 4096 ≈ 2417 users.

UNSAFE_SUB_GID_DETERMINISTIC_WRAP (boolean)
    WARNING: SECURITY RISK - MAY CAUSE RANGE OVERLAPS AND PRIVILEGE ESCALATION!

    Only effective when SUB_GID_DETERMINISTIC is set to yes.

    When set to yes (WRAP MODE), allows the deterministic range calculation to wrap around using modulo arithmetic when a UID would overflow the configured subordinate ID space. The subordinate ID space is treated as a ring buffer.

    WARNING: Range overlaps can lead to container escapes and privilege escalation. For example, with SUB_GID_MIN=100000, SUB_GID_MAX=200000, SUB_GID_COUNT=65536, User A (UID 1000) gets range [100000, 165535] and User B (UID 1001) wraps and overlaps with User A. User B's container can now access files from User A's containers.

    Use only in development, testing, or tightly constrained lab environments.

    When set to no (default), any arithmetic overflow or range exceeding SUB_GID_MAX is a hard error. This guarantees non-overlapping, monotonic allocation.

    The default value for UNSAFE_SUB_GID_DETERMINISTIC_WRAP is no.

SUB_UID_MIN (number), SUB_UID_MAX (number), SUB_UID_COUNT (number)
    If /etc/subuid exists, the commands useradd and newusers (unless the user already have subordinate user IDs) allocate SUB_UID_COUNT unused user IDs from the range SUB_UID_MIN to SUB_UID_MAX for each new user.

    The default values for SUB_UID_MIN, SUB_UID_MAX, SUB_UID_COUNT are respectively 100000, 600100000 and 65536.

SUB_UID_DETERMINISTIC (boolean)
    If set to yes, the commands useradd, usermod, and newusers will calculate subordinate UID ranges deterministically based on the user's UID instead of searching for the next free range. The formula used is:

              start = SUB_UID_MIN + ((UID - UID_MIN) * SUB_UID_COUNT)
              end   = start + SUB_UID_COUNT - 1

    This ensures the same UID always receives the same subordinate UID range on every system, making it suitable for environments with centralized user management (LDAP, NIS, etc.) or synchronized UIDs across systems.

    If SUB_UID_DETERMINISTIC is enabled, you can use usermod --add-subuids -S to produce deterministic subuids.

    WARNING: Because UID_MIN is used to calculate the ranges, any change of UID_MIN will change the ranges calculated. SUB_UID_COUNT is used to calculate the ranges, any change of SUB_UID_COUNT will change the ranges calculated. Users with identities less than UID_MIN are incompatible with SUB_UID_DETERMINISTIC, but can still be set manually.

    WARNING: Do not mix deterministic and linear (default) allocation on the same system or across systems sharing /etc/subuid via network storage (NFS, etc.). Mixing allocation methods will cause subordinate ID range conflicts and overlaps .

    The default value for SUB_UID_DETERMINISTIC is no.

  Range Calculation Examples
With default configuration (UID_MIN=1000, SUB_UID_MIN=100000, SUB_UID_COUNT=65536):
UID | Calculation | Subordinate UID Range
1000 | 100000 + ((1000-1000) * 65536) | 100000-165535
1001 | 100000 + ((1001-1000) * 65536) | 165536-231071
1002 | 100000 + ((1002-1000) * 65536) | 231072-296607
1100 | 100000 + ((1100-1000) * 65536) | 6653600-6719135

  Subordinate ID Space Planning
When planning subordinate ID allocation, calculate the maximum number of users the space can accommodate:

          capacity = (SUB_UID_MAX - SUB_UID_MIN) / SUB_UID_COUNT

With default values: (600100000 - 100000) / 65536 ≈ 9155 users.

For high-density environments with many users and smaller allocations:

            SUB_UID_COUNT  4096
            SUB_UID_MIN    100000
            SUB_UID_MAX    10000000

This gives: (10000000 - 100000) / 4096 ≈ 2417 users.

UNSAFE_SUB_UID_DETERMINISTIC_WRAP (boolean)
    WARNING: SECURITY RISK - MAY CAUSE RANGE OVERLAPS AND PRIVILEGE ESCALATION!

    Only effective when SUB_UID_DETERMINISTIC is set to yes.

    When set to yes (WRAP MODE), allows the deterministic range calculation to wrap around using modulo arithmetic when a UID would overflow the configured subordinate ID space. The subordinate ID space is treated as a ring buffer.

    WARNING: Range overlaps can lead to container escapes and privilege escalation. For example, with SUB_UID_MIN=100000, SUB_UID_MAX=200000, SUB_UID_COUNT=65536, User A (UID 1000) gets range [100000, 165535] and User B (UID 1001) wraps and overlaps with User A. User B's container can now access files from User A's containers.

    Use only in development, testing, or tightly constrained lab environments.

    When set to no (default), any arithmetic overflow or range exceeding SUB_UID_MAX is a hard error. This guarantees non-overlapping, monotonic allocation.

    The default value for UNSAFE_SUB_UID_DETERMINISTIC_WRAP is no.

DATEIEN

/etc/group
    Group account information

/etc/gshadow
    Secure group account information

/etc/login.defs
    Shadow password suite configuration

/etc/passwd
    User account information

/etc/shadow
    Secure user account information

/etc/subgid
    Per user subordinate group IDs

/etc/subuid
    Per user subordinate user IDs

SIEHE AUCH

chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), crypt(3), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8), groupdel(8), groupmod(8), login.defs(5), subgid(5), subuid(5), useradd(8), userdel(8).